Welcome back!
Thank you for joining us on this Come and See for Families adventure through Lent, exploring together the big theme of God’s love: how we can experience God’s love for ourselves and how we can grow in sharing God’s love with others.
Chat together/Activity
What's your favourite thing in creation? Can you pick just one thing? I find it impossible to pick just one thing. All the insects, birds, animals, sea creatures, landscapes – woodlands, rivers, mountains and seas. So many to choose from!
Can you create a collage or picture of your family favourites?
Caring for creation is one of the ways we can live out our love for God. Talk together about how you play your part in caring for creation. Is there something new you can try to do together? Perhaps you could try to go glitter-free this year.
Story
Do you have a favourite story or bit of the Bible that helps you think about God’s creation?
Read it together and chat about what you like and what’s important about it.
If you’re not sure, have a look at Genesis 2:4–15
For pre-school children: have you got a storybook about creation or animals? Share it together and notice the animals or parts of the story you like best.
Genesis 2:4–15
This is the story of the creation of the sky and the earth. When the Lord God made the earth and the sky, there were no plants on the earth. Nothing was growing in the fields. The Lord God had not yet made it rain on the land. And there was no man to care for the ground. But a mist often rose from the earth and watered all the ground.
Then the Lord God took dust from the ground and formed man from it. The Lord breathed the breath of life into the man’s nose. And the man became a living person. Then the Lord God planted a garden in the East, in a place called Eden. He put the man he had formed in that garden. The Lord God caused every beautiful tree and every tree that was good for food to grow out of the ground. In the middle of the garden, God put the tree that gives life. And he put there the tree that gives the knowledge of good and evil.
A river flowed through Eden and watered the garden. From that point the river was divided. It had four streams flowing into it. The name of the first stream is Pishon. It flows around the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold. That gold is good. Bdellium and onyx are also there. The name of the second river is Gihon. It flows around the whole land of Cush. The name of the third river is Tigris. It flows out of Assyria toward the east. The fourth river is the Euphrates.
The Lord God put the man in the garden of Eden to care for it and work it.
Space Makers practice: Filling
Filling prayer is about inviting the Holy Spirit to come and be present and fill each disciple with God’s power and love. It can be done quietly, lying down with quiet music on, but also more actively with movement, actions and louder music! Do what is most right for your household. If you have some bubble mix, feel free to blow bubbles during this practice.
Imagine God’s light bubbling and rising inside you. Stand up if you can and picture the bubbles starting in your toes and travelling all the way up to the top of your head. Imagine that as the bubbles grow bigger, so God’s light fills you up – fills your heart, shines out and surrounds you.
I wonder how it feels to be filled with, surrounded by, and shining with God’s light?
By using and training our “noticing God” muscle to spot where God is active and working for good in the world, in others and in ourselves, we can get to know God better and become more connected and confident disciples.
Prayer
Dear God,
I love you, you made me,
You made all things just to be.
You made me, I love you,
Help me care for our world too.
Amen
Weekly film and questions
Watch this film, pausing when prompted to think and talk about the questions.
Watch the film | Audio-only version | Download the transcript
Now wonder together
- What sort of job has humankind done in looking after this amazing planet?
- What might we do to show that we care for our neighbours through caring for our planet?