When the children arrived, we made fruit kebabs, using marsh mellow stoppers on the each end to keep the fruit in place, to have as our snack.
We shared our news together and looked at our up-and-coming activities running up to Christmas.
Our session today followed events after Pentecost with the setting up of the first groups of believers. These first followers, with the help of God’s Spirit living in them, tried to live their lives in the ways Jesus taught.
In Acts 2:42-47 we read: The first Christians were like a great team, learning the apostles’ teachings, spending time together, sharing meals and praying. They had everything in common, even selling their belongings to help those in need; their joyful hearts and praise for God made everyone like them. Because they loved each other and showed God’s love to others, more and more people wanted to be part of their group every day.
We heard about Saul who changed his name to Paul and became the greatest missionary ever, spreading the Gospel (the Good News) around the mediterranean, setting up many new churches / groups of believers and continued to write letters to encourage the new churches he had helped establish.
We watched the Saddleback Kids’ video The Miracle of Mercy
We looked at the New Testament, the four Gospels and then where Paul’s letters can be found.
We particularly looked at Paul’s letter to the Galatians where he wrote about the fruits/gifts of the Spirit, we read Galatians 5:22-23 But the Spirit gives love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. There is no law that says these things are wrong.
We talked about the gifts and how we, with the help of The Holy Spirit, could grow these fruits as we try to follow Jesus. We wondered what the most important gift was….
Jesus said we should love God and love others.
We read Mark 12:29-31Jesus answered, “The most important command is this: ‘Listen, people of Israel! The Lord our God, he is the only Lord. Love the Lord your God. Love him with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.’ The second most important command is this: ‘Love your neighbour as you love yourself.’ These two commands are the most important commands.”
We watched an amusing video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_SVpWee2MA
Love is the most important fruit; everything else flows out from love. Jesus said if we love each other, people will see and know that we are God’s disciples
John 13:34 I give you a new command: Love each other. You must love each other as I have loved you.
We filled in a prayer heart (see below) and prayed for people who need help today.
We also prayed that God would help us to grow the Fruits of The Spirit in us and then watched the Kindness Boomerang
We then learned a new song Love in Action
We ate our kebabs and then went outside to fire rotten fruit with catapults at a large image of the world, symbolic of us spreading the “fruits” of The Spirit over the world.
We also spread acts of kindness by choosing to sponsor 2 Watoto children. These are orphans in Uganda being looked after by the people of The Watoto Village, giving them a future and oppotunities that they would not get otherwise.