BECOME || picture of a disciple: Fruits of the Spirit
Sunday, August 2 — Worship@Home resources for FirstPres Hayward’s BECOME || picture of a disciple series
As our congregation has made the decision to move to a digital online format for our Sunday Family Gathering due to COVID-19, FirstPresKids is here to provide resources that can help you create your own at-home family worship experience or supplement the one that will be streamed on Sunday mornings, 10PST from FirstPres Hayward.
NOTE: You can also go to the FPK YouTube Channel to view most (not all) of these materials on this week’s FirstPresKids YouTube Playlist.
Scriptural Focus: the Fruit of the Spirit
Lesson Objective: to learn about the growth of a fruit-bearing plant and be able to apply this analogy to our Christian lives
Parent/Caregiver Resources:
- “The Fruit of the Spirit for Everyone, Not Just Women” (article) — consider how we misconstrue or manipulate gender and gendered language around the Fruits of the Spirit in raising our children
- “Parenting Frustration in Children: Aarrgghh!” (article) — just like the growth of fruit is cyclical, so are the fruits of the spirit in our parenting — one approach to breaking the cycle of “negative emotional chains”?
Opening or Closing Prayer: Dear God, It is wonderful to have love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control, but we know we can’t just pick these things off a tree, harvest them, buy them at the store like we’re used to — without thinking about how it got there and all time and energy it took, all the hands that labored to bring it to our tables. God, help us to worry less about what Fruits we will produce and more about how to be healthy plants. We need you, the Holy Spirit. Help us to be ready to let the Holy Spirit work in our lives, wherever we are planted — to soak it up through our leaves, to let it move through our veins, to absorb its wisdom and energy through our roots. Sometimes we will flower, sometimes we will not. Sometimes we will bear fruit, sometimes not. Some years, our fruit may be small or misshapen. But, just because those are possibilities doesn’t mean we should never plant seeds, should never take care of the plant. We can’t know what the Holy Spirit wants or intends. We can’t see into the future. We don’t know what the Fruits of the Spirit will look like in our lives, or the lives of the people we influence, or in future generations. We just know, that the cycle of growth continues season to season, year to year. Help us tend to the life we’ve been given so that the world will be full of your Fruit. Amen.
Scripture:
- Galatians 5:16–26
- The Fruit of the Spirit | Bible Story | LifeKids
Videos for Kids:
- How does an apple grow?
Discussion Questions:
- What do plants need to grow?
- Which one of the Fruits of the Spirit comes easiest to you? One that you already have and is ripe?
- Which one is the hardest for you? Which do you not have or need help ripening?
- What do you think we need for our Fruits of the Spirit to grow? What do you need specifically for your “hard” fruit to ripen?
Do:
- Gather your family to play a “Fruit Basket” game like this:
- Consider what plants need to grow and Grow Your Own Plants or do a Celery Experiment:
Make:
- Make or draw fruit to remind you of God’s Holy Spirit working in you!
Books: libraries are closed and you may not have time to order books, but check out the lists below and often a quick internet search will turn up a video version of many picture books. Or scroll down for my quick picks that you can “read” online!
- Books About Seeds and Plant Life Cycles
- Quick Picks: The Carrot Seed by Ruth Krauss (younger kids) and The Fruit Bowl by Mark Hoffman
