November in FEC Kids
Prayer:
The FEC Kids staff team, elders, and deacons pray regularly for each family in our program, and we also meet to pray together using a prayer guide structured around the attributes of God. The format is based on the Moms In Prayer International prayer guide, although altered slightly to suit our community as opposed to a school. Please click HERE to see our November Prayer Guide. Use it as you wish to pray along with us in your personal prayer life, as a couple, or as a family.
Community:
We were so excited to see those of you who attended Kid’s Carnival this past week! It was a really fun time with lots of games, bouncing, and candy. A BIG THANK YOU!!!! to those who helped make this event possible!
Kid’s Carnival always marks the beginning of our seasonal events, when the days start to cool off and get shorter, but somehow life with kids does not slow down... Thanksgiving is right around the corner, with Christmas immediately after. To make life easier, here are upcoming dates to mark on your calendar and perhaps, by knowing now we can all rest a little more & catch our breath a little easier around the holidays.
Save the Dates:
Sunday, November 10: Christmas Song Practice (9:20-9:30 am, elementary) *details below
Sunday, November 24th: Thanksgiving Soup Supper (5-7 pm)
Sunday, December 8: Lessons & Carols Services (9 & 10:30 am)
Sunday, December 1, 15, & 22: Regular Sunday Schedule
Wednesday, December 18: Live Nativity in the fellowship hall & gym (6-8 pm)
Monday, December 23: Pizza & Practice for Christmas Eve Children’s Nativity (10 am-12 pm)
Tuesday, December 24: Candlelight Christmas Eve Service with Children’s Nativity & Song (5-6 pm)
Sunday, December 29: Family Worship Service, no Sunday School, Childcare for ages 2 & younger only
Celebrating Christmas in Song:
This practice has been a part of Christian life and Christian Community for thousands of years. This year, our children are singing Once in Royal David’s City. The words to this old hymn reflect on Jesus’ incarnation, contrasting his divinity and humanity, all miraculously born in a stable. “Let the Stable Still Astonish” will be the theme of our worship at First Evan this coming Christmas, and it is indeed astonishing. FEC kids will practice our song each week starting November 10, elementary students practicing at 9:25 before Sunday School begins. PreK kids will practice during Children’s Church. On Monday, December 23, at 10:00am, all kids ages 4 years old - 5th grade will try on costumes and practice in the sanctuary, followed by a pizza lunch and playtime outside if weather allows. Please listen to the song with your child over the next two months to help them memorize the wonderful words to this great hymn. They will open our Candlelight Christmas Eve Service by dressing as Mary, Joseph, angels, shepherds, & sheep, reading from Luke 2, and singing verses 1 & 3. The choir and/or congregation will join in singing at the end. It is a special night for everyone involved!
Click HERE to listen on YouTube
Click HERE to listen on Spotify
Discipleship:
Memory Verse:
O Lord, you are my God;
I will exalt you; I will praise your name,
for you have done wonderful things,
plans formed of old, faithful and sure.
Isaiah 25:1
Big Picture Question:
Why should we praise Jesus? We should praise Jesus for all He has done for us.
Weekly Theme: God is Sovereign and Worthy to be Praised
Sunday School, 11/3: Paul Returned to Jerusalem (Acts 21-22)
Wednesday Midweek 11/6: The Bible is God’s Revelation
Weekly Theme: God’s Word is Trustworthy and True
Sunday School, 11/10: Paul Was On Trial (Acts 22-23)
Wednesday Midweek, 11/13: The Bible is God’s Inspired Word
Weekly Theme: Every day belongs to God
Sunday School, 11/17: Paul Was Sent To Rome (Acts 24-26)
Wednesday Midweek, 11/20: The Bible Lights our Path (Last Midweek—Awana Store night)
Weekly Theme: Follow the Lord in Courage and Faith
Sunday School, 11/24: “Paul went to Rome” (Acts 27-28)
Encouragement:
I love fall. To me, the leaves look like confetti, as if God is having a party. This past month as Halloween approached, driving around & seeing death celebrated in more and more yards has made me sad for those who don’t know the “Father of lights,” as the LORD is called in James 1:17— our Father who gives good and perfect gifts, our savior who came to show us the Way and to give light so freely.
One of my favorite podcasts recently has been a talk on Light— specifically, how Jesus claimed, “I am the Light of the World” (John 8:12-30, TGC Podcast from TGCW ‘24). In her talk, Jen Wilkin reminds listeners that light hasn’t always been as safe as the switches we flip on and off every day; in fact, for most of human history, light has meant fire, and fire is categorically unsafe. The refrain she uses in her talk is “dangerous light.” If you’ve roasted a marshmallow with your kids this fall, you probably reminded them not to create a torch, because you know she’s right: fire is dangerous.
Likewise, our natural light sources are as dangerous as they are beautiful. Not a one of us could remain unscathed if we were to stand before the sun which the Lord spoke into existence or even His smallest star— the ones Jesus holds in his hands in Revelation. While Jesus is, in his own words, “gentle and lowly,” scripture implores us to remember that “our God is a consuming fire” (Matthew 11:29, Hebrews 12:29)—Simultaneous truths whose only right response is worship.
As we head into the Thanksgiving and Christmas seasons, we who are people of the light have more than ghosts and skeletons and ghouls and goblins and all of the everlasting death that horror brings. We have beautiful, everlasting life and light threaded into the fabric of our souls; it is a flame that doesn’t consume us, kindled by the very Holy Spirit of God Almighty (Is. 43:2, Acts 2). It is a light set there for the purpose of shining, and we were never meant to shine alone.
As family and a body of believers, we are to “let our light shine before men” (Matt 5:16). There are seasons, both cultural and personal, when things grow darker, but in the darkness, we have an opportunity to shine out “all the more as we see the Day approaching,” a task which requires us to love and encourage each other (Heb 10:24-25). Our walk is a together-walk.
Praise God for the collective light he is able raise up in us in spite of our sin, just as he raised up His son. Pray that our homes and our church would be a faithful “city on a hill” (Matt 5:14). No matter how unlikely it may seem, the darkness cannot overcome glory lit to flame in the thankful hearts of those who remember Jesus’ incarnation, await His return, and joyfully share His light by shining bright in the meantime.
Resources:
See our bookshelf in the FEC Kids lobby for a few new arrivals! Borrow a book if you would like & return it when you are done. We have books for adults & kids, family devotionals, & some longer family-read-alouds like an illustrated version of Pilgrim’s Progress. Here are some highlights for this month:
For Grown-Ups…
To The Tenth Generation, by Ray & Jani Ortland
The Flourishing Family, by Dr. David & Amanda Erickson
Raising Grateful Kids in an Entitled World, by Kristen Welch
For Kids…
Your Family is God’s Plan by Ray & Jani Ortland
God’s Very Good Idea and The Big Wide Welcome, by Trilla Newbell
Zaccheus and the Brand-New Start, by Carl Laferton