Kids are Neighbors Too

Bible Verse: Luke 18:15-18

Theme: According to Jesus, Kids are Neighbors Too!

Summary: One theme from this week's sermon is that often adults and kids are confused about the differences between a limit, a sin and an accident. Not knowing how to handle these differences impacts who we are as adults and kids and how we relate to one another. When you read the passage, notice that the disciples are confused. They rebuke the kids for something that Jesus would not rebuke them for. For your family activity this week, let's explore how Jesus handles us with our limits, accidents and sins. For more, listen to the sermon entitled, Jesus loves children (Sept 6, 2009) at www.riversidestl.org

Family Activity:

• Read this Bible passage with your kids this week. With older kids mention it while driving to school or just before bed or ask them to read it if one on one is better.
• For younger kids this week, consider watching or referencing Beauty and the Beast (for older kids, consider Hook or The Dark Knight)
• As you do, consider two themes:

1. What does it mean to be a grown up? What does a grown up look like and act like? Ask your selves and your kids these questions this week. If you can watch Beauty and the Beast as a family, ask yourselves before and after the movie, "What does Gaston believe it means to be a grown-up? What picture of a grown-up does the Beast portray? In contrast to both, how does Belle picture what it means to live and act like an adult? (In Hook, contrast Peter Banning, Peter Pan, the Lost Boys and the Pirates; in The Dark Knight, contrast the view of being grown up offered by Batman and the Joker. Consider how Jesus pictures adulthood in a way that challenges both Batman and the Joker, both Peter Pan and the Pirates)
2. Consider the difference between a limit, an accident and a sin. Ask yourselves and your kids if they know what the differences are this week. If you can watch the movie, consider for example: When the Beast yells at Belle, or captures her father, Belle rightly names his behavior as mean. This is right for the Beast isn't showing love for God or neighbor by this behavior. But when the Beast is trying to use silverware at the table, his paws make this difficult. His limited dexterity contributes to his making a mess and spilling things at the table. Rather than rebuke the beast as if he is sinning, Belle recognizes his limits and subsequent accidents. She accepts him and does not rebuke or shame him. She even joins him in his limits by drinking from the bowl instead of using a spoon.
3. The goal this week is to consider as a family, how Jesus handles our limits and accidents and sins. How is his approach different from the disciples and surrounding culture? Reflect as parents on the way coaches, pastors, parents, etc . . .have treated you. How do these differ from the way Jesus treats you? Reflect on the way you treat each other as a family. What healing can you experience by learning to give and receive His grace?

Parent's Guide:

1. Consider the movie, Regarding Henry with Harrison Ford as an example of a Parent who struggled with shaming things in his kids that weren't sins and who transforms in a more gracious direction with his family.
2. Use these ideas as a way to help you in your discussion

Limit: something we can’t do simply because we’re human and made the way we are

Babies can’t do much—they are very limited. We wouldn’t expect them to be able to pick up a tv and move it, or even to be able to feed themselves. All of us are limited in ways. Just because you can’t make a basketball shot or cook your own dinner or drive yourself to school doesn’t mean you have done anything wrong. It just means you’re limited. Some of our limits we grow out of: you’ll someday be able to cook for yourself and drive yourself places. But all of us have limits our whole lives because we’re human. There are things even the strongest person in the world can’t lift. That person isn’t doing anything wrong—they’re just limited.

Accident: unintentional “messing up,” making a mistake without sinning

Sometimes we do things without meaning to that can make a mess, break things, or even hurt somebody. Sometimes I can throw a ball and it goes where I want it to, but sometimes it goes through a window and sometimes it may hit somebody else when I don’t mean for it to. Accidents may be things we have to help make right: we help clean up the mess or say we’re sorry. But they are not sinful because we were not being unloving—we just made a mistake.

Sin: intentionally violating love for God or neighbor

We are limited and we have accidents, but we also can be hurtful and unloving. We hit our brothers and sisters, disobey our parents, and speak mean words to our friends. In those moments we choose not to love and instead to be hurtful. These are the actions we need to confess by saying out loud we were wrong, and then we need to ask forgiveness from God and from the people we hurt.