The Gospel passage for next Sunday includes a verse we have often pondered in the Atrium: “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit.” What do you hear in this parable? Have you ever planted a seed and watched it grow? For new life, more life, abundant life to come, what had to happen to the seed? Jesus is sharing this parable just after he enters the City of Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. What do you think He might be saying about Himself in this verse? Write the verse and draw what you hear.
Level II (1st-2nd) The Good Shepherd (John 10:1-16) Read the Parable of the Good Shepherd. Enjoy this beautiful story that we have heard again and again through our years in the Atrium. Now look closely at verse 11. Look again at the verse we read from the Gospel for next Sunday above. Go back to your drawing and add to it, showing how the parable of the Good Shepherd speaks about the same truth as the verse about the grain of wheat. | Level III (3rd-6th) The Mystery of Life and Death Go back to next Sunday’s Gospel and read the whole passage (John 12:20-33). Look closely at what Jesus says just after verse 24. He is speaking again about eternal life. What is He telling us about life and death and eternal life? Sit with this passage. Read it again. What does it mean to be alive and how is it the same or different from eternal life? What could you add to the page you worked on above? |