Ordinary 15

16 July 2023

Bible readings for today

Genesis 25:19-34
Psalm 119:105-112
Romans 8:1-11
Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23

Liturgical Colour: GREEN

Collect

Praise to you, God,
for all your work among us.
Yours is the vigour in creation,
yours is the impulse in our new discoveries.
Make us adventurous, yet reverent and hopeful
in all we do.
This we ask through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.

E te Atua, te whakamoemiti ki a koe, mō āu mahi whakahirahira i waenga i a mātou. Nōu te kaha i hangaia ai te ao, nāu te wero kia kitea houtia ai ā mātou mahi. Tukua mātou kia haere whakamua, i te wehi, me te tūmanako
mō ā mātou mahi katoa. E īnoi ana mātou i roto i a Īhu Karaiti tō mātou Ariki.
Āmine.

The parable of the seeds (Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23)

Questions

Have you ever grown a plant? What happened?
What do you think it means to have deep roots?
What are some things you can do to grow deep roots in yourself?
How can you plant seeds in others?

Godly play story

Here is a Godly Play session outline for telling the story of the parable of the sower. The session includes some great wondering questions and gives the children the opportunity for their own spiritual enquiry -- rather than spoon feeding them the answers.

godly_play_session.pdf
File Size:	1815 kb
File Type:	pdf

Download File

Planting seeds game

What you need:
Paper, a bag of counters or something to represent ‘seeds’

Preparation:
Using the templates below, photocopy 9 of each of the four templates. Shuffle them up and then spread them out face down in a grid (6 x 6)

What to do:

Give each of the children three counters.
Tell them that the counters are seeds that they are trying to grow.
One at a time, the children choose a piece of paper to place their seed on.
The leader then turns the paper over.
If the paper has either birds, or rocky ground or thorns, then that counter is confiscated by the leader.
If the paper has a picture of lots of healthy plants, then that person gets to keep their seed and gets another one from the leader.
The game ends when there is only one person with any seeds left

planting_seeds.pdf
File Size:	275 kb
File Type:	pdf

Download File

Prayer

Farmer God.
good soil brings forth a hundredfold of grain.
May we be that soil; vibrant, deep and teeming with life.
This we ask in God’s name,
Father, Son and Holy Spirit,
who live and reign, one God, now and forever.
Amen

My seed-plant

What you need:
the template, paper cups, green pipe cleaners, green card/paper, coloured paper and other bits and pieces that you think might be useful for decorating, a bag of potting mix, glue, tape, pens and crayons

What to do:

Fill in your name on the template label and decorate it.
Attach it to the paper cup with glue or tape. Place off to the side.
Using the green card/paper, cut out leaf shapes (about four would be fine, depending on time constraints)
On each leaf, draw or write one thing that you know or have learned about God/Jesus/Holy Spirit/etc
It might be a verse, it could be a single word, it might be a picture of a time God was real for you.
Using the green pipe cleaners, create a plant with your leaves. You might like to make flowers as well.
Next, fill your paper cup ¾ full with the potting mix. Put your finished plant into the paper cup. (the potting mix should hold the plant up)

pot_template.pdf
File Size:	158 kb
File Type:	pdf

Download File

Media

Jacob and Esau (Genesis 25 &27)

The Book of Genesis speaks of the relationship between twins Jacob and Esau, sons of Isaac and Rebekah, focusing on Esau's loss of his birthright to Jacob and the conflict that ensued between their descendant nations because of Jacob's deception of their aged and blind father, Isaac, in order to receive Esau's birthright/blessing from Isaac.