• Home
  • About
    • What We’re About
    • LGBTQ+ Affirmation
    • Who's Who
    • Our Partners
  • Sundays
    • What to Expect
    • Kids, Youth, & Families
    • Listen to a Sermon
    • Sunday Service Music
  • Connect
    • Get Plugged In
    • Upcoming Events
    • Groups & Gatherings
    • Get In Touch With Us
    • Join a Sunday Team
  • OUR BLOGS
    • The River Blog
    • Families Blog
    • Resource of the Week
  • "40 Days of Faith" Guide
  • Give

River Families Blog

"40 DAYS" FAMILY DINNER LITURGY: "THE Righteous AND THE Humble"

3/9/2018

 
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 Righteous and the Humble" liturgy, click here and/or see below.
Picture
Family Dinner Liturgy: "The Righteous and the Humble"
 
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 Righteous and the Humble
(Families with young kids might want to skip this part.)

Mark 2:13-17, Luke 18:9-14
It is easy for us to think that doing the right things and keeping all the rules will please God and make Him love us more. Many people in Jesus’ time thought so, too. So they were often confused about Jesus’ Upside-Down Love.

One time, Jesus was having a party with some unpopular people. These were the people who didn’t always do the right things and did not keep all of God’s rules. Many people despised them, but Jesus was friends with a lot of people like this. So some religious leaders asked Jesus, “Why do you eat with such bad people?” Jesus told them, “Healthy people don’t need a doctor. Sick people do. I am like a doctor. I have come for those who know they need help, not for those who think they are already righteous.”

Then He told this story: “Two men went to the Temple to pray. One was a Pharisee, known to be a great rule-keeper. The other was a hated tax collector.* The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘I thank you, God, that I am not like those bad people. I am definitely not like that tax collector over there! I fast twice a week and I give you a tenth of the money I make. I keep all of your rules.’ But the tax collector stood at a distance and couldn’t even lift his eyes to heaven. He prayed with sorrow, ‘O God, be kind to me, for I am not good and I break your rules.’ I tell you, this tax collector received so much more from God than the Pharisee. Those who lift themselves up are brought down and those who understand they need help are lifted up.”

That, too, is upside-down!


*People thought of tax collectors as the worst kind of people because they took money from the Israelites for the Roman empire. They made profit by taking more money from people than they owed.​

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.

Comments are closed.

    Archives

    April 2025
    March 2025
    November 2024
    October 2024
    March 2024
    October 2023
    September 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    January 2022
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    May 2021
    February 2021
    November 2020
    July 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    September 2019
    May 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    June 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017

    riverkids/youth

    Click here for more information about the RiverKids and RiverYouth programs!

River NYC
15 W. 39th Street
9th Floor
New York, NY 10018 ​|  Google Map
[email protected]
Social Media
River NYC App
​​iOS  |  Android
​
Learn more about what's happening at the River.
Join our weekly email list!
Subscribe

Copyright © 2024 River NYC. All rights reserved.  |  Site by SOUND 5
  • Home
  • About
    • What We’re About
    • LGBTQ+ Affirmation
    • Who's Who
    • Our Partners
  • Sundays
    • What to Expect
    • Kids, Youth, & Families
    • Listen to a Sermon
    • Sunday Service Music
  • Connect
    • Get Plugged In
    • Upcoming Events
    • Groups & Gatherings
    • Get In Touch With Us
    • Join a Sunday Team
  • OUR BLOGS
    • The River Blog
    • Families Blog
    • Resource of the Week
  • "40 Days of Faith" Guide
  • Give