The Family Table

Family Bible Week Recap Video

Today in church, the Family Bible Week recap video was shown. Didn’t get a chance to see it? Check it out! Thank you to Joe Quick for helping us to preserve our shared memories!

Tiny Theologians: NEW Biblical Languages Workbook!

One of our favorite companies, Tiny Theologians, is launching a brand new workbook, Tiny Biblical Languages! According to Tiny Theologians, “this workbook invites kids to discover the beauty of God’s Word through the original languages of Scripture. With fun, hands on activities, children will explore Hebrew and Greek while learning how God faithfully preserved His Word for us today.” Your child can practice writing Greek and Hebrew letters and even learn how the Bible as written, translated, and preserved. What a fun opportunity!

This workbook launches tomorrow, and we think this could make a great resource for your child in the preteen or young teenage years. Check it out!
This Week’s Challenge: Get to Know Someone New

Do you tend to talk to the same few people when you come to church on a Sunday morning? Do you introduce yourself to those who you haven’t met before? It can be tempting to stay in our own little bubbles, only interacting with friends we have known for years or have lots in common with. However, the beautiful thing about the church is that we are all family, and are adding new brothers and sisters all the time! Let’s help make newcomers feel welcome and build new relationships.

This week’s challenge is to make an intentional effort to get to know someone new at church. Maybe there is a family that has been sitting a few rows away, and you haven’t introduced yourself and gotten their names yet. Maybe your child has made a new friend in KBC and you haven’t gotten to know their parents yet. Maybe you’ve been noticing a new couple in church every week but haven’t taken the initiative to welcome them. This week’s challenge is to make an effort to meet someone new, and maybe even invite them to dinner, coffee, or just chat a bit after church next week!

“Jesus the Teacher” Kids Bible Class Devotional

You have free access to a family devotional based on the curriculum our kids are studying each week in KBC! It’s called “The Gospel Project at Home.” Today’s Bible Study is “Jesus Forgives and Heals” (Volume 8: Unit 23: Session 1), and the devotional can be found at this link.

Visit the Family Ministries page on our website for information about how to access The Gospel Project at Home for the first time.

And for Dessert…

Our recommendation for family discipleship this week is a delightful children’s book that cleverly illustrates the answer to the key first question of the Heidelberg Catechism (which we recited in our Worship in Unity this morning at church!).

Author Andrew Wilson and illustrator Helena Perez Garcia have crafted a beautiful rhyming story about a little girl named Sophie who is upset because she has gotten in a fight with her sister and feels bad for her part in it but doesn’t know what to do with her guilt.

And then Sophie meets a talking cat.

Surprise!

What’s even more surprising is that the talking cat (who belongs to the neighbors named “Heidelberg”) takes Sophie on a magical rooftop journey and talks her through her problem with amazing wisdom about the gracious gospel of Jesus Christ!

The cat teaches Sophie:

“The Bible tells stories of hundreds of people,
and all of them disobey God…except one.
So hope doesn’t come from the good things we do.
It comes as a gift, from what Jesus has done” (pg. 21)

“‘One other thing you should know,’ says the cat,
as it silently cross the tiles on all fours.
‘The best and most comforting news in the world
is that I am not mine, and you are not yours'” (pg. 26).

I (Pastor Matt) really enjoy books by Andrew Wilson. I’m currently reading another one he wrote about the year 1776 and all of the transformations in western society that came about that crucial year. But I think that Sophie and the Heidelberg Cat is my new favorite Andrew Wilson book! I love the whimsical storytelling and the clear restatement of a critical truth that was captured by German Christian in the Heidelberg Catechism in 1563 now articulated in a way that little ones can comprehend (and big ones, too!).

Sophie and the Heidelberg Cat is available to borrow from the LEFC Church Library. You can preview the whole book here and also listen to someone read it on YouTube in a delightful British accent.

Jordyn has recommended this book before and given it away at child dedications.  

We both recommend parents make time to read Sophie and the Heidelberg Cat with your kids because as the book says about Sophie, “(She knows very well, as I’m sure you do too, that you always leave time for a cat that can speak.)”

We hope your family eats it right up!

Jordyn Skacel, Director of Family Ministry
Matt Mitchell, Pastor