Opening Prayer
Heavenly Father, you call us your beloved children. May we hear your call to follow your Son Jesus, our Brother. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Sorry Song (to the tune of If you’re happy and you know it)
When we say that you are sorry, God forgives.
When we say that you are sorry, God forgives.
If our sins are large or small,
God will still forgive them all.
When we say that we are sorry, God forgives.
Then sing the Gloria (tune of Row, Row, Row your Boat)
Praise, praise, praise the Lord, Praise our Father dear.
As we listen to his word, feel his spirit near.
Gospel – Matthew 13:1-9
The Lord be with you. All: And with your spirit. (teach them this)
A reading from the holy Gospel according to Matthew. All: Glory to you, O Lord. (teach them this)
That same day Jesus left the house and went to the lakeside, where he sat down to teach. The crowd that gathered around him was so large that he got into a boat and sat in it, while the crowd stood on the shore. He used parables to tell them many things.
“Once there was a man who went out to sow corn. As he scattered the seed in the field, some of it fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Some of it fell on rocky ground, where there was little soil. The seeds soon sprouted, because the soil wasn't deep. But when the sun came up, it burnt the young plants; and because the roots had not grown deep enough, the plants soon dried up. Some of the seed fell among thorn bushes, which grew up and choked the plants. But some seeds fell in good soil, and the plants produced corn; some produced 100 grains, others sixty, and others thirty.”
And Jesus concluded, “Listen, then, if you have ears!”
The Gospel of the Lord
All: “Praise to you Lord Jesus Christ”
Gospel passage taken from Good News Translation
Suggestions for the Discussion
Have you ever planted anything or been somewhere where there are a lot of plants or trees or vegetables? If you have a garden, maybe you have helped to plant something or watched someone planting seeds in the garden. This year a lot of people have bought seeds to plant vegetable gardens and grow their own kale or carrots or onions and other vegetables. What is one of the first things that is important to help seeds grow well? The soil. You need enough soil and you need good soil that doesn't have any chemicals in it. What kind of plants can you think of that grow from seeds? Flowers, trees, vegetables. What do they need to grow as well as soil? Water, light, food.
In our Bible story today, Jesus told us about a farmer who planted some seeds. How did he plant them? He scattered them by hand everywhere, so the seeds landed all over the place! Can you remember where? Some of the seeds landed on the path, some landed on the rocky ground, some landed in the weeds and some landed in the good soil thank goodness. The seeds that landed in the good soil grew healthy and strong and produced a good crop. The other seeds didn't do well at all, they dried up in the end.
In Jesus' parable, the Word of God is the seed and we are the soil. Some of us don't listen to the Word of God, some of us do listen but don't really follow it well because it isn't easy and some of us listen carefully and understand and really try to live as the Word teaches us. This parable can help us decide - do we want to be like the stony path, the rocky ground, the patch of weeds or the good rich soil? I know what I want to be!
We have to try our best to listen to God's word and to try to understand it and then we will be like the good soil and God's love will grow in our hearts like a strong healthy plant.
How can we get closer to Jesus and try to follow God's Word in our everyday lives? Be kind, helpful, forgiving, sharing, pray every day, don’t be tempted, remember to ask for forgiveness for our mistakes, listen to our parents, carers etc. How can we can tell people about Jesus? We can tell our friends to come to online church to join in and to learn about God and Jesus.
Dear Jesus, we want to be like the good soil. Help us to listen to God's Word and put it into practice in our daily life. In your name we pray. Amen.
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