Are you worshipping at home with your family or friends this weekend?
Here are a number of activities for you to do at home as you reflect on the scripture from this week.
Holy Moly
Check out this week’s Home Brewed Worship email for the password to view the Holy Moly video for this week’s Gospel reading and another on the life and story of Jacob.
All Age Prayer
This prayer is a good prayer for starting each day this week.
Source: Spill The Beans Issue 35
Lord God,
wherever you went,
the crowds followed,
because they knew that you would feed them in body, mind, and spirit.
May we gather friends too
because we are known to be kind and generous.
You found it difficult to have time on your own, may we always have space
to recharge when we are tired.
Help us, Lord Jesus, just like you did,
to always see possibility and potential, and to enhance the gifts of others,
sharing what we have
and being glad of all that others bring.
So may we love and serve you in all things.Amen.
Story
The Growing In God’s Love Storybible has a great poem retelling the story of the feeding of the crowd (it’s based on the John version, bit still beautifully done). You can access the poem/retelling here.
Action
Abundance Vs Excess
This week’s Gospel story invites me to consider how much my life is one of abundance, or ruled by excess. Excess often means I have way more than we need and our leftovers end up in the waste.
This week have a table conversation with your household about your leftovers, whether it be clothes, food, money or time. How can your household be one that lives out the Kingdom of God, how can you show compassion to others and also, how can you live your life with less waste?
Fast Food
Consider how much you and your household might eat from the many fast food restaurants where you live.
- What’s your favourite fast food?
- What kind of portions do they serve?
- Have you ever eaten too much? How did that feel?
- What do you know about the sustainability and waste of the restaurants you eat at?
- How can you share food with others?
A Simple Meal
This week make an effort to eat simple meals, perhaps yo might be able to share a meal of fish and bread, perhaps tuna sandwiches.
- Why do you think it is important that Jesus used what was offered rather than have food drop from the sky or some other miracle?
- Why did Jesus bless the food?
- What do you think they did with the leftover food?
- What would you have done with all that food?
Picnic Time
Go outside and have a picnic, take some time to prepare a meal, head outside and enjoy time with friends or family.
Imagine the crowd, Jesus and the Disciples in today’s story, how do you think they felt after the death of John? Why did they gather? Why did Jesus feel compassion for them, what does compassion look like, how can we live out compassion in our lives, homes, schools and world?