from the Fox Valley Church of Christ, Wisconsin
Week 3 The Throne or The Towel
Activity
Plan a time for your family to engage in a service activity. Make sure you choose something that everyone can do together and everyone can have a part in (even two or three year-olds can help with activities – even just a little bit.) You might serve a meal at a soup kitchen, make and deliver a meal to another family, go to someone’s house and wash all of their windows…get creative!
Encourage everyone to have fun while you are serving – and if anyone has a bad attitude, encourage them not to bring the mood down. This is a great opportunity to talk about serving with a happy heart.
If possible, have a short devotional right after your service activity. If you need to do it at another time, then remind everyone about the service you did as a family before you being your devotional time.
Singing and Bible Reading
Sing a few songs together and then have one child read Mark 10:35-45. Have another child read John 13:1-17.
Questions and Discussion
- What were John and James arguing about in Mark 10?
- Why do you think they were arguing about sitting on thrones next to Jesus?
- What does Jesus tell them that he wants from his people?
- Explain that in Jesus’ time (during John 13), a servant was expected to wash the dust off the feet of a guest. But if there wasn’t a servant available, someone else should have done the job and served the other guests.
- Ask your kids why they think there were no disciples fighting to pick up the servant’s towel and wash the feet of the others.
- Why does Jesus want his disciples to serve others?
- What are ways in our life that we try to choose the way of the throne rather than the way of the towel? You may need to explain this concept in a different way to younger children.
TEA Time (Taking Energetic Action)
Brainstorm as a family and choose another activity you can do together to serve someone else.
Discuss why you chose your first service activity and why you will be doing another one (and hopefully continuing to serve as a family regularly.)
Memorize Mark 10:45 as a family. Write out the verse on a large sheet of paper or placard of some type and put it somewhere visible to all family members. Quiz each other each day this week and make sure that everyone has it memorized.