Day 89: Empathy

Daily Sheet: Day 89: Empathy

Family Book: “The Long March: The Chocktaw’s Gift to Irish Famine Relief”

Unknown-1.jpeg

Travel: Oklahoma; Texas

Song: “Why It Matters” – Sara Groves (with lyrics)

Sit with me and tell me once again of the story that’s been told us, of the power that will hold us, of the beauty, of the beauty, Why it matters.

Speak to me until I understand why our thinking and creating, why our efforts of narrating about the beauty, of the beauty, And why it matters.

Like the statue in the park of this war torn town, and its protest of the darkness and the chaos all around, with its beauty, how it matters, How it matters.

Show me the love that never fails, the compassion and attention midst confusion and dissension, like small ramparts for the soul, How it matters.

Like a single cup of water, How it matters.

Questions:

  • Compare “empathy” to “sympathy.”  Which is more meaningful?  Why?
  • Why do you think the story of Jesus raising the widow’s son was chosen for “Empathy” rather than for “Compassion?”
  • Think about the story of “The Long March” while you re-read the bolded lines at the end of Sara Groves’ song, “Why It Matters.”  How do you think the Chocktaw’s act of kindness, inspired by empathy, might have built “small ramparts for the soul”?  And what is the “single cup of water” reference?
Standard

Day 82: Strength

Daily Sheet: Day 82: Strength

Family Book: “I Lay My Stitches Down”

61-GYoRlIvL._SX379_BO1,204,203,200_

Travel: Sierra Leone; Guinea; Liberia

Video: “We Are Not as Strong As We Think We Are” – Rich Mullins (acoustic, Wheaton College 1997)

Video: “Please Be My Strength” – Gungor (live acoustic version)

 

Standard

Day 67: Gratitude

Daily Sheet: Day 67: Gratitude

Family Book: “Moonlight on the Amazon”

51dT3miZ-LL._SY382_BO1,204,203,200_

Travel: Brazil

Hymn: It Is Well

Video: “Something Changed” – Sara Groves

Song: “Grace For Me” – Gungor (with Portuguese subtitles)

Listen for and discuss the following lyrics:

“Valleys come and tears are drying.  There are things I don’t yet see.  But I’ll rejoice in spite of hardship.  You’ll watch over me.  Your grace for me is all I need; all I need is here.”

Video: “How Great Thou Art” – The Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir  (This takes the Cheesiest Video Cake.  My kids love it, though.)

Standard

Day 64: Courtesy

Daily Sheet: Day 64: Courtesy

Family Book: “Plume”

41g9BRe2LoL._SX343_BO1,204,203,200_

Travel: Puerto Rico; St. Kitts and Nevis; Antigua and Barbuda; Dominica; St. Lucia; St. Vincent and the Grenadines; Barbados; Grenada; Trinidad and Tobago

Song: “Rewrite This Tragedy” – Sara Groves

Standard

Day 29: Thankfulness

FILM FESTIVAL

Daily Sheet: Day 29: Thankfulness

Family Book: “Thank You, God”

Family Book: “A Different Pond”

5118zM9nucL._SX378_BO1,204,203,200_ 51V6yTVpIhL._SX420_BO1,204,203,200_

Travel: Taiwan

Video: Stories of Christian Persecution: Eritrea – The story of Helen Berhane

If you were to wake up tomorrow with only the things you thank God for today, what would you have?

Hymn: “This Is My Father’s World” – Charles Holt tells the story of his grandmother

Video: “Something Changed” – Sara Groves

Song: “Grace For Me” – Gungor (with Portuguese subtitles)

Listen for and discuss the following lyrics:

“Valleys come and tears are drying.  There are things I don’t yet see.  But I’ll rejoice in spite of hardship.  You’ll watch over me.  Your grace for me is all I need; all I need is here.”

Questions:

  • What does it mean to be thankful “in all circumstances”?
  • Is there a difference between thankfulness and gratitude?
Standard

Day 4: Grace

FILM FESTIVAL

Daily Sheet: Day 4: Grace

Travel: Syria; Jordan

Read Exodus 16 for the story of the Isrealites’ wandering:

The whole Israelite community set out from Elim and came to the Desert of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after they had come out of Egypt.  In the desert the whole community grumbled against Moses and Aaron.  The Israelites said to them, “If only we had died by the Lord’s hand in Egypt!  There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted, but you have brought us out into this desert to starve this entire assembly to death.”

Then the Lord said to Moses, “I will rain down bread from heaven for you.  The people are to go out each day and gather enough for that day.  In this way I will test them and see whether they will follow my instructions.  On the sixth day they are to prepare what they bring in, and that is to be twice as much as they gather on the other days.”

So Moses and Aaron said to all the Israelites, “In the evening you will know that it was the Lord who brought you out of Egypt, and in the morning you will see the glory of the Lord, because he has heard your grumbling against him.  Who are we, that you should grumble against us?”  Moses also said, “You will know that it was the Lord when he gives you meat to eat in the evening and all the bread you want in the morning, because he has heard your grumbling against him.  Who are we?  You are not grumbling against us, but against the Lord.”

Then Moses told Aaron, “Say to the entire Israelite community, ‘Come before the Lord, for he has heard your grumbling.'”

While Aaron was speaking to the whole Israelite community, they looked toward the desert, and there was the glory of the Lord appearing in the cloud.

The Lord said to Moses, “I have heard the grumbling of the Israelites.  Tell them, ‘At twilight you will eat meat, and in the morning you will be filled with bread.  Then you will know that I am the Lord your God.'”

That evening quail came and covered the camp, and in the morning there was a layer of dew around the camp.  When the dew was gone, thin flakes like frost on the ground appeared on the desert floor.  When the Israelites saw it, they said to each other, “What is it?”  For they did not know what it was.

Moses said to them, “It is the bread the Lord has given you to eat.  This is what the Lord has commanded: ‘Everyone is to gather as much as they need.  Take an omer for each person you have in your tent.'”

The Israelites did as they were told; some gathered much, some little.  And when they measured it by the omer, the one who gathered much did not have too much, and the one who gathered little did not have too little.  Everyone had gathered just as much as they needed.

Then Moses said to them, “No one is to keep any of it until morning.”

However, some of them paid no attention to Moses; they kept part of it until morning, but it was full  of maggots and began to smell.  So Moses was angry with them.

Each morning everyone gathered as much as they needed and when the sun grew hot, it melted away.  On the sixth day, they gathered twice as much – two omers for each person – and the leaders of the community came and reported this to Moses.  He said to them, “This is what the Lord commanded: ‘Tomorrow is to be a day of sabbath rest, a holy sabbath to the Lord.  So bake what you want to bake and boil what you want to boil.  Save whatever is left and keep it until morning.'”

So they saved it until morning, as Moses commanded, and it did not stink or get maggots in it.  “Eat it today,” Moses said, “because today is a sabbath to the Lord.  You will not find any of it on the ground today.  Six days you are to gather it, but on the seventh day, the Sabbath, there will not be any.”

Nevertheless, some of the people went out on the seventh day to gather it, but they found none.  Then the Lord said to Moses, “How long will you refuse to keep my commands and my instructions?  Bear in mind that the Lord has given you the Sabbath; that is why on the sixth day he gives you bread for two days.  Everyone is to stay where they are on the seventh day; no one is to go out.”  So the people rested on the seventh day.

The people of Israel called the bread manna.  It was white like coriander seed and tasted like wafers made with honey.  Moses said, “This is what the Lord has commanded: ‘Take an omer of manna and keep it for the generations to come, so they can see the bread I gave you to eat in the wilderness when I brought you out of Egypt.'”

So Moses said to Aaron, “Take a jar and put an omer of manna in it.  Then place it before the Lord to be kept for the generations to come.”

As the Lord commanded Moses, Aaron put the manna with the tablets of the covenant law, so that it might be preserved.  The Israelites ate manna forty years, until they came to a land that was settled; they ate manna until they reached the border of Canaan.

(An omer is one-tenth of an ephah.)  -about 3 pounds or about 1.4 kilograms

Songs & Videos: 

Questions:

  • Were the Israelites refugees?  Why or why not?
  • Compare the illustrations in these two books.  How do the illustrators convey expression differently?
Standard