These three talks could be combined into one longer talk, or be used as part of a Harvest Festival with a structure like the one below: Welcome All Things Bright and Beautiful Talk 1 Our God Is A Great Big God Talk 2 Lord of the Harvest Talk 3 Prayers Colours of Day (Light Up the Fire) Blessing Talk 1 Harvest time is amazing, isn t it? The fields and trees and hedgerows are full of plants and fruit. Every one of them grown from just a tiny seed. It always makes me wonder: how does the farmer make those seeds grow? Show the plant. How can the farmer make this [plant] Show the seeds. come out of this [seed]? Does anyone know? Take answers. The farmers do what they can to help the seeds, but then they just have to sit back and wait for the seeds to grow all by themselves: to do what God made them to do. Jesus told his friends a story about seeds.
Reading: Mark 4.26-6 The Kingdom of God is like a farmer who scatters seed on the ground. Night and day, while he s asleep or awake, the seed sprouts and grows, but he does not understand how it happens. The earth produces the crops on its own. First a leaf blade pushes through, then the heads of wheat are formed, and finally the grain ripens. And as soon as the grain is ready, the farmer comes and harvests it with a sickle, for the harvest time has come. Jesus said that the Kingdom of God is like a growing seed. What did he mean? We live in God s kingdom when we let him be the king of our lives and try our best for him. Jesus said that so long as we do our bit, we can trust God to do the rest. And everything changes when we trust God to do the rest. Let s sing a song now, to remind us how amazing God is and how much we can trust him. Talk 2 Our God is a great big God. So long as we do our bit, we can trust him to do the rest. That reminds me of another story Jesus told. Reading: John 6.2-13 One day, Jesus crossed Lake Galilee. A huge crowd kept following him wherever he went, because they had seen him work miracles to heal the sick. Jesus went up a mountain with his disciples and sat down. When he saw the large crowd of people coming towards him, he asked Philip, Where can we buy bread to feed all these people? Philip answered, Even if we worked for months, we wouldn t have enough money to feed them! Then Andrew, Simon Peter s brother, spoke up. There s a young boy here with five barley loaves and two fish. But what good is that with all these people? Tell everyone to sit down, Jesus said. So they all sat down on the grassy slopes. The men alone numbered about 5,000. Jesus took the loaves and gave thanks to God. Then he passed the bread to the people, and he did the same with the fish, until everyone had plenty to eat. After everyone was full, Jesus told his disciples, Now gather the leftovers, so that nothing is
wasted. So they picked up the pieces and filled twelve large baskets with what was left over from the five barley loaves. How do you think Philip felt when Jesus asked him where they could get food for all those people? Pretty hopeless, I expect. And even when the little boy gave them his picnic, it still felt hopeless. But guess what? Just like the seed that grows all by itself, when we give Jesus the little bit we have, something amazing happens: he makes it grow. God doesn t expect us to do miracles. He just asks us to do what that little boy did: to stick close to Jesus, do the little bit that we can, and trust him to do the rest. And when we do that, amazing things happen. I know a boy called Calum, who s a teenager now. But when Calum was only four, he found out that when he moved up from pre-school to Reception, he would be in the same class as a boy he knew called John. Now, John was much bigger than Calum, and Calum was scared of John, because John had sometimes pushed him quite roughly in the playground. He really didn t want to be in the same class as John. And he had six long weeks of the the summer holidays ahead of him to worry about it. So Calum s mum suggested that they talk to Father God. Tell him how you feel, she said, and ask him to help you. And that s just what Calum did. All summer, every night before he went to sleep, he prayed about John and he told Father God how scared he felt. And do you know what happened? Three weeks after the start of term, Calum came home from school and asked his mum if John could come to their house for
tea one day. John? his mum said in surprise. John? I thought you were scared of John? Calum shrugged. Oh, I was, he said, but I m not any more. He s my best friend now. And Calum and John are still friends today. At the start of the summer, Calum felt completely hopeless. He felt like there was nothing he could do. But he stuck close to Jesus and did the one little thing he could: he trusted Jesus to answer his prayer. And that s when something amazing happened: it wasn t just ok; John became his best friend! Let s stand to praise the Lord. Talk 2 Can we have our final reading, please? Reading: John 6.2-13 What is God s kingdom like? What story can I use to explain it? It is like what happens when a mustard seed is planted in the ground. It is the smallest seed in all the world. But once it is planted, it grows larger than any garden plant. It even puts out branches that are big enough for birds to nest in its shade. When Calum gave God the little bit he had - that little bit of trust, maybe even as small as a mustard seed - something amazing happened. So at Harvest time, when we see all the plants and fruit, let s remember how amazing life can be when we stay close to Jesus do our bit - no matter how little it seems - and trust him to do the rest.
The Parable of the Growing Seed The Kingdom of God is like a farmer who scatters seed on the ground. Night and day, while he s asleep or awake, the seed sprouts and grows, but he does not understand how it happens. The earth produces the crops on its own. First a leaf blade pushes through, then the heads of wheat are formed, and finally the grain ripens. And as soon as the grain is ready, the farmer comes and harvests it with a sickle, for the harvest time has come.
Jesus Feeds Five Thousand One day, Jesus crossed Lake Galilee. A huge crowd kept following him wherever he went, because they had seen him work miracles to heal the sick. Jesus went up a mountain with his disciples and sat down. When he saw the large crowd of people coming towards him, he asked Philip, Where can we buy bread to feed all these people? Philip answered, Even if we worked for months, we wouldn t have enough money to feed them! Then Andrew, Simon Peter s brother, spoke up. There s a young boy here with five barley loaves and two fish. But what good is that with all these people? Tell everyone to sit down, Jesus said. So they all sat down on the grassy slopes. The men alone numbered about 5,000. Jesus took the loaves and gave thanks to God. Then he passed the bread to the people, and he did the same with the fish, until everyone had plenty to eat. After everyone was full, Jesus told his disciples, Now gather the leftovers, so that nothing is wasted. So they picked up the pieces and filled twelve large baskets with what was left over from the five barley loaves.
The Parable of the Mustard Seed What is God s kingdom like? What story can I use to explain it? It is like what happens when a mustard seed is planted in the ground. It is the smallest seed in all the world. But once it is planted, it grows larger than any garden plant. It even puts out branches that are big enough for birds to nest in its shade.