03/31/2020
Park Hill UMC
Children
This is an interesting story as many of us are "home" and yet a larger sense of "home" has been put on hold. We are no longer around most of the people in our daily and weekly life, and we are no longer in the schools and playgrounds that used to be much of our daytime hours.
How does this connect with a story of many of the Jews being taken from their home?
How will we return to life when our schools and friends are with us again?
*Read along in Whirl Kids Story Bible, anywhere in pgs. 98-153, and specifically pgs. 110-117 and 134-137.
Youth/Students
This is a 5 minute video on Esther and the Jewish observance of Purim. The story of Esther occurs during exile, and what later becomes names as the "diaspora" - the time when the Jews spread out beyond Jerusalem/Israel, and chose not to return.
Parents/Adults
"The Great Conversation" (Chpt. 13 in We Make the Road by Walking)
Here's an excerpt from today's reading, reminding us that our situation leads us to look for a certain kind of God:
"As the people changed and evolved, their understanding of God changed and evolved. For example, when they were nomadic wanderers in the desert, they envisioned God as a pillar of cloud and fire, cooling them by day and warming them by night. When they were involved in conquest, God was the Lord of Hosts, the commander of armies. When they were being pursued by enemies, God was pictured as a hiding place in the rocks. When they became a unified kingdom, God was their ultimate King. When they returned to their land and felt more secure, more gentle images of God took center stage - God as their Shepherd, for exmple. When they suffered defeat, they saw God as their avenger. When they suffered injustice, God was the judge who would convict their oppressors and restore justice. When they felt abandoned and alone in a foreighn land, the imagined God as a loving mother who could never forget her nursing child." pg. 57
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