We did a Harvest All Age Service yesterday at TRINITY. A few people have asked what we did so here it all is. Any q’s do ask! The talks are not exact scripts but at least give you an idea.
All age Harvest resource // Theme – faithfulness:
Looking at Gods provision for us and our responsibility to share that, both in the physical provision but also in the gifts he has given us.
Resources needed
Powerpoint and ability to play a video (if you want not essential)
Large torch, Water pistol, Fake flowers/shoots x 6, Large letters spelling ‘Harvest’
Pens/ post its or paper, Large rainbow – board or fabric
Gifts to give away at end
We did this as 3 short talks/activities interspersed with hymns/songs, so here I’ve only included the talks/activities – we all have our favourite (or not) Harvest hymns!
Talk 1: Faithfulness
Video – Lego creation: Genesis 1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xT_uNFX_nTo 2 mins – stop at God rested (if you can crop in advance even better)
Good Morning, well as you have probably realised by now, today is our Harvest festival. Kids – who has had a harvest festival service at school ? great!
And so today we are looking at God’s faithfulness today. Faithfulness is a great topic to look at for Harvest as we think about God’s provision for us – the things he gives to us. Just as we saw in our video that God created the world and everything in it.
What did we see him create in that video? (ask for answers)
But God didn’t just create the world he also nurtures it so let’s have a look at what that means, and I need 6 volunteers.
(you need 7 but one has a water pistol so I would choose that person in advance!) 6 to be seeds or seedlings, one sun – torch and one rain – water pistol. I had small fake grass to be seedlings – they hold one each.
So these are 5 small seedlings, small plants – what do they need to grow? (ask for answers – you might get a few but pick out water and sunshine)
Water/light – get torch holder to wave the torch around over the seedlings
Rain – shall we water the seedlings then? – get person with water pistol to spray them all.
Then give a large plastic flower to each seedling – so as God nurtures our seedlings they flourish and grow. And this is not just for plants he does this for us too. He gives us all we need to grow and to flourish…
God created the world, he provided for us, and continues to provide for us, and just like the plants, he helps us to grow too. God is faithful!
2. Sharing what God has given us
Passage: (ask someone to read) Genesis 9:1-4 (MSG)
God blessed Noah and his sons: He said, “Prosper! Reproduce! Fill the Earth! Every living creature—birds, animals, fish—will fall under your spell and be afraid of you. You’re responsible for them. All living creatures are yours for food; just as I gave you the plants, now I give you everything else.
So we are a bit further on in our story now, humans have made some mistakes and so they get sent out into the wide world, and then they make even more mistakes so God sends an enormous flood to wash over the whole world – who knows the name of the person at the centre of the story? (ask)
Noah. Noah was the one person who really loved God, was faithful and righteous, he was a good man so God looked after him. And after the flood, Noah and his family and all the animals God asked them to look after, are left on the earth, the only ones left. And as we hear God gives all living creatures to Noah – but I wonder, what is he supposed to do with them?
Again I need some volunteers – 7
Give each one of the letters to spell out harvest (I cut these out of cardboard but you can just print them out)
(now you want them to move into the different words as you go through, so tell them as they line up what you want them to do and then I had printed out the words on small pieces of paper and held them up so only they could see) – words to move to in capitals below.
So we are thinking about HARVEST – and God’s provision. And he gives us all that we need and we have to look after that and be careful with it. Because if we are not careful with what we HAVE to EAT, there won’t be enough for everyone. Some people might not be very happy, there might even be TEARS and in some places people might even STARVE. And this is of course not just about food, but with all that God has given us – and so we need to SHARE what we have. When God provides for us, we have a responsibility to do something with that.
But we are also part of the HARVEST. God gives us gifts too, and we are all different. We might be funny – any jokers out there? (ask) We might be caring and spend time looking out for people who are sad – any of those? (ask) We might be a really good friend (ask). And lots of other things – these are our gifts from God and we need to SHARE them too, because we are part of God’s HARVEST.
And we are going to share right now as we bring up our harvest gifts during the next hymn
3. Response – Being Thankful
Reading – again get one of the kids to read it – perhaps have it printed out in reasonable sized print! Genesis 9:8-13
God continued, “This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and everything living around you and everyone living after you. I’m putting my rainbow in the clouds, a sign of the covenant between me and the Earth. From now on, when I form a cloud over the Earth and the rainbow appears in the cloud, I’ll remember my covenant between me and you and everything living, that never again will floodwaters destroy all life. When the rainbow appears in the cloud, I’ll see it and remember the eternal covenant between God and everything living, every last living creature on Earth.”
What happens when you get rain and sun at the same time? (ask)
Yes – a Rainbow!
So when God put a rainbow in the sky, he said it was a covenant – which means it was a promise between him and us, that he would never again destroy life on earth. It’s a promise, a great sign that he is faithful to us that he keeps his promises.
And do you know what Noah did after that? He said thank you to God – he made a sacrifice – he gave to God something that was precious to him – because that’s how they said thank you to God way back then.
So how can we say thank you to God for all he has done for us? For all he has given us? (ask for ideas then focus on…)
I think 2 things
- we can really treasure our gifts, really recognise what a blessing they are. Whether that is the food on our tables, the house we live in, or the gifts God has given to us, inside of us. And as we have talked about we can share them.
- Pray! We can say thank you to God by praying and saying thank you to him. Which is exactly what we are going to do now.
So the band are going to play and I want each of us to think of some things we can say thank you to God for. You should have had a post it given to you on the way in – if not hands up! So spend a few mins writing down what you want to say thank you to God for, or you can draw a picture and then when you are ready you can come and put them on the rainbow up here…. (we used a rainbow flag but anything rainbow would do, picture maybe)
Ending – gifts
So today I want you to remember 3 things and to help you I am giving away some daffodil bulbs to help you remember that God is faithful.
So if you take one home and plant it in your garden or in a pot full of soil. – he will water it and send light on it and it will grow – he is faithful. When it grows into a flower, you can recognise it as a gift from God, but you can also share it – you can show it to other people and share its beauty, or you could cut it off and give it to someone else.
And lastly remember to say thank you to God for it! Perhaps whenever you see a rainbow you can just thank God for one thing he has done for you…
Finish with The Lord’s Prayer
Blessing: found at: http://www.faithandworship.com/creation_prayers.htm#ixzz4LdmJKBim
God of harvest, gardener supreme, you place us at the centre, feed us, equip us and having provided for us look to a different harvest, a fruitfulness of lives in service to you and others. God of harvest, feed us, prune us, harvest us, that our lives might bring glory to you.
Amen
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