Gratitude pumpkins are a family activity that can be woven into fall faith formation, Don’t worry ! The expense does not need to make a serious dent into your faith formation budget. Small pumpkins of 6 inches diameter work well. At our local farmer’s market they are only $1 each.
Home-based activity that is 100% Covid safe
If you are looking for monthly family faith formation activities, this Gratitude pumpkin activity is a meaningful one to offer. Simply distribute the pumpkins to families near the end of October. For each day in the month of November, ask them to write on their pumpkin one thing they are thankful for with a Sharpie. Most families will find that the easiest time to incorporate this daily activity is during dinner time.
Biblical Tie-In: Healing of the 10 Lepers
To facilitate family discussion, ask families to read and discuss the story Jesus healing the 10 lepers (Luke 17:11-19) .
11 As he continued his journey to Jerusalem, he traveled through Samaria and Galilee.[a]12 As he was entering a village, ten lepers met [him]. They stood at a distance from him 13 and raised their voice, saying, “Jesus, Master! Have pity on us!” 14 And when he saw them, he said, “Go show yourselves to the priests.”[b] As they were going they were cleansed. 15 And one of them, realizing he had been healed, returned, glorifying God in a loud voice; 16 and he fell at the feet of Jesus and thanked him. He was a Samaritan. 17 Jesus said in reply, “Ten were cleansed, were they not? Where are the other nine? 18 Has none but this foreigner returned to give thanks to God?” 19 Then he said to him, “Stand up and go; your faith has saved you.”
Luke 17:11-19
Discussion questions:
Provide this set of 14 questions from Bible-wise for families to discuss the Scripture together A couple of additional ones are:
- How can we be thankful even when hard things happen?
- How do we show sincere thanks? What does sincere thanks look like?
Displaying the pumpkins:
There are several option to wrap-up this acitity:
- Ask the families to use the pumpkins as part of their Thanksgiving centerpiece.
- Have families bring them to church services the Sunday after Thanksgiving. A nice touch is to have them bring them up to the altar at Offertory time.
- Create a display of them at the church entrance would be a visual reminder of God’s blessings to us.