6/6/10 -  Proper 5

Famine!

BIBLE READING

I Kings chapter 17 verses 8-16 Elijah and the widow of Zarephath

PREPARATION

Have available some cooking oil (olive oil preferably), flour and a mixing bowl, also a bread roll.

Be aware of countries where there are famines today e.g. see .http://www.oxfam.org.uk/what_we_do/emergencies/index.htm

INTRODUCTION

Ask for a volunteer to come up and mix together the oil and flour into dough (it should firm up fairly quickly without kneading).  Ask the children to guess what it will turn into when it is baked in the oven.

Invite up whoever guessed the answer correctly with one of their friends.  Show them the roll.  Tell them that they must imagine that this is the only food they have left, and they haven’t any money to get any more – what are they going to do?  Hopefully they will agree to share it.  Call up someone else from a different class who they won’t know at all well – are they prepared to cut their roll into three to feed him as well? If they are – call up another child etc.  How soon is it before they protest?

THE MESSAGE

Of course we know that the roll isn’t really the only food left in the school, but what if you were living in a country where there was a famine?  (Check – do we all know what a famine is?)

Tell the story of the widow at Zarepath who, during a famine, is suddenly accosted and asked to share her last remaining food with a stranger.  What would you do if this had been you?  Talk about it together.  Talk about kindness and selflessness.  (Or was Elijah being selfish?)

Now find out what the widow actually did – she followed Elijah’s instructions and trusted God, and this trust saved her and her son because their little amount of food stretched and stretched so that they always had just enough until the famine ended.

Does anyone know if there are still famines in the world today?  Share your knowledge.  What happens to people who live in famine areas?  Who is able to help these people?  Although it is right to conclude with a prayer for those parts of the world which are suffering, and for aid workers, you may like also to think in terms of a follow-up fundraising event.

PRAYER

A prayer for those parts of the world which are suffering and for aid workers,