Do you ever get angry?  What are some things that make you angry?  

There is a lot of anger in our world right now. This has led to people being mean and violent toward one another. Remember, its normal and okay to get mad sometimes; what matters is what you do with it. Just because we are angry, doesn't mean its okay to hurt people.  Can you think of some better ways to cope with anger?

Today we read a story about some people who were angry at Jesus. They were so mad, they chased him out of town! (In the non-PG/non-children's Bible version, they try to throw Jesus off a cliff. Definitely not a good response). Let's read together.

The Scripture lesson can be found in Luke 4:14-30 or in the SPARK Storybook Bible on p. 252. 

ThinkAccepted in Your Hometown
Jesus' neighbors had known him for a long time, and were surprised when he started preaching. Draw a map of your hometown. Mark the places you go to frequently (school, soccer field, park, friends' houses, etc.). What are some ways you can share God's love in each of these places?

Good News for the Poor
Take out a piece of paper and brainstorm ways your family can bring good news to the poor and sick like Jesus did. Is there someone you can pick up groceries for? Is there an organization you like that needs donations? Select one (or more) idea you have and put it into practice this week! 
​
Anger Dice Game
Take turns rolling a die and answering the question next to the number you rolled.

1. Name someone you can talk to when you are feeling angry
2. What is something you can say when you are feeling angry?
3. Give a reason it is important to stay calm when you are feeling angry
4. Describe what not to do when you are feeling angry
5. Describe an anger warning sign you might feel when you're starting to get angry
6. Name a calm down strategy you can use when you are feeling angry

Breath Prayer
​Think of a name for God (Savior, Comforter, etc). Sit in a quiet place for a minute or two and start taking deep breaths: fill your belly with air, and then let it out. As you breathe in, say your name for God. As you breathe out, imagine your anger and stress leaving you. 

Happy New Year!  Join us for worship on our website or Facebook page.

Now that all the Christmas decorations are put away, we are in a new season of the church year called Epiphany. An epiphany is like a "lightbulb moment" when you suddenly realize something new. When Jesus comes into our world, we all see things in a new way! 

The theme of Epiphany is light. Remember in the Christmas story, how the wise men followed the star to where Jesus was born? Like the wise men, we can also follow the light of Jesus. 

Activity: Star Words
Draw and cut out a star on a piece of paper. Think of a word or phrase that you want to follow in this new year, such as peace, patience, or love. Hang your star (or stars, if you can't pick just one!) somewhere you will see it frequently, like your bathroom mirror. Throughout the year, let this star word guide you to be more like Jesus! 

Today we will learn more about Jesus by reading about his baptism. This is the event that began his ministry. Do you remember when you were baptized? 

Story: Read Luke 3:1-22, or in your SPARK Bible on page 242-245. 

• What do you think the water felt like? Cold, warm? Refreshing?
• How was Jesus' baptism different from your baptism? How was it the same? 
• John calls people to repent, to turn back to God and to change their lives. Why do you think he said that?
• What is your favorite part of this story?

Activity: Remember Your Baptism
Gather a pitcher of water and a bowl. Pour the water into the bowl-- as you do this, you can bless the water "in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit." Dip your finger in the water, make the sign of the cross on each other's foreheads, and say, "You are a beloved child of God." Then invite each person to practice remembering their own baptism: dip your finger in the water, mark the sign of the cross on your own forehead, and say "in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, I am a child of God." You can do this everyday to remember who you are and how much God loves you! 

Activity: Dove Craft
On a white piece of paper, trace your hand. Cut it out, draw an eye on the thumb, and glue it to a piece of construction paper. Decorate the paper however you want; you may even draw Jesus being baptized! Write the words "The Holy Spirit came down at baptism" on the top. On the bottom, write "I am a child of God!"

This is the fourth and final Sunday in the season of Advent. You know what that means!? Christmas is this week! After all the waiting, it is finally here. Slow down and enjoy these moments. Today, we light our fourth Advent candle. We will light our last candle on Christmas Eve.

Today's story is from Luke 1:26-49. It tells about when an angel came to Mary and announced that she would be Jesus' mom (this event is also called the Annunciation). Wow! How would you feel if an angel showed up at your house and started talking to you?

You can read this story in your SPARK storybook Bible on pages 196-201.

Here are some questions to help you talk about the story together:

• What was Mary's response to the angel's announcement? How do you think you'd respond?
• What do you think it was like being Jesus' parents?
• Do you think Jesus cried a lot as a baby? What were you like as a baby?

Here are some activities for you to do together:

• Act out the story. We weren't able to have a Christmas program this year because of the virus, but you can still enact the Christmas story at home! Option A: grab your nativity set and use it to tell the Christmas story. Option B: create your very best costumes and act it out! 
• Imagining an Angel. Throughout history, there have been many different portrayals of this story in art, movies, and Christmas pageants. In the movie The Star, the angel was just a bright light! How can we know what the angel looked like? We might have to use our imaginations. Write or draw what you imagine the angel looked like in this story. 

Have you ever wondered what this verse means? It is referring to a time in Israel's history when their cities were destroyed and they were taken away from their homes. They were taken as captives to live in a foreign land called Babylon-- this is called the Exile. No wonder they were lonely and mourning! 

Let's try to live out this story. Grab some blocks, Legos, or other building supplies you have at home and build yourself a city. Include your home, church, school, sports arena, etc. Once you're done building, knock it over. Imagine seeing the important places in your life taken away. Now we can try to understand what the people were feeling.

Today's reading comes from Isaiah 61:1-11. Open your Bibles to read the story, or read this paraphrased version (from Be the Story Curriculum):

One of the prophets named Isaiah was speaking to the people of Israel. They were all very sad and thought God had forgotten them. But Isaiah told them that it was his job to help them. He said:

“The Spirit of God is with me, because God has chosen me.
God has sent me to bring good happy news to forgotten people,
To help the people who are sad in their hearts,
To give freedom to people who are stuck and trapped,
To say this is the year when God is fixing everything.
We will fix the broken houses and build the old cities.
Strangers and visitors will come back to Jerusalem and say how nice it is.
You will have food and money and nice things once more.
For God loves it when a wrong is made right.
God will not leave any of you, and your children and grandchildren will be known by everyone around them for having a good life and a good God.
I praise God with all my heart because God has given me good things!”

Here are some questions for you to discuss:

• ​How do you think it felt to hear these words from Isaiah? How do these words make you feel?
• How does this situation relate to our lives right now, in the pandemic? What do you think God is telling us today?
• What does this reading have to do with Jesus and Christmas?
• What is your favorite part of this reading? What stands out the most?

Activity: Rebuilding the City
Remember when you built a city and then destroyed it a few minutes ago? God promises that all the broken cities will be fixed. Put your city back together again-- make it even better than before! 

Activity: Christmas Cards
Write and decorate Christmas cards for people in your life-- this may include the families you got paired up with in the Christmas card exchange, a neighbor, or a grandparent you haven't seen in awhile. Be sure to express the good news that God is coming to us in Jesus to fix things!

Activity: Researching Local Organizations
There are a lot of local nonprofit organizations that are working to share good news with people who are struggling. Some of the ones we partner with at Glen Cary are Family Promise of Anoka County, Hope4Youth, NACE Food Shelf, and Lutheran Social Services of Minnesota. Pick one (or more) of these organizations to  research. Go to their websites and answer the following questions:

• What does this organization do to help the community?
• Who is this organization helping? (E.g. people without a place to live, people without enough to eat, youth, adults, kids, etc.)
• What can you do to help? 

It's the second Sunday in Advent! Are you getting ready for Christmas?  What are some things your family does to get ready for Christmas? My family puts up our tree, unpacks our Nativity set, wraps presents, and watches Christmas movies! 

As you worship together today, you get to light TWO candles. Only TWO more Sundays to go until Christmas is here! As you light the candles, take some deep breaths and remember that God is with you. Do you have a favorite Christmas hymn you can sing together?

Today's Bible reading is Joel 2:12-13, 28-29. Can you look this up in your Bible together? Joel is a minor prophet from the Old Testament-- one we don't read from very often at church. Use your Table of Contents if you need help!

Joel calls us to repent-- a word that means to "turn around." We are to turn back to God and the way God wants us to live. Sometimes this means we need to turn away from something else-- things that get in the way of us following God, or things we've done wrong. But, Joel reminds us that God is merciful and slow to anger. We know that God will forgive us when we make mistakes. Turning back to God is one way we get ready for Christmas! 

Joel also tells us that God will pour out God's Spirit on all people. We celebrate this moment on a holiday called Pentecost. But as we get ready for Christmas, we can look forward to the new dream God has for all of us in Jesus!

Here are some questions for you to think about today:

• What are some things you can do to turn back to God as we prepare for Christmas?
• Have you ever made a mistake that made you sad, but then you were forgiven? How did the good news of forgiveness make you feel?
• Think about the new dream God has for us in Jesus. What do you think this perfect future will be like?  What does your family. the church, the world look like in this dream?

Activity: God's perfect future
Either write a story or draw a picture of the perfect future you talked about in the last question. Younger kids might simply draw a picture of everyone getting along. Older kids, dig a little deeper as you think about how God's dream affects how we treat each other. 

Activity: Handprint prayers
Share prayer needs with your family members, then follow this pattern to pray from Spirit & Truth Publishing:

This weekend is the first Sunday in the season of Advent. This is the season leading up to Christmas! In Advent, we wait together and reflect on the themes of hope, peace, joy, and love. Each Sunday in this season we light a candle to remember that Christ is a source of light in our shadowy world.

Light a candle together with your family as you worship together today.  Take a moment of quiet. Close your eyes and take a deep breath-- fill your tummy with air and then slowly let it out. Remember that God is with you.

After you've read/watched the story, think about these questions...(adapted from Be the Story Curriculum)

• I wonder what it would be like not to be allowed to go to church
• I wonder what it would be like to be tricked and betrayed by others
• I wonder how Daniel felt in the lion’s den
• I wonder how the king felt when he saw Daniel was safe
• I wonder how hard it is to trust God is with you when you are afraid

Activity: Make a Lion's Mask
You will need: paper plates, orange string, yellow and white paint. First, paint the plate yellow and paint a nose and mouth in black Then, glue on strips of orange string or paper for a mane. Cut out eyes and glue them on as ears-- now you have eye holes to see out of! You can either put the mask on a stick or use string to make it a face mask. Pretend to be a lion! What do you think the lions thought when they saw Daniel? 

Activity: Prayer for Hope
I bet Daniel felt very afraid when he was thrown into the lion's den. Sometimes we face scary things, but God is with us when we are scared. What are some things you are worried or scared about today? What other things do you want to pray about? Talk about them with your family, then pray together:

Dear God, like Daniel we are scared of many things (list here). Be with us and help us to be brave. Help us to trust in you when we are scared. In Jesus' name, Amen. 

 If this is the future, come summer, we will have a lot of work to do: Contacting everyone and welcoming them back into church community life, stained glass window project rekindled, youth mission trips happening and a renewed home visitation ministry active.  This is all very possible; life restored. ​

But until then, we wait.  December and January, because of Covid-19, the world is facing its darkest time.  Hospitals are overrun. Members of this congregation not only have the virus, but some have barely escaped death while others, will be forever physically compromised.  Sports are shutting down.  And the church council has set a policy that if all the schools return to schooling online, we will return to worship online again.  Here are several bits of information for everyone to know.

1.  Starting December 6th, worship will return to online.   It can be accessed through Glen Cary’s Facebook page or Glen Cary’s webpage. 
2. Christmas Eve worship will be one service, in the parking lot at 4:00, ending with a congregation wide candle lightening event, singing Silent Night with lights in the parking lot.  It should be a very powerful and meaningful event.
3. The stewardship committee asks everyone to use their 2020 pledges for the next year (2021) and if able, to give a one-time end of the year increased gift to the ministry of Glen Cary.  Keeping the church strong financially is a high priority and giving everyone the chance to grow in faith by sharing your resources with the mission is a wise and meaningful response. 
4. Everyone, please be wise and safe during the last stages of this pandemic.  It seems as though we are in the 5th inning of a 9 inning contest.  Avoiding the virus just as a vaccine appears to be forthcoming is prudent. 
5.  The church council is working on an annual meeting plan where everyone can be informed of congregational budgeting, planning and voting agendas which can done without meeting in person.  Details will be forthcoming.  

Whether you know it or not, this year, 2020 and parts of 2021, fit into biblical themes found throughout all of scripture.  The world through time and history has faced events like this.  War, disease, famine and other such tragedies have returned people to the proper awareness that we are not in control.  God is.  God is our rock and shield in times of trouble.  When all is said and done, may this time remind us of the sacredness of life, the message of the Gospel and re-teach us what is truly important. 

See you in church (on-line again)
Pastor Gary Guptill  
 

Today's Scripture lesson comes from Jeremiah 31:31-34. Jeremiah was a young prophet-- when God called him, he was only a kid! You can read a bit about him in your SPARK Storybook Bible on page 176. 

Read this lesson together:

The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah.  It will not be like the covenant that I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt—a covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, says the Lord.  But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. No longer shall they teach one another, or say to each other, “Know the Lord,” for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the Lord; for I will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more.

• What questions do you have about this reading? 
• What is your favorite part?
• A covenant is an agreement made between two people or groups.  God makes promises to us even though we can't keep our side of the agreement! 
• Iniquity  is another word for sin or doing something harmful.

Activity: Written on Your Heart
God doesn't just want us to know what he says, God wants us to make it a part of our lives-- to take it to heart! We need to live according to our faith. We love God with our whole mind, heart, soul, and strength-- every part of us!

• On a piece of paper, draw a large heart. 
• What is going on in your heart today? Are you happy, sad, or scared? Are you upset about everything going on?  On one half of the heart, write or draw what you are experiencing.
• On the other half of your heart, write what God says. Here are some examples!
  1. God loves you.
  2. Jesus is with you always.
  3. Do not be afraid!
  4. God forgives us when we make mistakes.
  5. "Love your neighbor as yourself."
  6. The dead will be raised!

Activity: Follow the Law
Brainstorm some ways you can live out your faith and take God's law to heart. Here are some examples:

• Donate to NACE Food Shelf, Hope4Youth, or another local organization that serves those in need.
• Ask your parents (or children, or spouses) if there is anything you can do to help them this week.
• Call a grandparent, church person, or someone else who would appreciate some conversation.
• What other ideas can you come up with?

Activity: Thanksgiving! ​
This week, we will be celebrating Thanksgiving. Even though this is an American holiday, there are many Scriptures about giving thanks. Try looking some up and reading them together!

• 1 Chronicles 16:34
• Psalm 28:7
• Psalm 69:30
• 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
• Luke 22:19-20

What are some things you are grateful for this Thanksgiving? Thank God for them! Pray: Dear God, thank you for.... 

Activity: Thank You Notes
Think of someone who you are grateful for-- it may be a teacher, coach, parent, grandparent, etc. Write them a thank-you note and either deliver it (safely) or mail it to them this week. 

Today our Scripture lesson comes from Isaiah 6:1-8. You can read this in your Bible or in your SPARK Storybook Bible on page 166, "Isaiah's Call."  You can watch worship here and download this PDF with today's activities. 

See if you can answer these questions to help learn the story...

• How many wings did the angels have?
• What did the angels sing? What does holy mean?
• What did God ask Isaiah?
• What is a prophet?

Activity:  Imagine what God looks like sitting on the throne surrounded by angels. Draw what you think Isaiah saw! 

Activity: Just as God called Isaiah to be a prophet, God calls each of us to help others and share God's love. Brainstorm some ways you can help others this week. Then, go do them! 

Today we hear a beloved and familiar story-- about Jonah and the whale! Everyone loves a good fish story. However, as your kids get older, I urge them to look beyond the fish to the other important themes going on in the story.

You can read the story in Jonah 1:1-17, 3:1-10 or in the SPARK Storybook Bible on page 190. You can watch worship here and download this PDF for today's activities. 

• How do you think Jonah felt when God commanded him to go to Ninevah? When he was thrown overboard and swallowed by a fish? When the fish spit him out?
• What is your favorite part of this story and why?
• Activity: Can you retell the story in your own words? Try to put the events in order on the activity sheet.
• Activity: Color the story! Either illustrate it yourself or use the picture on the activity sheet. 

Activity: What would you do?

• Imagine you were in Jonah's position. Write or tell a story describing what you would do if God asked you to go somewhere you didn't want to go.
• Have you ever disobeyed God, a parent, or teacher? What happened? Write or tell the story.

Activity: Prayer Requests

• Jonah prayed to God when he was scared and so can we. What are some things you want to pray about this week?