FunFaith™ Moments for FamiliesInspiration and ideas for families of faith
'50s NIGHT!
Use this fun activity to help your family explore how God's love is everlasting. --- Scripture Reference: Jeremiah 31:3 Equipment: You'll need clothes that reflect fashions of the 1950s (check your local thrift store for fun dress-up items you can use), and a meal of hamburgers, fries, and sodas. You may also want to play 50s music for extra fun (find these at your local library or an online radio station like Pandora.com). If you have any other 50s memorabilia, be sure to add it to the experience as well!
Before you begin:
Several days before you do this devotion, announce to everyone in your family that you'll soon be celebrating a '50s Night. Encourage each family member to prepare an outfit for the evening. Suggest white T-shirts, rolled-up jeans, and slicked-back hair for guys. For girls, suggest skirts, bobby socks, scarves, and ponytails. Younger children may even enjoy dressing up as Mouseketeers or Davy Crockett or Howdy Doody.
The FunFaith Moment!
On the appointed night, have everyone dress up in their '50s fashions just before dinner. When your family arrives in the dining room, serve hamburgers, fries, and sodas while '50s music is playing in the background. After dinner, try a few of the following: • See if anyone can dance the jitterbug. • Watch reruns of Happy Days TV show on DVD. • Watch the movie, Back to the Future on DVD. • Sing the theme song from Davy Crockett as loudly as you can. • See how many modern items your family can name that hadn't been invented in the 1950s. • Have your own version of a goldfish-swallowing contest--see how many goldfish crackers can be stuffed into a family member's mouth.
Discovery:
After everyone has had a taste of life in another time period, ask:
• How are the 1950s different from today? • In what ways are the 1950s and today alike? • If you could pick any era (besides today) in which to live, what time period would you choose? Explain your answer. • Why do you think God had you be born in this current time period?
Read Jeremiah 31:3 aloud. Tell everyone that these words were meant to comfort people who had turned away from God. God wanted them to know that his love was timeless, even when they suffered from consequences of being disobedient to him. No matter what, he still loved them. Continue the discussion with these questions:
• Why do you think God included this verse in the Bible? • What would you think if God loved people from the 1950s more than he loved us today? • How does God show love to us even when we don't obey him? • How do you feel knowing that God's love for you lasts forever, no matter what you do? • Why is it important that you love others?
Prayer:
Have each family member thank God for a specific way they see God showing love to him or her today. For example, God might be showing love through a friend's kindness, through family members, through the Bible, or through nature. Have each person also pray and ask God to show them how they can love others this week. ---
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