Church Family Moment for Sunday, January 26, 2025

By Director of Spiritual Formation Rebecca Guzman

1. One of the important verses from our passage is Nehemiah says, “the joy of the Lord is your strength.” We might think about joy meaning happiness, but joy in the Bible is really different. It’s a choice and an attitude, not something that happens to you. Check out this video from the Bible Project that helps us to understand what joy means in the Bible.
2. Find or create images of what joy looks like. It is a fun google search. I spent about 15 minutes this week just looking for images of joy, and it actually brought me joy as well! What does joy look like? How do you know when you see it?
3. There are a lot of coloring pages based on Nehemiah 8:10. Some of them cost a couple dollars to download, but here are a few that are free. One, two, three. As you color, consider what it means that the joy of the Lord is your (our) strength. How is that true?
4. Journal, considering the following:
   1. Why do you think the people wanted to hear scripture read out loud? Why do you like to hear it read out loud?
   2. Why do you think they cried while he read it?
   3. Why do you think Nehemiah told the people to celebrate?
   4. How do you celebrate?