SUNDAY SCHOOL @ HOME – 6th Sunday after Pentecost/July 12, 2020

Bible Passage (for parents)
Share the Good News! (Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23)

Jesus shares a parable with us.  A parable is a story that teaches us something.  This parable is about someone who spreads, or sows, seed on the ground.  Jesus tells about what happens to the seeds depending on what kind of soil the seeds land on.  Let’s watch the story together.

Watch this video together:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tb7bvF5Ucrk

 

Read:

Jesus told this teaching story, or parable, about a person who planted seeds.  All the seeds were the same.  Some fell on stony ground and were eaten by birds!  Some fell on rocky soil and couldn’t grow deep roots and so they got scorched by the sun.  Some seeds fell on soil that had weeds, or thorns, and the thorns were bigger, and the seeds didn’t grow very big.  Some of the seeds fell on good soil.  They grew and grew and grew.  They were strong.  The produced an amazing crop.  This is an interesting story, but sometimes it is hard to understand what Jesus is trying to teach us.  One of the things that Jesus is trying to each us is that we are like the seeds.  Each of us is the same.  Each of us is bright and has the potential for good and life.  When we are planted in Jesus, who is our good soil, we can grow strong and bright and we can do amazing things, like telling others about what a difference Jesus makes for us.  We can tell others with our words and with our actions.  Some people may think Jesus is teaching something different with this parable, but that’s one of the reasons Jesus used teaching stories because he could teach more than one thing with just one story.

Discuss

  • What does it mean to sow?
  • What another name for someone who sows?
  • What kinds of ground did the farmer plan the seeds on?
  • What was Jesus trying to teach us with this parable or teaching story?

 

 

Song

Speak Up (Tell the World).  Why not do the motions?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=esUsHmkRIiA

Activity

Tie a piece of yarn or string around a pretzel.  Tell another person they can have the pretzel if they can get it.  They are not allowed to get up from where they are sitting or use their hands.  Dangle the pretzel in front of the, but a distance so that they can’t reach it.

 

After everyone has had a chance.  Share some pretzels together.

 

Ask:

What good is food if you can’t eat it?

What good is God’s Word if all you ever do is hear it?

How does this relate to Jesus’ parable?

 

Activity

God has planted magnificent places of beauty throughout the world.  Click on the link below and take a virtual tour of a national park.

https://www.travelandleisure.com/trip-ideas/national-parks/virtual-national-parks-tours

 

Discuss

Jesus’ parable for this week is designed to help us learn something.  It teaches us that we can trust in Jesus.  We can listen to God’s Word and put our trust in Jesus knowing that Jesus loves us so much that he died on the cross for us and rose to new life for us.  Nothing can ever separate us from God’s love in Jesus.  Through baptism, we are made part of God’s family forever.  We can share that Good News with others.  We can do that by telling them how much Jesus loves us and them.  We can do that by sharing God’s love with them.  We can do that we treating everyone with forgiveness, care, and love, just like God does us.

 

Closing Prayer

Pray:  God, we thank you for plants and trees and water and the skies.  We thank you for family and friends and for people we haven’t even met.  Help us always trust in Jesus.  Help us tell others the good news of your love for us in Christ Jeus our Lord.  We pray in Jesus’ name.  Amen.

 

Pastor Dan Fugate, Assistant to the Bishop for Discipleship in the Indiana-Kentucky Synod, ELCA, put this lesson together for Sunday School @ Home.  There will be a new one for each Sunday while we are unable to gather together physically in our congregational buildings.  Contact him at [email protected].