NEW for 2008

Just for Life!

Past Issues:
Listen! God is Calling
LaFrontera
Pray!
 

Just for Life!

Through parables, this study will look at the justice of God. When many people think of the parables, they probably think of them in terms of the old definition, “An earthly story with a heavenly message.” Though partly accurate as a way of describing Jesus’ earthly accounts of growing seeds, mustard plants, sheep, and vineyards, such a perspective fails to recognize the unheavenly
controversy that his parables have often generated.

Within the last few decades, Jesus’ parables have been studied as stories with the potential of multiple meanings whose goal is to engage the reader/hearer in considering the world in a different way, in God’s way. Parables function as metaphors challenging or inviting the audience into a new or deeper experience of God’s dominion, a dominion identified with those who are the last, the lost, the least, the little, and the lifeless.

The packet includes theme-related Bible studies and supplementary activities for five age-groups: lower and upper elementary, junior and senior high and adult. Each packet comes with a hard copy and an electronic CD-ROM version for the curriculum. All contents are reproducible for local use.

Theme Verse
Let justice roll down like water, and righteousness like an everflowing stream. 
(Amos 5:24)

Daily Themes

Sample Pages
Introduction to the Theme
Week-at-a-Glance

More sample pages coming soon...

To order, call Augsburg Fortress 1-800/328-4648
Item No: 9786000220365
Price: $315.00
www.augsburgfortress.org

Listen!  God is Calling

When Christians talk about having a vocation from God, we are saying that God calls us.  The word vocation comes from the Latin vocare, which corresponds to the English "to call."  The first thing you say about vocation is, "Thank you, God."  The fact that God talks to us - that God calls us - is a wonderful thing.  We are not left alone to make sense of our lives.  We are not left alone to make it through the day.  The God of the universe wants to communicate with us.  The Bible talks about God's "Word" because God is a communicating God.

God's communication has its center in Jesus Christ.  God is not distant and out of our reach, a God whom we can glimpse only if we try very hard and do everything right.  Rather, God is in the midst of human life and history, in the person of Jesus. God is in all of human life, even death.  Nothing can separate us from the love of God in Jesus.

The packet includes theme-related Bible studies and supplementary activities for five age-groups: lower and upper elementary, junior and senior high and adult. Each packet comes with a hard copy and an electronic CD-ROM version for the curriculum. All contents are reproducible for local use.

Theme Verse
God saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works but according to God’s own purpose and grace, given to us in Christ Jesus before all time.
(2 Timothy 1:9)

Daily Themes:

Sample pages:
Introduction to the theme 
Week-at-a-glance  
Day 1 - Lower Elementary/Day Camp
Day 2 - Large Group Worship
Day 3 - Environmental Activities
Day 4 - Junior High
Day 4 - Creative Activities
Day 5 - Games

¡Escuchen! Dios está llamando
Listen!  God is Calling - Spanish Translation Take Home Resource

To order, call Augsburg Fortress 1-800/328-4648
Item No: 6000217285
Price: $315.00
www.augsburgfortress.org/store/index.asp

La Frontera

It is about living in the “between-place” of borders, regions, margins, and territories; that is, la frontera. We may discover another rich idea that comes from people who have different experiences than we may have, who have a different view of the world than ours.

This year’s theme also emphasizes that there is no place that Jesus will not go to meet us. There aren’t just a few places that Jesus can be found. God’s grace, through Jesus Christ, is available to all people, in every place. God knows exactly where you are and Jesus will reach you, no matter the cost, even if it means death on a cross.

At its simplest, la frontera is a place. It can mean a “place of transition,” a “place of indecision,” a “place of struggle,” “on the edge of a place,” or a “place of uncertainty.”
The packet includes theme-related Bible studies and supplementary activities for five age-groups: lower and upper elementary, junior and senior high and adult. Each packet comes with a hard copy and an electronic CD-ROM version for the curriculum. All contents are reproducible for local use.

Theme Verse:
He left that place and went to the region of Judea and beyond the Jordan. And crowds again gathered around him; and, as was his custom, he again taught them. (Mark 10:1)

Day 1:
Jesus Meets Us
John 4:1-15
Day 2:
Jesus Meets Us in the Neighbor
Luke 10:25-37
Day 3:
Jesus Meets Us on the Cross
Acts 10:34-48
Day 4:
Jesus Meets Us in La Frontera
John 20:19-29
Day 5:
Jesus Meets Us in the Feast
Luke 24:13-35

Sample pages:
Introduction to the theme
Week-at-a-glance
Day 1 - Lower Elementary/Day Camp
Day 2 - Large Group Worship
Day 3 - Environmental Activities
Day 4 - Junior High
Day 4 - Creative Activities
Day 5 - Games

To order, call Augsburg Fortress 1-800/328-4648
Item No: 6000206097
Price: $315.00
www.augsburgfortress.org/store/index.asp

Pray!

"Lord, teach us to pray" (Luke 11:1). With this simple request Jesus' disciples open their hearts and minds to one of God's most amazing and mysterious gifts: Prayer. Prayer encompasses the entire life of the pray-er. The writer of 1 Thessalonians encourages God's people to "Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you" (5:16-18). Pray without ceasing! It is obvious that there is more to prayer than a few words in the morning, at mealtime, or during worship. Prayer is conversation, reflection and journey.

Prayer cannot be separated from everything we do in our lives. The attitudes, values, and beliefs that become manifest in each relationship, each decision, and each moment of our lives is both a prayer to God and a celebration of our intimate connection with the creator. In this way we pray without ceasing. Everything we do at camp - from singing to splashing in the water, from prayer times to play times, from boisterous times of celebration with others to quiet times along for reflection, from worship to wondering about all of God's amazing gifts - is part of the prayer journey.
Teach us to pray. this simple request is the first step on a lifelong spiritual journey with God as traveling companion.

The packet includes theme-related Bible studies and supplementary activities for five age-groups: lower and upper elementary, junior and senior high and adult. Each packet comes with a hard copy and an electronic CD-ROM version for the curriculum. All contents are reproducible for local use.

Theme verse:
Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.  1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

Daily themes and verses:

Day 1:
Thanking and Praising
Exodus 15:20-25a
Day 2:
Asking
Luke 11:1-4, 9-10
Day 3:
Forgiving
Luke 7:36-48
Day 4:
Persisting
Luke 18:1-14
Day 5:
Listening
1 Samuel 2:1 - 4:1a

Sample pages
Introduction to the theme
Week-at-a-glance
Day 1 - Lower Elementary/Day Camp
Day 2 - Large Group Worship
Day 3 - Environmental Activities
Day 4 - Junior High
Day 4 - Creative Activities
Day 5 - Games

¡Oremos!
"Pray!" Spanish Translation
Take Home Daily Stories - Lower Elementary/Day Camp
Other Spanish Resources - Recursos en español
also, check out Culture Specific Ministries
To order, call Augsburg Fortress 1-800/328-4648
Order code ISBN# 6-0002-1245-3
Price: $295.00
www.augsburgfortress.org/store/index.asp

The annual Outdoor Ministries Curriculum is a cooperative project of ELCA Outdoor Ministry (Vocation and Education Program Unit) and Augsburg Fortress Publishers.
 

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