Feeding the 5000 (Kids' Talk)

Kids' Talk, Pentecost 12, Aug 3 2008. Reading is Matt 14:13-21.

Have chalice with cruet of wine and paten with host sitting in front of you.
Start with the refrain: when you think of Jesus, think of God.

Then...

Do you know what it is like to feel hungry? ... How does it feel? ...

Tell story of feeding.(Break the host as you tell the bit about Jesus distributing the bread.) Points to emphasise:

• crowd
• Jesus' compassion for their hunger
• not enough food to go around (miss by a mile)
• Jesus makes it enough and feeds everybody
• with tons left over!

What could this story mean? Possible answers:

• Jesus didn't want the people to be hungry, and given the refrain above, God doesn't want people to be hungry
• Jesus fed the people, God feeds us
• when Jesus feeds there is always enough to go around

Point to chalice and paten: like at the eucharist, Jesus feeds us because God doesn't want us to be hungry, and there is always enough to go around, and even more people could come to be fed.