Ah! It’s Summertime!

 

Let’s celebrate with a song of joy led by some of our friends from the church!

 

I’ve Got the Joy video

 

Sit on the floor with your family and pretend to be popcorn.

 

 

Count your popcorn! How many kernels of joy can you name?

 

Did you know that I don’t always feel joyful?

 

Do you? It’s okay to not feel joyful all the time. Jesus loves us in all of our feelings! And remembering His love for us can help us when we don’t feel so great. His love can bring us joy!

 

Here’s another song you know. It has some of the same friends from the first video, but they look MUCH younger in this video! I wonder why.

 

Jesus Is the Joy video

 

Acts Chapter 2 in the Bible tells about the beginning of the church. Watch this video to find out about it.

 

 

Everything seemed great in the early church!

 

People sharing and caring and helping others and learning more about Jesus.

 

But that doesn’t mean that there weren’t any problems.

 

After a while, some of the people complained that the widows from other places who followed different customs were being left out when the believers were distributing food. The widows from Jewish areas who followed Jewish customs were receiving more care. That sometimes happens with us today, too.

 

Is that fair? NO! Is it loving? NO!

 

So the leaders of the early church called the people together to talk about the problem of not getting enough food. Read what the Bible says about this in Acts Chapter 6:3. The leaders said:

 

 

What a great idea!

 

The believers selected 7 men to be in charge of distributing the food. These weren’t just any men—they were people who really loved Jesus and who were part of the group who had been left out. The people who already knew that being left out felt like were put in charge of making sure that NO one else would be left out again!

 

And now it is our job to make sure that other people are loved and cared for and not left out.

 

But it is hard to do that when we have to stay separated.

 

Here is your challenge for this week:

 

Come up with three new ways to share, care, and include others that you can do this summer while social distancing and staying safe. I believe you can find some awesome ideas, just like the leaders of the early church in Jerusalem did!