At the Fall retreat, we talked about the Bible as the written word of God.  Here are some additional thoughts and also some homework and an announcement or two.

 Download the parent's sumary

One of the things we discovered at the retreat was that the students are having a very difficult time finding things in the Bible. This can be tough.  The Bible is not laid out in alphabetical order.  The Students did not have too much trouble figuring out chapter and verse references.  Knowing where to find the book they wanted was the real challenge.

While we will work on this some in class to try and build up better biblical literacy, this is a skill that comes with practice and familiarity.  Practice is the real key.  Use the simple chart on the back of the parent's sumary page as a guide and talk with your kids about where the books of the Bible are located.  But more importantly, practice looking up things.  Find a daily devotional to do at breakfast, dinner, bedtime, or another time.  Taking Faith Home is a resource that we provide every week at worship that can help families.  Each day there is a scripture lesson.  Take turns with your student looking up the lesson.  Talk through the process of finding it: "Let's see, Romans is in the New Testament, it's one of the letters to the church so it will be behind the gospels.  Oh look, it's the first of the letters.  What's the book just before it, what's the one after it?  We need to find chapter 8, verse 31 through 36."

Practicing this will not only help your student, but also yourself in your faith life.  The Bible is the principle way we encounter God's Word and desire for us.  If we are intimidated by it and uncertain of how to find things in it, we will not read it and will deny ourselves God's gifts within it.

Altered Book Journals

We began our altered book journals this weekend.  The students created a page about themselves to start and began developing a general page about the Bible.  Watch for periodic pictures to appear from these journals.  They're really awesome.  

If your student wasn't at the retreat, they may want to stop by the church and pick out their book and begin their journal.  Talk with Pastor or Jason about setting up a time for this.

Announcement:

October 9th is our next class. We will be meeting after church that day for class and also participating in the CROP Walk.  Every confirmation student is expected to walk in the CROP walk (unless there are physical reasons they can't) and get at least one sponsor too.  Please make sure that your student wears or bring appropriate clothes and shoes for walking on this day.  You're invited to walk too.  All the money raised helps fight hunger both around the world and right here in Sparta!.

Homework:

Take the word “Grace” 

• How many times does it appear in the NRSV?
• Print/write out the definition from a Bible Dictionary.
• Print/write out the explanation from a Bible encyclopedia
• Remember you can use the Bible tools on our website to help you discover the answers.
• Bring your answers to class with you.

Talk With your child about why you read the Bible:

• I read the Bible when . . .
• My favorite Bible Character is  . . . 
• Something I’m confused by is . . . 
• My Parents taught me about the bible . . .