16/5/12 - Easter 5

Theme: All about plants

BIBLE READING

John 15 verses 1-8

Preparation

Use some pots of growing plants as examples. Try to get them at different stages of development. Illustrations of vines can also be used.

Introduction

Read the passage from John, and talk about how plants take sustenance from the earth and from the sunlight, in order to grow and prosper, and to be of use to people. They cannot grow in the dark nor must they be starved of input. Plants can be either useful as food or ornamental as flowers. Whatever we grow them for they need to be nurtured and tended carefully. Plants may lean on each other while they are growing but they do not fight or bully the other plants around them (unless they are jostling for space). In order to make the plant most fruitful, we cut away any deadwood, to give a better chance to the rest.

The Message

Children are very similar in that they need input from home, school and friends in order to grow into good citizens. Different children grow up into different adults and "serve different purposes". We can grow up into fruitful lives by removing any ‘deadwood’ or errors that we make, or we can run wild until society cuts us down to make room for ‘better’ people.

Jesus said that we are part of him, we are the branches of his vine. Life can be made easier if we remember that and behave as part of God’s creation. Where do we get our sustenance from? Are we growing good fruit?

Prayer

O, God, whose Son Jesus Christ cared for the welfare of everyone and went about doing good; grant us the ability and desire to create in our school and our community a loving and kind society; and help us to realise that we are part of God’s great design for the world. Grant this, O Lord, through the spirit of your Son, Jesus Christ. Amen.

Also this week there are other Biblical illustrations of how a life should be built / rooted: the builders - Luke chp 6 vss 47-49; the actions of the sheep and the goats - Matthew chp 25 vss 31-36; Psalm 1