Today we looked at the Parable of the Sower
We started our session by creating a face on a coffee cup ready to make cress heads (see picture).
We also had a name-the-seed challenge for the children to do, with 10 different seeds to identify.
We had our usual news time together where the children talked about their half-term holidays.
We shared a prayer of thanks for all that we have
With the help of a PowerPoint we looked at the Parable of the Sower and its meaning
To paraphrase, Jesus was talking to a large crowd and went on a boat on the Sea of Galilee, so that his voice could be carried. He talked about sowing seeds and how some seed would grow to its potential and some wouldn’t.
The disciples knew that Jesus never told parables for fun but, to try to help the people understand how to live God’s, way so the disciples ask him later what the parable meant, as they hadn’t really understood what Jesus was getting at.
So Jesus explained that he is the Sower and the seed is the message about God’s love for us; the soil is our hearts and how we hear that message of God’s love.
Jesus says that people respond differently when they hear Gods message
1)Some people’s hearts are like the hard path, they don’t let the message of God into their hearts and lives at all. It’s almost like they have hands over their ears they don’t want to know, and the word of God can never take root.
2)The seed that falls on the rocky ground is like a person who’s heart is too shallow; someone who might listen to start with but doesn’t let it go deep into their hearts and so as soon as things get tough, they will give up.
3)Jesus says some people’s hearts can also be like the weedy, thorny ground, they have so many distractions, other things going on in their lives, things that feel more important, that they have no room for God, they are too busy and God is choked out.
4)And then there are people who are like the good soil, they understand and accept Gods message into their hearts and they listen to what God says, and they try to do what God wants.
Those people, Jesus says, will grow strong in God’s love and they will grow hearts of love for others, and share God’s love
So let’s let God’s message and word be planted in our hearts let us be like the good soil, ready to receive Gods word and love for us, and let him take root, so that we can grow to be everything God wants us to be. Then we can share God’s love with others
We had a short video of the story and here is a part of our prayer time.
(Holding a seed in the palm of your hand.)
This seed is special it contains life waiting to break out, it is precious and valuable. It is a gift from God. Like this seed each of our lives is precious and special. God has given each of us a life that is beyond price.
Like this seed God is growing new life in us, let us pray that we may grow our roots deeper into God and grow up to become all that God wants us to be.
We sang an action song “My Whole Self” you can hear and see it on youtube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRN5FTB87h0
We ate seedy flapjacks for our snack and then put cotton wool in the cups and then water & cress seeds
We then played a game called “Seed Storm” which was energetic and fun.