Bible Text: Luke 8:26-39
Theme: Jesus loves the broken-minded
Moment by Moment this Week: As you do life together this week, first, seek to pay attention to moments that reveal how our minds are broken (like the man whom Jesus heals in these verses). Notice when you forget something. Notice when someone in the home feels confused, was genuinely mistaken or is fuzzy about a memory. Notice on the television shows you watch, the songs you listen to, the conversations you hear. Signs of diseases of mind, or mental brokeness are all around. Name some of these moments in a way that does not ridicule but humbles us to look to Jesus whose grace is able to sustain us. Second, notice moments in which help or healing could come but someone prefers not to change and remain fractured because of it (Like the community in these verses, who tell Jesus to leave because they are afraid of His healing). Third, notice these things in yourselves not just in others. What invitation to mending in the way you relate to your spouse or kids that you are you afraid to receive from Jesus because you fear what you will lose more than you want what He will gain for you?
Intentional Activities this Week:
1. For younger children, go to the library or bookstore and read Hunches in Bunches Dr. Seuss. Notice how Seuss uses fun but helpful words like "murky-mooshy" and "frightul ga-fluppted" to describe what happens to our minds sometimes. Talk about how we forget things or get confused sometimes and that Jesus loves and accepts us and will give us grace.
2. For middle school/high school kids, google "the Leopard man" and watch the short video or read the news article on "The Leopard Man" (pictured above). As you do, acknowledge humor that results from it strangeness, but gently encourage them that we need not make fun but learn what Jesus would teach us. Then read the passage with Jesus and the demon-possessed man. Compare and contrast the stories. What is the same? What is significantly different?
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