Connected to Divine

Fifth Sunday of Easter

Scripture Reference: John 15: 1 – 8 

Preparation: Bring in a tree branch with leaves or a picture of a fruit tree branch. You could also bring in a bunch of grapes to share with the children at the end of the message.

Does anyone know what this is? (Show your branch or your picture of a branch with leaves or fruit on it. Let children respond.) Yes, it is a plant that bears fruit. If I cut the branch off of the tree, will the branch keep producing more fruit? No, it will eventually wither and die.

In the book of John, chapter 15, Jesus tells us that he is the vine and we are the branches. It order to be truly alive and in order to do great things with our lives (which is like producing fruit) we need to be connected to Jesus. We need to be praying and reading the Bible and listening to God. Jesus is holy. Another word for holy is “divine.” It’s easy to remember that word, because He is divine and we are “de branch.” But we need to stay connected to the holy or “divine” if we want to be really alive.

I have a game that we can play that helps show the importance of being connected. Sometimes this game is called “Ooh-Ahh” and you’ll see why. First we have to hold hands in a big circle. Once we’re all connected, I am going to squeeze the hand of the person on my right and I’m going to say, “Oooh!” As soon as they get that “Oooh” they have to pass it on to the person on their right. If we’re all connected, the “Oooh” should travel around the circle all the way back to me. Let’s try it! (Send the “Oooh” around the circle to your right.” Then you can try sending an “Aaah” around the other way. If your group is very attentive, they can handle both sounds at once in opposite directions.)

Now, would this work if we weren’t connected? If we refuse to connect to God, or to listen to God, can we hear what God is trying to say to us? It’s important to stay connected to the vine, to Divine, to Jesus.

Prayer: Dear Jesus, help us to always stay connected to you, and to listen to you and to bear good fruit for you.