Hello Chapel Hill Families!

Celebrate Wonder is a Sunday school curriculum that engages children’s natural sense of curiosity to help them understand God’s love. It creates a safe environment for kids to ask big questions — helping them explore the Bible in ways that feed their imagination and encourages creativity. Through carefully-selected Bible stories, songs, videos, and hands-on activities, Celebrate Wonder gives children the tools to explore their faith while incorporating it into their daily lives.

Since we are not able to meet in person, I have been mailing Sunday School Kits to families each month with printed lesson plans, activity sheets and craft supplies. November Sunday School Kits were mailed out last week. If you would like to be added to our mailing list, please sign up by clicking the button below.  I will also continue to attach digital copies of the material to our weekly e- news for you to print at home if you prefer that option.

Each month, our weekly stories will align with a Faith Word. The Faith Word for the month of November is, “Blessing”.

Jacob now has his brother’s birthright, but to receive the inheritance he must also receive the full blessing from his father, Isaac. To make this happen, Rebecca comes up with a plan to deceive Isaac. The plan involves Jacob dressing in such a way that he appears to be his brother Esau. Jacob makes himself very hairy and brings his father savory food. Isaac is very old and cannot see so he depends on smell and touch to assure himself the person before him is really Esau. Though Isaac still questions the identity of “Esau,” he does bestow his blessing on Jacob.

When Esau discovers that he has been robbed of his father’s blessing, he wants to kill Jacob. Esau is very angry, upset, and confused. It seems that this complicated story only results in more chaos. Rebecca sends Jacob away, and Isaac finally does give Esau a blessing. However, the blessing is more like banishment. Isaac says that Esau will move far away and will serve his brother. Everyone in this story must have been feeling completely overwhelmed.

It’s easy to get overwhelmed when life gets hard. When there is chaos all around us, we sometimes lose our ability to see clearly, and we don’t always respond in helpful and faithful ways. In fact, this story shows us what not to do. But this story also gives us the opportunity to act differently. We can feel, notice, and name our emotions in hard times, and then proceed by asking God to be with us. The mess of our lives might not go away. But when we go to God, we can pause even for just a moment and feel the stillness of God’s presence and be reminded we do not have to face this life alone.

Children feel big feelings too. As adults, we can help them find tools like this to manage and cope when life feels like too much. When children can go to God, children can deepen their faith and strengthen their abilities to be healthy and whole.

Practice the phrase, “I am here.” Life is full of interruptions. But, it’s important to stay attentive and aware of our own feelings and to be in the presence of God. This week when life brings unwanted interruptions or unexpected events or emotions, practice saying, “I am here.”

Check out last week’s video featuring my girls! Session 10- “The Birthright” (Genesis 25:29-34)