Script 47 Five Loaves and Two Fishes Proper 12 John 6:1-13 THEME The Gospel this Sunday describes the Feeding of the Five Thousand. There have been many attempts to explain away this story the most persistent being the suggestion that lots of people in the crowd had brought picnics really, but it wasn t until the little boy produced his that they were shamed into sharing their food. However, as there s no trace of this ingenious idea in the Gospel, this session will go for a straight reading of the text: Jesus performed a miracle. Children enjoy the story just as it is. As adults we may see hints of the Eucharist in the miracle, but most kids are content to know that everyone got their lunch. SET UP The liturgical color is Green. A bread stick. A few Smarties TM or chocolate buttons on a dish. A basket with a fake bottom. 5 mini rolls, and some small bite-sized chunks of bread placed under the false basket bottom. 2 very small fish make them out of anything: fish-shaped biscuits (if you ve got the time) or a couple of fishshaped cut-outs from a slice of toast (if you haven t). Wrap the five rolls and two fish in a tea towel, place them on the top of the basket, and give them to a sensible child (to turn up with during the Gospel). Cast Jesus, Philip and Andrew for the Gospel, they ll need to look at the script beforehand. WELCOME the children and lead them in The Sign of the Cross X (p. xxxvi).
262 Proper 12 THE KYRIE God our Father, you are always ready to forgive us, Lord Jesus, you taught us to say sorry for our sins, Christ have mercy. Christ have mercy. Holy Spirit, you help us to repent when we do wrong, Ask the children to repeat The Prayer for Forgiveness after you (p. xxxvi). OPENING PRAYER God our Father, You created everything The earth, the sea and the sky. You created us and gave us this world to live in; You give us our food and our families. We thank you for all your gifts, And especially for the gift of Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord. Amen. BEFORE THE GOSPEL Sharing Leader (Plus breadstick) Today we re going to think about food, especially about giving it to other people. It s very good to give away food but it does have its down side. Watch this here s a bread stick. (Hold it up.) I like bread sticks, but I know I ought to share my food, so I ll give some of it away. (Break off a bit of the stick.) Anyone want some? Hand it out and go on doing so until you ve got about an inch left. Okay, now I can have some. Look at what s left. Anyone notice anything...? There s hardly any left. That s what happens when you share things: they get smaller and smaller. Let s try it with Smarties.
Script 47 Five Loaves and Two Fish 263 Pass out the Smarties until you ve only got one left, look sadly at it. Yup, the same thing seems to have happened. But oddly enough, every now and then, sharing doesn t have this effect. Sometimes it goes the other way. We re going to hear about that in the Gospel. GOSPEL PROCESSION THE GOSPEL John 6:1-13 Have the basket to hand, ask the children to stand. Narrator Jesus went away to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, with a large crowd following Him. He went up the hillside, sat down there with His disciples, and looked at the crowd. Jesus comes forward and looks round at the kids. Narrator He turned to Philip and said, Jesus Where can we buy some bread so that these people can eat? Philip Two hundred dollars would not be enough to give them even a roll. Andrew comes forward with the child and its picnic. Narrator Then Andrew, Simon Peter s brother, said to Him, Andrew There s a boy here who s brought you his picnic what have you got there? The child puts the basket down and unwraps the food, Andrew inspects it. He s got five barley loaves and two fish thanks son but it s not nearly enough... Jesus takes the basket. Jesus Ask everyone to sit down. Andrew and Philip get the children to sit down. Narrator There was plenty of grass there and five thousand people sat down. Then Jesus took the loaves (he does), gave thanks (he holds them up), and shared them out to the people near Him. Then He did the same with the fish. (Same business) Make it perfectly obvious that the loaves and fish have run out, but go on dishing out bread to anyone who wants it from the bottom of the basket, of course. Keep some bits of bread back for your presentation in church.
264 Proper 12 Narrator Jesus went on handing out bread and fish until everyone had had enough to eat. And, at the end of the meal, the disciples filled 12 baskets like this one with the scraps left over. AFTER THE GOSPEL Leader How did we do that? The children will probably know show them the basket. Yes, you re quite right, it was a trick. But how did Jesus do it? There He was, sharing and sharing, and the food got more, not less. It was a miracle. But you know, miracles aren t magic. When Jesus did miracles He wasn t like Harry Potter and saying a spell. He was doing something that was quite normal and ordinary as long as you re God. We can t do them, but God can. And one of the things that God is always doing is making small fish CD47.1 from big fish. CD47.2 And loads of bread, from tiny little bits of bread God loves making things and He loves making lots of them. Think how many cherries there are on a tree, or how many tadpoles there are in the average frog family. Jesus said, The Son watches what the Father does and copies Him. And that s what He was doing when He multiplied the loaves and fishes. REHEARSAL Practice your presentation for when you go back into church (see below). BEFORE THE FINAL PRAYER Leader God makes fish and wheat and frogs, and us. The Gospel today is about Jesus making things too food for God s people. We ll think about that as we say Psalm 145 together.
FINAL (From Psalm 145) PRAYER The response to the Psalm is: MUSIC ; He has compassion on all He has made. The eyes of all creatures look to Him, and He gives them their food in due time. He opens wide His hand, and grants the desires of every living thing. The song Abba, Abba, Father sums up the session nicely. BACK IN CHURCH Script 47 Five Loaves and Two Fish 265 Take in the basket with a few bits of bread on top, and more underneath. Line the children up along the front. Leader Today we heard how Jesus took five rolls of bread Show the congregation the top of the basket. And shared them out among five thousand people. The Children s Church are now going to do their most ambitious presentation ever and be five thousand people. Send the basket along the line. Each child takes some bread, holds it up, and passes the basket to the next one then they run round and join the line again. Keep it snappy and stop sooner rather than later. The food didn t run out and all five thousand had enough to eat. Of course we are using a trick basket but Jesus did it for real.
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