Hundreds and Thousands!

• Invite a speaker with a professional or amateur horticultural knowledge to attend
• Plan a quiz about birds, animals or plants. There are many available online that can help, eg:
  • Garden-birds.co.uk
  • Britannica.com
  • Ultimatequizquestions.com
• Write or print out all letters of the alphabet on small separate pieces of paper and put into a container
• Find out more about guerrilla gardening by clicking this link
• Buy packets of seeds for attendees to take away and plant

Or

• Provide flower seeds (eg sunflower), compost and pots to plant up and resources to decorate the pot (optional)

The month of March heralds the arrival of spring in the northern hemisphere and we watch in awe as tiny flowers and leaves have returned to our green spaces. If we live in or near the countryside, we might be fortunate to see a lamb being born or calves in the fields with their mums. This time can be a reminder of our Creator God who is at work always, bringing about new life all around us.

In this session we will explore something of the extent of God’s creation, test our knowledge and maybe learn something new and recognise that God knows each one of us and loves us!

SPEAKER

Invite a special guest or a member who has a skill and passion for horticulture. Perhaps they could speak on the topic of ‘Hundreds and Thousands!’ or demonstrate something relevant, eg how to make a spring planter.

QUIZ

Do a quiz on birds, animals or plants, or a mix of them all! Members could answer individually, in pairs or small groups, or perhaps you could try it in a University Challenge style with competing teams!

SEED PLANTING

Provide required items for attendees to plant some flower seeds. (You could provide sunflower seeds with a prize later in the year for the tallest or widest sunflower!) Members may also like to decorate the pot.

Alternatively share packets of seeds for members to plant at home or even engage in some ‘guerrilla gardening’ by scattering the seeds in a nearby park or around trees along the road.

GAME

Place all 26 letters of the alphabet in a hat and invite members to take turns pulling out a letter and naming a fruit, vegetable, bird, animal, plant or flower starting with that letter.

In Matthew’s Gospel chapter 10, when Jesus was sending his disciples out, we find a couple of verses in the middle of his final instructions that reference the lowliest of birds. Jesus reminds them that if God cares for the sparrow, he will care for them no matter what they might face.

‘Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.’

(Matthew 10:29-30)

Jesus illustrates God’s care for his disciples by describing God’s care for sparrows. At this time in history, two sparrows could be bought for the smallest, lowest value coin available. The poorest in the community would buy the sparrows for food. They had minimal value in the culture of the day, and yet God knows if a sparrow falls to the ground. God is Creator God and is always aware of everything he has made.

In this passage Jesus refers to God as Father, indicating that we, as his children, can experience a deep and intimate relationship with him. And so the point is that if Father God cares for his sparrows, he obviously cares for his children. And when we fall, we can be assured that God knows and will be there for us.

Two previous Generals of The Salvation Army, John Gowans and John Larsson, wrote the words and music for the song affectionately known as ‘Hundreds and Thousands!’ The song references the simple truth of these Bible verses, that if God is concerned for the sparrows, then he is concerned for us. The song goes on to reference more of God’s creation – the flowers, the planets and the people – and reiterates the simple truth that ‘God knows everyone, and God knows me’.

Let’s enjoy listening to the song, or singing it together, and remember the truth that ‘God knows everyone, and God knows me!’

PRAYER

Read or sing this song together as a prayer. SASB 360 ‘Faithful God, faithful God’. Click the link for the video.

• SASB 396       ‘There are hundreds of sparrows’. Click the links for the lyric video or Peter and Sylvia Dalziel version.
• SASB 360       ‘Faithful God, faithful God’ Click the link for the video.
• SASB 363       ‘Give thanks to the Lord, our God and King’ Click the link for the video.
• SASB 14         ‘For the beauty of the earth’ Click the links for the traditional version, or John Rutter’s version: International Staff Songsters (with no lyrics), or lyric video.