Summer Family Faith Formation – July 31

The Frolic book “Hal and the Prickle Problem” by Lucy Bell

The Good Samaritan: Luke 10:25-37 or Spark Bible

Or watch the Holy Moly Video

How do the words “chores, cleaning, responsibility” make you feel? (It’s ok to say yuck!) What are some of your chores? Are there ways you make them more fun? Being responsible to clean up after ourselves and do our part isn’t always the most fun but it’s an important part of life to make sure everyone is happy, healthy and safe.

Now what about helping someone when it’s not your responsibility? That usually means stopping doing something we want to do to help someone else out. That’s not always easy and sometimes doesn’t feel very fair. So why should we do it?

In both our stories today, someone had a problem that were made much better when others stepped into help. Hal needed to clean up his prickles, so his friends help. And in the Bible story, the hurt man on the side of the road needed help to get back up on his feet. What Jesus is trying to teach us is that even though we don’t cause a problem, the love in our hearts should remind us to share that love and help. That’s what love is after all, taking care of each other!

Share about a time that you helped someone even though it wasn’t your responsibility? How did it make you feel? How do you think the other person felt? How was that sharing God’s love?

Dig Deeper: Our storybook today was about a hedgehog. Maybe you like the cooler, more grown up stories of Sonic the Hedgehog. Well in real life hedgehogs are also incredibly interesting and a little weird animals. Do a little research on hedgehogs. Where do the live? How do their “prickles” work? And how are they helper by being what’s called an “indicator species”?

Help without being asked: Find a fun way to help someone without being asked. Maybe as simple as making a card for someone and letting them know you’re thinking of them. It’s amazing how much that can mean to people. You can DOWNLOAD A TEMPLATE HERE or make your own. 

I Can Help Relay: Make a relay game of helping like in out story book. Pick up balls into a basket like Jo’s grapes, sweep up tissues like Uri’s feathers, stack pillows like Rufus’ rocks, and pick up toothpicks like Hal’s prickles. See who can do it the fastest. Try it “helping” style by having someone blindfolded and another helping.