Luke 15:1-3, 11-32

So:  This meditation is going to be a little bit different, since it is a Sunday School class that explored the story through “cooking” and “science.” Also, our assigned date turned out to be on a Sunday when Church of the Holy Cross had Morning Prayer instead of our usual Eucharist.  Family attendance was lower, with some of our regulars among our older classes missing.

The result – today’s meditation (after my summary) was put together by a four-year-old (Miller) and a five-year-old (Liam) - both very enthusiastic - and Lexi (10 years old and the niece of one of the people who helps out at Neighbors Feeding Neighbors on the last Sunday of each month.

Overview: The story of the Prodigal Son – familiar to pretty much everyone – is a story told by Jesus to Pharisees who are not all that happy with Jesus interacting with tax collectors and sinners (people who were not behaving the way God or Jesus would want). In short: A father has two sons. The older son is obedient and does what is expected. The younger son wants nothing more than to be given his inheritance and go off to explore the “exciting” world beyond his home. The father gives the younger son what he wants. And it turns out the way you would expect. The younger son wastes all his money. Ends up working on a farm feeding the pigs (not the best place for a Jewish boy); and, going hungry, he considers eating the pigs’ food. He figures even his father’s workers have it better. He decides to go back home with his contrition speech all prepared and finds he doesn’t even have to apologize. His father welcomes him and throws a huge party. The older son is (understatement) put out.  We don’t actually find out if his father telling him he loves both of them makes a huge difference in the moment, but the bottom line is that both the younger son and the older son were in need of forgiveness.

Class:

We began with the story of the Prodigal Son, of course. Miller and Liam had it down since we’ve done it for the last couple of weeks, but Lexi hadn’t heard it. It turns out none of them, or us, is perfect and they got that the younger son had made mistakes. They even shared some of their own and that their parents were as nice about it as the father. We decided that the father was actually God and the sons (both the younger and the older) were us or anyone who has ever done something wrong. They thought that the older son was being a little mean. And, when we went back to the story being told to the Pharisees, they thought they needed forgiving, too.

We talked about all of this while celebrating under our “Welcome Home” banner. After all, the story ends with a party! We put together cake and fruit and pudding (pig slop) parfaits.

Then it was time for the surprise:  From the story, they hadn’t expected the father to forgive the younger son right away. After all, he didn’t even have to say “Sorry.”

So we found other places through science for surprises:

* Baking Soda & Vinegar – This one they got and we used all my vinegar to show over and over again the waterfall of foam that resulted. (I was very glad I put a pan under the jar.)

* Oil & Vinegar – This one they didn’t see coming. Water in a cup, Oil with food coloring poured on top. Oil floats with color, then the color sinks and when you put more food coloring in, balls of color go right through the oil. I also now need more food coloring.

* Mentos and Diet Coke – Nothing more needs to be said, except definitely done outside. And this one they all knew about. (see YouTube)

* Candles – They all thought that the fire would get brighter and bigger when we covered the jar. Against my expectations, this was the biggest surprise to them.

* Optical illusions – They still don’t think the two lines are the same size.

* How many cotton balls in the jar - Here I think Liam (5) may have cheated a little and maybe glanced at the number I had written down or heard me. What are the chances he’d guess the correct answer of 61?  Need more cotton balls, too. They decided to have a snowball fight with them after class.

Final thoughts from Liam, Miller & Lexi: God loves us no matter what we do. No one is perfect. Forgiving is important. We all need it. We all need to be willing to give it. And:  We had Fun!

Meditation by the Church of the Holy Cross Sunday School, North Plainfield
Led by Robin Marciniak
Diocese of New Jersey

Lid is on the candle – what will happen next?  - They all think the flame will get bigger and brighter.