Hello again! And welcome to the last ‘Doing Church Differently For Kids’ before the summer holidays. Next week we have something extra special planned – we’re going to join together with the grown-ups for our special all-age virtual summer celebration and prizegiving. It won’t be the same as usual but we hope you’ll still join in and watch at home with your family. You’ll be able to watch it here on our blog so make sure you check in next Sunday!
I hope you’ve enjoyed ‘Doing Church Differently For Kids’ over the last few months and it has helped you to focus on God a little bit each weekend and learn more about Him and how much He loves you. I also hope it’s helped you still feel a part of the kids stuff at Challenge while we can’t meet together. We’re SO excited for the day when we can all meet up again and enjoy singing, dancing and learning together like we used to do each week!
All I need to do now is say thank you to those people who have contributed to this page during lockdown and shared thoughts, songs and activities with you. So…. thank you Julia O, Marion, Julia B, Lois & Niamh!
Saying thank you has reminded me of a song we enjoy, so let’s sing that together before I hand over to Julia O. Have a great summer and don’t forget to check in again next Sunday for the all-age summer celebration!
Katharine
Jonah Days
Hello – it’s Julia O – have you ever heard of a Jonah Day?
Huh? What’s one of those I can hear you thinking!
It’s a day when nothing seems to go right or as it should do or how you were expecting it to. Have you ever had one of those days at school or even at home?
A Jonah Day is mentioned in one of our family’s favourite stories which was made into a series of films and is called Anne of Green Gables. Anne got into all kinds of adventures in her story about growing up on a farm on Prince Edward Island in Canada where she lived with Matthew and Marilla , a brother and sister who had adopted her from the orphanage where she was living because her mother and father had died.
And so, it happened one evening that Anne tells Marilla that she had had a real Jonah Day! You will have to read the book or watch the film to find out why it was a Jonah Day for Anne!
Now, we read all about Jonah in the Bible – he had a really bad day and it all started when he thought he could run away and escape from God because he didn’t want to do what God was asking him to do.
Watch the film to see what happened to Jonah.
Maybe now you have watched it, you can understand a bit more about what it means to have a Jonah Day. You use this saying when you are having a ‘got thrown out of a boat, swallowed by a fish, stuck in a fish’s belly, only to end up as fish vomit’ kind of day!
But do you know what I love about Jonah’s story? God gives him a second chance. It says so in the Bible.
‘God spoke to Jonah a second time’
Jonah Chapter 3 Verse 1
You see God forgave him when he messed up and gave him another chance.
And because of the Lord Jesus and because of God’s great love for us, He always forgives us and gives us another chance too. We just have to say sorry and ask Him to forgive us.
There’s another saying in Anne of Green Gables that I love – Tomorrow is always fresh with no mistakes in it!
We can all start each new day by thanking God and asking for his help – and if by the end of the day, you have messed up, done or said something wrong, lost your temper or even thumped your brother or sister, God is waiting and listening for you to say sorry and He will forgive you.
God can make a Jonah Day into a brand-new fresh day with no mistakes in it.
Enjoy this song that reminds us of all God’s promises.
Choose from these activities:
1) Write a prayer or draw a picture to say sorry to God and to thank Him for forgiving you
2) Print and try this activity sheet
3) Click here and have a go at something more tricky
Have a good week!
Julia O