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BIBLE EXPLORE / NEW TESTAMENT / JOHN / JOHN 15

Book of John: Chapter 15

The vine and the branches (John 15:1-8)

Today Jesus told his disciples a story about being like a vine. 

Bible Passage Reflection

Have you ever done any gardening? (Pause for answers) Well, I really love looking at and enjoying gardens, but I'm not really very good at keeping plants alive and healthy.
In today's story, Jesus said 'I am the vine, and you are the branches'. What do you think he means? (Pause.) I wonder why Jesus told this story? (pause)
Well, this story helps remind me that its important to look after my relationship with Jesus. There are lots of ways that we can do this. Do you have any suggestions? (pause) Some of the ways that I like to spend time with Jesus are by reading stories from the bible, drawing pictures that show how I'm feeling or things that I've been doing, going for walks and talking to Jesus.

Intergenerational worship

Thoughtful intergenerational worship resources written by Elizabeth Waldron Anstice, for Intergen Australia. These resources focus on the interaction of an Ethiopian slave with Philip in Acts 8:26-40 and the encouragement of Jesus to his disciples in John 15:1-8 to remain connected.

Lost Sheep story

Andrew McDonough has written a great Lost Sheep version of this Bible story, called Basil the Branch. Story book, presentation images for use in larger services and downloads are available here.

Activities

Gospel Conversations

Sometimes the most challenging thing about a biblical passage can be to avoid thinking, "Oh, I've read that/heard that a million times." The image of Jesus as the vine and us as the branches could strike us with that sort of familiarity, so the Conversationalists today "branch out" to see how we might be able to look at it anew. Join Rt Reverend Kelvin Wright, Revd Nicki Colledge (Brisbane Diocese), and Revd Anne van Gend as they puzzle it out with Archdeacon Michael Godfrey. (Dunedin Diocese)
2023 Gospel Conversations
In this Gospel Conversation for Easter 5, the Diocesan Ministry Educator Michael Godfrey is joined by Chris Holmes, University of Otago Theology Department, Trish Franklin, an Educator at Otago Polytechnic and Jonathan Wood, landscape design gardener from Dunedin as they talk about John 15:1-8 and what it means to be connected to the vine.

​Quick Questions

  • In the story today Jesus said 'I am the vine, and you are the branches'. What do you think this means?
  • Who is 'the gardener'?
  • How can we in our everyday lives stay connected to Jesus?
  • Do you believe that prayers can be answered?
  • How do you pray?

Children's Talk 2

A group talk for older kids

You will need: 
Bibles
Pictures of vines and grapes
Grapes to share
Finger labyrinths
​
  • Read the Bible reading together, making sure each child has a bible they can read from. 
  •  Ask them what does Jesus mean when he says I am the vine and my father is the gardener ? 
  • Hand out pictures of a vine, so they know what they are talking about. What does that make us? 
  • So God the father looks after us like a gardener looks after his plants.  
  • Jesus is the vine which joins us to the ground – what is in the ground? All the goodness and food that the plant needs. A vine exists to produce fruit, not much good if it doesn't!  
  • If you have brought some grapes, share these out now while you talk about what we as 'fruit' get from Jesus as our vine.  Maybe give out grapes for each answer!  (eg. if we really believe in God and Jesus we can talk to them in prayer to help us every day, we can turn to God for help, we can ask for strength, we can read the bible to help us understand more of God and Jesus. We can be better people if if we follow Jesus' rules for our lives, like loving others etc....)  
  • Then say we are going to quietly pray in our heads to God now. Give out the finger labyrinths. You say a few introductory words of prayer and then ask them to trace the line into the centre of the labyrinth and then slowly out, all the time talking to God, on the way in, think of any things that are worrying you or are problems, and give them to God, on the way back out, just think about God and let Him talk to you....)

Vine Tag

Preparation
Nothing!

What to do
Choose someone to be 'in'. When you say 'Go', the person who is in must try to tag someone. When they succeed, they must link arms/hold hands with the person they tagged. Now both of them can tag people with their free hands. Each time some gets tagged, they link arms/hold hands and carry on until everyone is in one big chain.

Grape Bookmarks

You will need
  • Strips of card for a bookmark
  • felt tips
  • cotton buds
  • purple/green/red paint for the grapes
  • paper plates for a palette. 

What to do
​Give out the blank book marks and get the children to draw on a vine with a green felt tips. Paint on the dots of the grapes with cotton buds. Write on the words: I am the vine, and you are the branches. If you stay joined to me, and I stay joined to you, then you will produce lots of fruit. John 15:5 (or a part of it!)

If you wanted to go bigger, you could use larger items such as water balloons or stress balls to paint bigger grapes :) 

Vine Walk Obstacle Course

An obstacle course for younger children

Preparation 
If you are confined to a room for this lesson, set up a 'course' in the room using tables and chairs that you can lead the children through. Otherwise take them for a walk outside. 

What to do
  • Get the children to line up in a line behind you. Get them to put their hands on the shoulders of the person in front of them. The child at the front may have to hold your hand if you are too tall for them to reach your shoulder!!! 
  • Tell them you are leading them on a journey and they must follow wherever you go without breaking the chain. 
  • Lead them around. Vary the speed, and get them to go over and under things to make it interesting.

Creative Vine Art Display

Picture
What you need
A large branch stripped of all its leaves or flowers, large piece of thick white paper, crayons in greens, blues, yellows, white and black, green dye (food colouring diluted with water would work for this), scissors, tape 

Preparation
Draw/trace leaves all over the piece of paper for the children to cut out. Use the template provided or create your own. 

What to do
  • On the large piece of white paper using only crayons (the blank side, not the side with the leaves drawn on it) get all the children to cover the paper with pictures and names of people that they would like to be on Jesus' vine, including themselves. Encourage them to decorate the whole page. They might like to write out some of the verses from the story, or draw pictures that relate to the story. 
  • When they have finished, use the green dye to cover the entire page. Don't use too much or the paper will be too wet for the next step! 
  • Turn the paper over and get all the children to help cut around all the leaves. 
  • Finally, tape the leaves onto the branch. 
  • To display, suspend from the ceiling using string.

Variations
Rather than one big vine, each child could make smaller individual versions. If you can't find a branch, create your own out of corrugated cardboard.

Children's talk

You will need
  • A plant (preferably one that will bear fruit or flowers!) and a dead branch
  • Finger labyrinths you can find here
What you say
  • Explain to them that Jesus liked to talk using pictures to make it easy for us to understand. Today  we are thinking about a part of the gospel where Jesus said: 
  • "I am the true Vine, and my Father is the Gardener. He cuts off every branch that doesn’t produce fruit. And he prunes those branches that bear fruit for even larger crops. 3 He has already tended you by pruning you back for greater strength and usefulness by means of the commands I gave you. Take care to live in me, and let me live in you. For a branch can’t produce fruit when cut from the vine. Nor can you be fruitful apart from me. “Yes, I am the Vine; you are the branches. Whoever lives in me and I in him shall produce a large crop of fruit. For apart from me you can’t do a thing."
  • Ask them what they think Jesus was talking about. Then show them the living plant with leaves (and explain that it will bear fruit later!) in contrast to the dead branch which is cut off from its tree/vine.Help them to see that Jesus was saying we are like the fruit that grown from a vine, we need to be joined to the vine/tree in order to grow and thrive. ie. We will do so much better with God's help!  
  • God is always there for us and is there to help us.  
  • We can always talk to God.   
  • Give out the finger labyrinths and get them to slowly trace the route into the heart and then back out again, all the time thinking about God and talking to God.

Media
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Remain in my love (John 15:9-17)

Today's story looks at the words of love that Jesus shared - "I have loved you even as the Father has loved me. Remain in my love."

Intergenerational worship

A series of intergenerational resources for today's lectionary readings, written by Elizabeth Waldron Anstice for Intergen Australia

Quick Questions

  • What do you think Jesus meant when he said: I chose you and sent you out to produce fruit, the kind of fruit that will last?
  • What do you think would be producing bad fruit?
  • Why do these produce bad fruit?
  • Which would you rather produce? Good fruit or bad fruit? Why?
  • What are some ways that as Christians we can produce good fruit?

Activities

Children's Talk #1

A talk for younger children
  • ​Tell the children that today's bible reading isn't a story, although Jesus often told us stories to teach us things. Today's bible reading is a simple command.  What's a command? 
  • Jesus told us to love each other! Sounds easy doesn't it? How can we love someone? What does that mean?  (talk about speaking kindly, putting what someone else wants/needs before what they want, being thoughtful, kind etc). 
  • Ask them to think of some people in their lives who are always loving towards them.... who is that ?  
  • Remind them that God always loves us, not matter what. Jesus wanted us to try and be like that. So probably even the person you know who loves you very much sometimes makes a mistake, or sometimes gets cross (we all do!) but God always loves us.

Visio Lectio

Prints from Rev. Sarah West from the Diocese of Auckland, shared with permission. ​Terms of Use

Gospel Conversations

Continuing on through John's Gospel, we dig deeper into that amazing word, "Abide", which we encountered last week. Our conversationalists find in it comfort, questions, and challenges . Especially, how does abiding in Christ connect to his command for us to love each other? Professor David Tomb (University of Otago), Rev Wendy Scott (Masterton), and Dean Ben Truman (Christchurch Cathedral) give us memorable pictures and ideas to ponder on.
Previous GC conversation from 2023
In this Gospel Conversation for Easter 6, the Diocesan Ministry Educator Michael Godfrey is joined by Bishop Steve Benford, Katie Marcar (University of Otago New Testament lecturer) and Steve Mitchell (Pilot and Businessperson, Invercargill). The conversation is on John 15: 9-17 exploring what it might mean to be the True Vine… on being loved and loving each other. Who would have thought that God wants to be our friend….?!

Children's Talk #2

What do you think Jesus meant when he said: I chose you and sent you out to produce fruit, the kind of fruit that will last? Does that mean he wants us to all become fruit gardeners? No! I believe that it means that Jesus wants us to love one another. 
For example, if you smile at someone, or give them a present, or say something nice to them, you are showing that person love and producing good fruit. And because you did, they may in turn, do the same for someone else. 
What do you think would be producing bad fruit? (pause) Things like saying mean things or hitting someone. Why do these produce bad fruit? (pause) I believe it's because these things make people feel bad, and so they then want to make other people feel bad. 
Which would you rather produce? Good fruit or bad fruit? What are some ways that as Christians we can produce good fruit?

Fruit Kebabs

What you need: pieces of fruit, fruit lollies, kebab sticks, ribbon and the photocopied fruit gift tags. 

​What to do: 
  • Take a kebab stick, and then thread the fruit pieces and lollies onto it. 
  • Then write the name of someone that you want to give it to on one of the gift tags. 
  • Attach the tag to the kebab with the ribbon. 

Variations: If you don't want to make kebabs, you could instead turn the fruit gift tags into a 'prayer kebab' Get the children to write/draw on at least three fruit tags prayers for one of the following, or something else that is appropriate to your situation: 
  • Thank you to God for ………. who does ……………… to produce good fruit 
  • Dear God help me to …….. to produce good fruit

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