good news

By the time I'd made the soups, seen to all the setting up of the halls and got things ready for the school - it was time to go to school again!

The last of the sessions with primary 5 today. And it's always brilliant, this one!

There are various things we have to cover through this course, to keep 'on-side' with the curriculum. And those things include discussion with the children about 'gospel', 'miracle', 'parable' and 'sacrament'.

You'd think that 'sacrament' is hardly the way to bring the whole course to a climax. But it works a treat. It's a massive, multi-sense experience, and the use of all the senses makes it wonderfully appealing to the children.

They love it! The feel and the smell and the taste of the bread (as well as the sight and the sound - when I break it in two). And the same with the wine (well, red grape juice!).

Like last time, I rounded the whole thing off by giving each class a trailing plant. A way of their remembering the times that I've had with them - and what the message is all about.

Water. They have to water the plants. And the water reminds them of life.

Feed the plants and they'll grow. And being trailing plants, they'll grow quite a bit!

Which, I said, is what the followers of Jesus have been doing ever since he first broke the bread and drank the wine with them! Spreading the message, I mean.

There were things to sort out here in the afternoon. And people to see.

And then in the evening, I popped in to the Brownies who were having a kind of 'talent' night and they'd begged me a little while back to be there and see it all.

I was glad to be there. It helps to get the message across. A God for whom there's no one small or insignificant. A God who has the time to share our fun.

Even though there's a lot of other serious stuff going on.

Which is 'good news'!