Day 10 – Greet one another lovingly
Morning prayer
Start you day with this prayer
Pick my up, Lord, and hold me in your loving arms.
Protect me from the pressures of the day,
and remove the heaviness from my heart.
Inspire me with the knowledge that You and I together
can handle anything.
(Silence)
Let your will be done.
Amen.
Prayer station
Use this symbol to lead you in prayer for the day.
Symbol: Coffee mug
We pray for all parents and caregivers who look after children and grandchildren.
May they find joy in the time spent together – time they perhaps may not have had together otherwise.
Reflection
Read this reflection on the text for the day.
Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the churches of Christ send greetings – Romans 16:16.
All the brothers and sisters here send you greetings. Greet one another with a holy kiss – 1 Corinthians 16:20.
Greet one another with a holy kiss. 13 All God’s people here send their greetings – 2 Corinthians 13:12.
Greet one another with a kiss of love. Peace to all of you who are in Christ – 1 Peter 5:14.
The first Christians loved greeting one another with a kiss. They – both men and women – greeted one another with a holy kiss, a kiss of love, when they gathered together. It was a common practise in the early church (Rom 16:16; 1 Cor 16:20; 2 Kor 13:12; 1 Thess 5:26), and we also see it in Jesus’ life (Luke 7:45). These holy kisses testified to their heartfelt love and care for one another. When Paul said farewell to the elders of the church in Ephesus they smothered him with hugs and kisses (Acts 20:37).
What makes the different commands to greet one another with a holy kiss so unique, is that nowhere in the ancient world we find a similar command to kiss people who do not share the same status as you in public. It was, therefore, a powerful testimony by the early church that they loved one another sincerely as brothers and sisters.
Today we do not kiss one another in the same way as the believers in the early church to greet and welcome one another. But we can receive and welcome one another lovingly in public to testify in this way of the unity among us, not only to one another, but also to the whole world.
Lord, thank you for every brother and sister who are part of our family of believers. Bind us together in love. Amen.
Isaac’s Soap Opera
Watch this video with your children
Liturgy for life
See the ordinary things you do in and around the house as signs of God’s care.
Start and end each day with …
How do you greet each other in the morning? What do you say when you see the other people in your house for the first time in the morning? How do you greet one another when it is bedtime? What is the last thing you say to each other before you go to sleep? Is this time of isolation not the perfect opportunity to create new greeting habits or practices in your home?
In our house we now got the children to say first, “Good morning, Daddy, I have slept well. Did you sleep well, Daddy?” before they start asking for something to eat or for help to find something that they misplaced.
Maybe we can go even further by greeting one another at the beginning of each new day with hope and expectation, “I greet you and I hope that we will listen to one another better today.” And when we greet one another at the end of the day, we can name things that made us grateful, or tell one another what we did through the day that meant a lot to us. In this way we can make the way we greet one another so much more special.
Children’s activity
Play with your children.
Wow! 21 Days of isolation. 21 Days in which we’re only allowed to be in our homes (or gardens) and can only go out for the most essential things like food and medicine. It can be a little rough! All the things we usually do during the day, like school, sport, church … are not happening anymore. It can really confuse you and maybe even bore you a little. These daily readings will help you to spend some time with Jesus every day in a creative and fun way. You can do these readings and activities by yourself, with your siblings, or with your entire family. Ask one of the grownups to post your activity on Facebook so that others can enjoy it with you. Tag it with #solitudecalendar #churchtogether
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The first Christians loved kissing. They – men and women – greeted each other every time they met with a kiss of love. Although kissing each other isn’t the way we greet or welcome one another today, we should still make each other feel welcome when we are together. This welcoming should also not only be for people you know, but for everyone who is there.
How would you like to be greeted?
Imagine you are walking down the street and someone smiles at you and says hello while you walk past each other. How does this make you feel and why would you feel this way?
Activity
Create a special greeting for your house. It can be different movements, like high fives or fist bumps, that you add together. Make sure that it is easy enough for everyone in the house to be able to do.
Trace the outlines of your hands on pieces of paper, decorate it and cut it out. These hands now almost look like hands waving “hello”. Maak a circle with all the hands (make more if you need it) so that it looks almost like a wreath. Paste it together and put the hand-wreath on your front door as a reminder that we must make people feel welcome.
Creative prayer
Colour and reflect (Instructions are available under the picture)
INSTRUCTIONS
• Choose your art materials such as coloured pencils, coloured pens and koki pens. Any of these will work.
• Colour in the picture and do the activity.
TIPS
• Choose no more than five colours. If you’re unsure of which colours to use, take out all the colours and put them on the table. Close your eyes and pick up five.
• It may be easier for you to first start colouring the edges and not big blank spaces.
• Don’t stop halfway, especially if your reason for stopping is that you think your picture isn’t pretty. This is the purpose of the activity – to get your attention away from unnecessary thoughts like, “Am I doing this right?” and to focus on the people that you love.
• When you’ve finished colouring the picture, put the picture in a prominent place in your house, like your bedroom or in the kitchen.
Consider sharing your picture on social media with the hashtags #solitudecalendar #churchtogether
Thank you’s and testimonies
Share your testimony with us! Use the online form below.
I lost my husband seven months ago and I am alone in my house. This calendar is dear to me and very comforting. In my solitude I wish there was someone I could share it with. My husband would have loved it so much. Thank you for the daily inspiration. I have started wondering what I’m going to do after the 21 days! Keep going!– Alta
Thank you for this calendar. It has become my evening Bible study. Today we can only share what we’ve received, even if it isn’t always food. Words that encourage can mean a lot more. We serve a gracious God.– Elize Otto
We as a family are excited to open the next window every day and to grow together in God’s Name. The children (Karlia, 10, and Divan, 7) are so excited to add the next symbol to the prayer station. And of course… the activities are so much fun after a day of homeschooling! Thank you so much for your support in this time.– Ronel Saayman