We started by sitting round a picnic blanket and thinking about bible stories we might be going to talk about; the children quickly knew what we were going to do. I put out 5 bread rolls and 2 paper fish and asked them how these could feed 5000 people. Of course we had the kids who said it would be easy as long as we made the pieces small enough, so we tried it.
One child broke up one bread roll into bits that were small whilst being a mouthful; we saw that one bread roll could feed maybe 10 people as long as they weren't very hungry.
Another child took a fish and a pair of scissors and cut it into 4 pieces; she said that was as small as the fish could go without being too small.
With a little bit of maths we decided that 5 loaves and 2 fishes might feed 58 people who weren't hungry, but definitely not 5000 who had nothing to eat all day.
So we heard the story of the marvellous picnic from The Lion Storyteller Bible
After hearing the story of the miracle we talked a bit about the story.
Questions:
Why did lots of people want to listen to Jesus? (because he had great stories and lots of good news)
How did Jesus do the miracle? (we don't know but God helped Him).
Why did Jesus do miracles? (to help others and to teach them something)
Do you think that miracles still happen today? (yes, they can)
Even though we can't do miracles, how can we help others? (talk, offer to do things, love each other)
We can ask God for help: "For nothing is impossible with God." Luke 1:37
Messages:
1. God calls us to share everything we have – what can we share this week?
2. Jesus performed miracles; God can still do these amazing things
Craft:
God Squad love a bit of craft and so they made this Heart Fish craft which turned out fantastically
Some kids also coloured a drawing of of five loaves and 2 fishes and others drew their own.
I also had some Jesus feeds the 5000 word searches for the older kids to do and these were popular both at the time and to take home.
Back in Church:
It is always fantastic, and unnverving, to see the children feed back to the whole church what we've done in sunday school. you can never be sure what message will be fed back. Today's session had clearly been enjoyed because it was all shared in every detail by two of the kids, with another couple showing their pictures and talking about them.
What I learned:
I was really amazed by two things in the session today.
1. How the kids just know Jesus can still perform miracles if we ask, and how it is our love that let's that happen.
2. The cross which the girl who cut the fish found in the centre of it; of which she said
"Within the shared fish is the cross of love"
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