In this issue: activities to help your family grow spiritually while engaging with current events, including the pandemic and racial tension.
In all times, we as the Christian community need to be constantly seeking out ways to continue and improve upon our spiritual growth. This is especially true in times of anxiety, tension, and uncertainty.We find ourselves in exactly this type of time. Given the circumstances of the past few months, these family activities specifically focus on living during a global pandemic and living in times of racial tension.
DAILY PRAISES, HOPES, AND LAMENTS
As a family, go around in a circle and share a praise for something God is doing, a hope for something the world needs, and a lament about something in your life.
DAILY GRATITUDES
Each day, as a family, have each person share things they are thankful for today. Fun twist: you can’t say something you said on a previous day; it must be a new note of gratitude.
RECONNECT
During hectic times, it can be easy to forget about those who are not right in front of us. Take time this week to reconnect, in whatever way possible (phone, email, text, etc.) with people who may have specifically been affected by the circumstances of the past few months.
Reconnect with those you normally interact with but have not been able to due to the coronavirus.
Reach out to those anyone who has been particularly impacted by quarantine (e.g., someone who has lost someone to the virus, those who have been infected, those who have lost jobs) and let them know you are thinking about them. Ask if they need anything.
Reach out to anyone you know in the black community and ask them how they are doing in the midst of the current conversations about race in America.
Make flyers to pass out to your neighbors inviting them to a specific time next week to grab their favorite drink and snack and hangout in their driveway. Take this opportunity to get to know your neighbors or reconnect with those you’ve had less contact with recently.
As always, our desire is for our community to be saturated in prayer over our families, the FRCS community, our nation, and our world. Following are some suggestions for your family to pray about together this week.
FRCS COMMUNITY
- FRCS Leadership as they prepare for the coming fall
- safety for the FRCS community over the summer
- the Nehemiah Project (learn more)
- the Richards family
- 2020 graduates and their transition to college life in the coming months
COVID-19
- for a quick and effective vaccine
- for those who have been infected or who have lost someone to the virus
- for those who have lost their jobs or had their pay cut
- for Governor Polis and continued health regulations to allow us to gather together as soon as safely as possible
RACIAL TENSION
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- wisdom for the President and his administrators
- safety for the the police offices around our nation committed to keeping people safe
- safety of peaceful protestors seeking justice and serving their communities
- for the families of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery
- wisdom and love for our black brothers and sisters
If you are interested in resources from a Christian perspective to help you engage with and process the conversations and experiences of life during a pandemic or life in times of racial tension, here are a few. If you are interested in more, please reach out to Sam Butler, Director of Discipleship, at .
COVID-19
- God and the Pandemic by N.T. Wright
- Virus as a Summons to Faith by Walter Bruggemann
RACE IN AMERICA
- The Cross and the Lynching Tree by James H. Cone<?li>
- Dream with Me: Race, Love and the Struggle We Must Win by John Perkins
- I’m Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness by Austin Channing Brown
