St Mary s Church. Steeple Ashton, BA14 6EW. Family Service, March 6 th The Prodigal Son

Transcription

1 St Mary s Church Steeple Ashton, BA14 6EW Family Service, March 6 th 2016 The The Prodigal Son Here you will find The Bible story page 2-3 The talk about the story page 4 The Children s prayer page 7 Something to do page 8-10

2 The Prodigal Son Our bible story today is another of the parables which Jesus told. It is the parable of The Prodigal Son. A parable is a story with a special meaning - a hidden message in it. It is a story you need to think about. The word prodigal means reckless and wasteful. Once there was a man who had two sons. One day the youngest son came to him and said, Father, give me the goods which I will inherit when you die. The father gave him his portion and a few days later the son left home and travelled to another country. There he wasted all his money doing things he knew were wrong, living badly. Until soon he had no money left to buy food and there was a famine. He had to become a servant and was given the job feeding pigs, the worst job a Jewish man could do. No-one cared for him and he said to himself, Even my father s servant are better feed and cared for than I am. I will go to my father and say to him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I m not good enough to be your son, but make me one of your servants. So he went home but before he reached there his father saw him coming and ran to greet him, and hugged and kissed his son.

3 The son said what he d wanted to say. But the father said to his servant, Fetch the best robe, a ring for his finger, shoes. Prepare a feast! My son who was lost has come home. I thought he was dead and he is alive! Now the elder son who had been working in the field came home and heard the merry-making. He was angry and would not go in. So the Father came out to him. The elder son said, I ve been here with you all the time and you ve never made this fuss of me. You ve never given a party for me and my friends. But as soon has this son, who has done bad things, comes home you have killed the fatted calf, given the very best, to celebrate. The Father said, Son you are with me always, and everything I have is yours. But it is right to be merry, for your brother was dead to us and is alive, he was lost and is found. Luke 15v 24-35

4 Of all the wonderful stories Jesus told this is my absolute favourite. It tells me that whatever happens I am safe, and that God is always be waiting for me. In the story the younger son wants his share of his father s fortune to go on an adventure. The son made a big mistake to have an adventure wasn t the mistake, his father would have blessed that idea, to go away and learn something new. His mistake was to be thoughtless and careless his mistake was to not to care what he did. He wasted the money he d been given until there was nothing left and the only job he could get was feeding some-one else s pigs THIS WAS THE WORST JOB IN THE WORLD FOR HIM AS HE WAS A JEW. HE WAS SO HUNGRY HE WOULD HAVE EATEN THE PIG FOOD!

5 The poor boy thought of home and of his father s kindness to the people who worked for him - and he came to his senses. He went home to say sorry and ask if he could be a servant for his father.. Of course his father was over the moon to see him. Never mind saying sorry and being a servant; his father loved him and wanted him to be his proper place, -his proper son again. Sadly, his big brother was jealous of all the fuss his father was making. After all big brother had been working hard all the while and had asked for nothing. His father explained that he, too, was special and had always been so and shared with his father all the blessings he had.

6 Jesus was telling us that we all make mistakes...sometimes by thoughtlessness.. sometimes by not knowing. and sometimes we do things which are wrong on purpose. But God will wait patiently for us to remember Him and remember what He wants for us and loves us. God will always welcome us when we are sorry. All mums and dads are like that. They are always ready to cuddle us when we say sorry. My Dad told my sons, his grandsons, Whatever you do you can always come home. And you can, too. You can come home to Mum or Dad at the end of the day and you can home to our church, and God, at the end of making our mistake. No-one wants us to do wrong things, of course, but Mums, Dads, Grans, and Grandads will always be there to love and support us. And the really, really lovely thing is that God is always ready to let you, and me, start again and again and again..and!

7 Almighty God, our heavenly Father, we have made mistakes and done thing we shouldn t do, hurting You and our friends. Sometimes we have done this not meaning to, sometimes not thinking, and sometimes we have done things on purpose. We are very sorry. Please forgive us and keep us safe. Help us to be more thoughtful and more loving every day, For Jesus sake, Amen

8 Here are some pictures for you to make into your own Prodigal son story book. You could make a zigzag book.

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10 We are always pleased to see your colouring. Send it to ;- St Mary s Church Steeple Ashton Trowbridge Wilts BA14 6EW Or bring it along and pin it on the board yourself any time. Our next service is on Sunday, April 10 th at 10:30 a.m. when baby Luke will be christened.