4/2 Epidemic A La Carte

IF you were looking for the 4/9 A La Carte post, click HERE.

Are you looking for creative ideas for group activities that will allow you to connect with other individuals and families during the stay-at-home order? The following list might help.

  1. Video Conference Book Club or Bible Study – Read books or passages of Scripture together with others and discuss online. If you both have the same book already, this would be ideal. Otherwise, buying a digital copy of the book could be a good option.
  1. Car Caroling – Drive to someone’s house, park outside their house, call them and ask them to come out of their front door, and then sing some songs for them! This would be a fun activity for children in particular. You could also take this same idea and simply call someone from your car where you can talk within sight of each other.
  1. Challenge Family and Friends to Various Activities – Who can paint the best picture of Glacier National Park? Who can finish minute-to-win-it games the fastest (you can search for these games online)?
  1. Play games over a Video Conference – This could be done if both families have the same board game. You could also play games such as Scrabble or Settlers of Catan, which have smartphone apps available, and call each other while you compete against each other. Alternatively, you could play a traditional bingo or bingo blackout by having everyone create their own bingo card (center space free) and then designate a caller to use a virtual bingo caller (such as letsplaybingo.io) in order to randomly call out numbers. Playing a trivia game could also be a fun option for large groups.
  1. Write letters to Other Families and Correspond – Ask five questions that you want everyone in the family you are writing to to answer, or draw a picture or verse of Scripture to send to the family, or come up with your own fun ideas for corresponding, then ask them to do the same to you. You could do the same over email to save on stamps.
  1. Take Virtual Tours Together – There are a number of virtual tours available online for free, including museums, and even Yosemite National Park! You can see the list of such tours here: https://www.theactivetimes.com/virtual-tour-landmark. Ask a friend or another family to take the tour with you on their computer and talk through a phone call or video conference while you enjoy the tour together.
  1. Do Outdoor Activities (where social distancing can be maintained) – plan to go hiking with another family, if it is possible to stay 6 ft. apart from all non-family members. You could apply this same principle to a bike ride, or even just a walk.
  1. Go back to the Basics with a Phone Call – Call someone on the phone and see how they are doing. Ask good questions, share prayer requests, and then pray together. 

Epidemic A La Carte 4/2/20

Deaths Delayed

An excellent, brief article from church history professor Carl Trueman on the church’s role of preparing people to die. “The church is certainly to help people to live, but to live in the shadow of mortality. She must set this earthly realm in the greater context of eternity.” Luke 13 and Psalm 90 are referenced and alluded to in this article, respectively, as helpful texts along these lines.

Why We Need The Psalms

Dale Ralph Davis, an Old Testament Professor, provides a brief overview of why the Psalms will be so helpful to believers throughout their lives, including times of trouble. “The Psalms tell us that trouble is normal, darkness is possible, reverses are likely, and ordinariness is celebrated.”

How to Talk to Children About the Coronavirus

“Why is there a coronavirus, then? Why don’t you, God, Jesus, please take it away, since you could?” This episode of Ask Pastor John will certainly be helpful for discussing the current pandemic with children in a godly way. It might be helpful to adults as well!

The Protestant Revolt

A film series surveying the Protestant Reformation in five twenty-minute episodes. The series has been made available for free by Westminster Theological Seminary. It is hosted by Peter Lillback, the president of WTS.

Epic: An Around-the-World Journey through Christian History

Tim Challies traveled around the world and his new book and documentary, “[touch] more than 20 countries across 6 continents, [allowing you to travel around] the world with [him] to see the great big story God has been telling over the past 2,000 years.” Note that if you purchase the DVD, you’ll get a code to stream the videos for free at Vimeo.

What is God Up to with Corona?

“God is always doing 10,000 things in your life, and you may be aware of three of them” (quote from John Piper). This article by Erik Raymond might begin to stimulate our thinking about what good God can do in this time.