S’more Stories

Preparation

Choose an outdoor location with a good space for a bonfire. This might be at your home or to ask one of the women to host it in their backyard. Setup an area with enough seating for everyone, away from the smoke.

If holding the meeting outdoors is difficult for your group, set the chairs in a circle in the meeting room around a fake bonfire. You can serve “Indoor S’mores.” The recipe is available at Onceuponachef.com. Search on Indoor S’mores.

If the weather is cool, make sure to let the women know to dress warm or provide some blankets. October is the perfect time for this activity, especially in the northern states, as the fall air starts to turn crisp and there are plenty of dead leaves for kindling.

When an activity involves fire, make sure to practice good safety habits by having a source of water nearby to put out the fire if it needs to be extinguished quickly. Use a metal or brick fire pit or ring to contain the fire. You may also want to designate someone as a fire keeper to get your fire going to build the hot coals that are perfect for s’mores.

Refreshment

The S’mores activity can be introduced as soon as the fire is at a good roasting level. This main snack is a traditional bonfire staple, but you could consider going gourmet. Chocolate comes in many forms with add-ins likes peanut butter cups, mint patties or even nuts, or crushed Oreo cookies. Stroopwafles can give the night an elevated taste, if offered in place of the traditional graham crackers. Encourage the women to help each other, especially if there are any mobility concerns in the group.

Sharing Time

Sharing our personal stories is important in helping to restore and build our faith. Once everyone has eaten their Smores, start the time of sharing stories. Preparing the women ahead of time letting them know that there will be a time of sharing. You can also break the ice by sharing your own story first. Here are some questions you can ask them to answer:

• If you could have dinner with any Bible character, who would it be and why?
• What is your favorite Bible story or book and why?
• Describe a time when you feel your faith was tested.
• If you could ask God to explain one thing you do not understand, what would it be and why?
• What one person has had the most influence on your faith? How?
• Are there any special traditions or practices that you have helped you grow in your faith? How?
• What song lyric or scripture best describes your faith life? Why?
• Tell us about a mountaintop experience in your faith and how God moved in your life.
• Have you ever witnessed something you would describe miraculous?
• If you could give a younger person advice about walking in faith, what would you say?
• Tell about a time when you knew God was close.

If you have a chatty group, consider using a timer for each speaker or a talking stick to be passed around so that everyone gets a chance to share. However, always give the option to pass as no one should be forced to share if they are not comfortable.

When the sharing winds down, share the devotional thought. Conclude the evening with prayer and singing choruses at a campfire. Some suggestions could be “What the Lord has done for me.”  “Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus” or “Blessed Assurance; with special emphasis on the chorus lyric “This is my story, this is my song.”

Hall of Faith

Hebrews 11 is often referred to as the “Hall of Faith.” It is forty verses that speed through short summaries of some of the big stories of the Old Testament. It lists out commendations for the faith of its major characters, by sharing their stories. However, it really shares the big story of who God is and how we can experience Him by faith. The passage describes what we can see; to assure us we can have confident faith in what we cannot see – the end of the story.

By faith we understand that God as the creator of the universe made it from nothing. We see God was worshipped properly by Abel and that Enoch pleased God and was rewarded for faithfully seeking Him. We see Noah acting in holy fear to build an ark and then inheriting righteousness. Abraham’s obedience, along with Sarah’s, led to Isaac and Jacob’s faith and the foundation of a great nation that would become the people of God. Joseph, Moses, Rahab all get individual mentions before the passage speeds faster through a list of names of so many more stories of faithful men and women who acted by faith and were commended for it.

The author ends with his ultimate point – there is still more to the whole story. Verse 40 tells us that God has planned something better for us all. Hebrews 11:40 tells us, “These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised, since God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect” (NIV) And the next chapter goes on to tell us to keep walking in faith, which can now be placed in someone we can see, know, and have a personal relationship with—Jesus.

We read in Hebrews 12:1,2,3 “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before Him He endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.  Consider Him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.” (NIV)

God is made known through us, in our stories also. When we tell our faith stories, fixing our eyes on Jesus, we show how God has written His story into our lives. What role does God play in your story? Is He in the right role or does He need to be recast as the main character?