Parable of the Net

I confess, I chose this parable for this week because of the ease in thinking up the game and craft part! Planning the story was a little harder, and it did turn out pretty short.

First, everyone in the room got stickers, mostly fish, but a few crabs and lobsters. Originally four of the “fish” were to become “fishermen” but we had a smaller crowd than usual so went with two fishermen. They got on stools and started to “row” out to deep water. In the deep water, all sorts of sea creatures (everyone with a sticker—i.e. everyone) were swimming around. So they fishermen got out their big net (a bedsheet with strings safety-pinned to each corner) and draped it over all the sea creatures. Then they had to haul them to shore. One of them was supposed to hang on the the net strings while the other rowed, but somehow that got missed. So the story was even shorter, ha. Once they got to “shore,” the fishermen’s job was to sort out the crabs & lobsters, which were “unclean,” and go dump them back in the ocean. Only then could the fish be put into baskets (sit on the sofas). To finish the story, to make it clear that this wasn’t just a “fish tale,” the narrator was to finish by saying, this is how it will be at the end of the age, when the angels separate out the unclean from the righteous, and only then can the children of God enter the kingdom of heaven. But we could just imagine how this would get missed in the general noise & hubbub that is always part of our morning. So, as she was saying this, another volunteer held up a large poster of an ear, prefacing her remarks with, and Jesus said, let him who has ears, listen! It helped!

Like I said, the game was easy. I just brought in my little magnetic fishing pole & plastic fish. Simple, but everyone enjoys it.

For craft we made fish, starting by covering a marble with a small piece of clay & then pulling out fins, tail & fish lips. Add small googly eyes and glitter for “fish scales” and there you have it. Fun and cute!