"40 DAYS" FAMILY DINNER LITURGY: "THE Rich and the poor"

During this "40 Days of Faith" (Lent), we encourage you to try the Family Dinner Liturgy once a week. We hope that this will be a fun way to take a moment to turn toward God together as a family. How do you do it? It’s easy.

1. Pick a day of the week when you are most likely to have everyone in the family at the dinner table. 
2. Take 3-5 minutes to do the liturgy below before the dinner.
3. Repeat weekly during the "40 Days of Faith."
4. Consider getting together with other families for dinner and liturgy.

For this week's "The Rich and the Poor" liturgy, click here and/or see below.

Family Dinner Liturgy: "The Rich and the Poor"
 
Opening Prayer
(Together holding hands)
We make room for you,
Come and fill us with your Spirit.

Candle Lighting
(Any kind of candles; as many as you want)
 
Blessing
(This is worth memorizing. A grown-up can say the blessing as she/he looks into everyone’s eyes OR everyone can recite this together for each other.)

“The Lord bless you
   and keep you;
the Lord make His face shine on you
   and be gracious to you;
the Lord turn His face toward you
   and give you peace.” (Numbers 6:24-26)

Story of the Week | The Widow's Offering
(Families with young kids might want to skip this part)

Mark 12:44-44
Jesus often explained God’s Upside-Down Love to His friends with stories, but they had a hard time understanding because it was upside-down from how people thought about it.

One time, He was sitting down near the collection box in the Temple. People came and dropped their money in the box. The money was used to fix anything broken in the Temple, to buy supplies, and to support those who worked at the Temple. People gave money because they loved God and because all money comes from God anyway.
 
As Jesus watched, many rich people put a lot of money into the collection box. Then a poor
woman came and dropped in two coins.

Jesus called His friends to Him and said, “I tell you the truth, this poor woman has given more than all the others who gave money.” His friends were surprised because that was upside-down from what they thought. Jesus continued, “It may look like the rich people gave a lot, but they gave a tiny part of what they don’t need. But this woman, poor as she is, has given everything she had to live on.”

God blesses those who are poor and need God. The Kingdom of Heaven is theirs (Matthew 5:3). So, the poor are rich and the rich are poor in God . . . so upside-down!

Reflection

• “Jesus is __________ in this story”
• Discuss how you would fill in the blank (e.g. “forever,” “loving,” “humble”).
• Together, decide on one word.
• On a post-it, draw an upside-down heart and write the word inside it.
• Stick the post-it where it will be visible for a week. Every time you see it, hold the word inside of your heart for a few moments.