Be the Good Soil
During today’s scripture reading, we heard the Parable of the Sower, and like all of the parables of Jesus, it has a lesson to teach us through a powerful metaphor, in this case that of the sower who spreads his seeds over both fertile and forbidding ground. In our Sunday School classroom, we frame the parables as gifts, whose messages we strive to understand – and take into our hearts – more and more deeply each time we hear them. To that end, this week, dig a little deeper into the Parable of the Sower by sowing your own seeds, both literal and metaphorical!
To begin, gather two clear plastic cups, some potting soil, a handful of small rocks, and some seeds of your choosing. In the first cup, layer in the rocks and a small amount of the soil, then add a few seeds to the top, just as the sower did when he spread his seed on the rocky ground. In the second cup, place only soil, with a few seeds planted gently beneath its surface. Talk about the “good soil” in the parable, and what it produced.
The story includes two other types of ground – the busy path, where the seed is quickly trampled and eaten by birds, and the thorns that choke everything that grows in their way. You are welcome to create cups for those as well, but the first two should be sufficient to give even the youngest members of your family a way in to the story.
Together, your family can care for both cups, and take note of what happens as the seeds you’ve sown begin to grow – or not – depending on where they have been planted. If you have a “brown thumb,” we wish you luck with this endeavor, but the seeds planted in the good soil should begin to sprout and flourish, while the seeds sown on the rocks will of course struggle to take root.
As the well-sown seeds begin to grow, take the opportunity to discuss the parable’s message: “The seed is the word of God.” How can we be the good soil, holding God’s word in our hearts and helping it to grow and flourish?
We hope your family finds this hands-on way of accessing the gifts of this parable to be, well, fruitful! Keep us updated on the progress of your seeds on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram – we’d love to see how things are growing!
