Godly Play: The Parable of the Sower

When asked an important question, Jesus often told parables to help his listeners think a little deeper. In Godly Play, we tell six of these core parables, and The Parable of the Sower is one of them. Jesus told this story when asked what the Kingdom of God was like.

The Kingdom of God is like seeds that are sown broadly. Some fall on the path and are eaten by the birds. Some fall between on stony ground and can't find get their roots deep enough into the earth to survive. Some fall on thorny ground and are choked by the thorns. Others fall on good soil and produce a harvest 30, 60 and 100 times that which the farmer sowed. 

We had three children this week that were new to our Godly Play group, so things were a bit "livelier" than usual, since they were not familiar with our routine. They were glued to the story, but I had a difficult time getting them to focus during the Wondering. Oh well, every Godly Play Storyteller (or anyone who works with kids!) knows that it is just like that sometimes . . . : ) When asked who the Sower might be, the children thought that he could be God or us. They also thought the most important thing was that the Sower actually got out and sowed the seeds. 

Every child that I have ever met is thrilled to be able to plant something and watch it grow. So just talking about sowing seeds would be boring - I had to give kids the opportunity to actually do it! As one of the options during the response time, the children made their own mini flower pots out of air-drying clay and planted garden cress in it. 

Cress grows fast and is edible (full of Vitamin C!), so it is a perfect way to illustrate the "good soil" in the parable and celebrate the coming of spring. One child came up with the sun shape below and several other children wanted to make theirs the same way. 

You can see tiny sprouts coming up two days later!

To read more about the wooden materials that I used for this parable, please click here. 

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Unsere Godly Play-Geschichte diese Woche ging um das Gleichnis vom Sämann, das Jesus erzählte, als er gefragt wurde, "Wie ist es mit dem Reich Gottes?"

Während des Ergründungsgespräch habe ich die Kinder gefragt, wer der Sämann sei. Manche meinten, er könnte Gott sein, und andere sagten, er sind wir. Auch meinten sie, das wichtige an der Geschichte ist, dass die Samen gesät wurden. 

Nur übers Säen zu reden wäre langweilig - also müssten wir's einfach tun! Als Angebot zur Kreativzeit haben wir Pflanzentöpfe aus Ton gestaltet und Kresse eingesät. Ein Kind hat eine Sonne-Motiv für den Topf ausgedacht und einige andere haben's auch so gemacht. 

Linked to Friday's Nature Table at The Magic Onions

and Eco Kids' Tuesday at Like Mama-Like Daughter and Organic Aspirations

and Waldorf Wednesday at Seasons of Joy