Family Service
Can you guess what the flower is below?
It is a Dandelion.
Dens Leonis is Latin for: a lion’s tooth
The name Dandelion takes its name from the shape of its’ leaves, they have points like a lion’s canine teeth.
Jesus’ name: Jesus Christ
Jesus means: Saviour
Christ “ The Anointed One.
Jesus is also known as The Lion of Judah. In C.S. Lewis’ books ‘The Chronicles of Narnia’ Aslan the lion king represents Jesus he was like Jesus he died and God raised him back to life.
It is set in the fictional realm of Narnia where there is a battle going on between good and evil. The wicked Queen slays Aslan on an altar of sacrifice and the children see him lying there dead, then by a miracle Aslan comes back to life, resurrected from the dead. The children are called upon by the lion Aslan to protect Narnia from evil and restore the throne to its rightful line.
Animals like Dandelions especially rabbits, pigs, goats and horses they eat the leaves and flowers.
The leaves of the Dandelion grow almost straight up, this means that when it rains the rain drops trickle down the leaves to the centre of the plant and straight down into the roots. The soil around the roots needs the water to release the good things out of the soil that the Dandelion thrives on. The Dandelion grows strong and its roots grow long.
Selwyn Hughes’ book ‘Getting the Best from the Bible’ Selwyn wrote that as Christians we need to read a little of the Bible every day. When we do, it is like the rain trickling down into the depths of our being, making us strong and powerful Christians.
St. Paul was saying this to the Christians at Colossae, he told them to be rooted and built up in their faith in what they had been taught about Jesus. In his letter to the church at Ephesus he wrote that they should be rooted and grounded in the love of God. Paul was saying that they should be kind and generous with each other.
The Dandelion Flower (Collect before the service Dandelion flowers and a magnifying glasses, this will allow the children to observe the five points on the petals and the stamens)
Each petal is bright golden yellow and has five points; the number 5 in the Bible means grace- undeserved blessings from God. (Children are invited to look at the flower heads using the magnifying glasses)
The flower produces a lot of pollen and nectar. The bees love the Dandelion flower because it provides nectar for them from spring to autumn. Here we see how God looks after the bees pouring out his grace, his abundance of nectar.
(A tray is prepared before hand, placed on it are the Dandelion products: cordial, Dandelion and Burdock. Glasses, cups and a flask with Dandelion tea.)
We use the Dandelion flower heads for Dandelion cordial, Dandelion & Burdock. Its’ roots when cut up, dried, roasted and ground make coffee, and its’ leaves dried and cut up make Dandelion tea.
(Pour our cordial,Dandelion & Burdock and tea and ask older children to give them out for tasting.)
The young tender leaves of the plant can be added to salad, they are rich in iron.
The Dandelion also has healing properties in the Inulin, this is the milky fluid in the stem and roots.
Many years ago people made medicine from it for: kidney, liver and gall stones complaints.
Taking the flower head with the white fluffy down.
(Allow the children to examine the construction of the seed attached to the pappas.)
After the flower dies a fluffy down appears in the shape of a circle. When I was a little girl we called it a Dandelion clock, we would blow onto the fluffy down and say one o’clock, blow again two o’clock, until all the seeds had been carried on the breeze and out of sight.
(A paper seed attached to string and to three helium filled balloons. Also a fine string attached to pull it down at the appropriate time in the talk. At this point let the balloons carrying the seed are let go, allowing it to float upwards.)
The Dandelion seeds that are carried upwards on the breeze reminded me of Jesus’ ascension into heaven; the disciples watched Jesus ascend, he was caught up in the cloud and disappeared out of their sight.
This also reminded me of our prayers ascending to where Jesus is seated at the right hand of God’s throne in heavenly places.
When we pray, it is good to find a quiet place where we can talk to Jesus, we may want to kneel or sit on a chair, we talk to him like we would to a friend. We put our hands together and close our eyes, so that we are not distracted by the things that surround us.
You may find it helpful when praying to remember the word: A.C.T.S
A – ADORATION
C – CONFESSION
T – THANKSGIVING
S – SUPPLICATION
ADORATION
We express our adoration of God quite often in singing a hymn or a chorus.
“Father we love you we worship and adore you, magnify your name in all the earth.”
As we sing these words or similar words we are honouring God, lifting up his name in reverence and awe.
CONFESSION
Having recognised God for who he is and does for us, we realise that we have let the Lord our God down. This is were we say sorry to the Lord for the things we have said or done wrong. All we need to do is acknowledge in our prayer that we have sinned and say sorry to the Lord Jesus.
THANKSGIVING
In prayer we thank the Lord for his forgiveness, his kindness towards us. We thank him for our daily food, our homes, family, friends, our pets, school, college, work and our church fellowship.
SUPPLICATION
This word means we ask Jesus to bless all those who need help in some way through our prayers; people we know who are going through a difficult time. Those who are lonely, sad, those who are homeless and those who are poorly. We remember the people who are displaced or recovering from natural disasters: droughts, famine, earthquakes and floods. For peace in the world.
Lastly we pray for ourselves.
At the end of all our prayesr we say : through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. By saying this we are asking Jesus to bring our prayers before God our Father, for him to answer them.
Amen means – so be it.
Answered prayer is like the Dandelion seed descending to the earth and landing on the soil. In due course will start to grow and the cycle is repeated.(Pull down the seed attached to the balloons.)
It is good, if you have the time to write your prayers down in a diary and as they are answered, record that too.
The Dandelion is a wonder of creation.
The Dandelion I find reflects the Lord our God and creator as it continually gives of itself and helps to keep alive the bees and supply some of our needs: food, drink and medicine.
The Lord wants us to look into the things that he has created, and observe the part they play in supplying our needs and how they show to us that God wants to take care of us. By the example of the Dandelion we also learn that he wants us, to give out of ourselves, especially in our prayers the love of our Lord God for others and his creation.