2/10/11  Proper 22

Theme: Pressing on towards the prize

Bible Reading

Philippians 3.10-14

Preparation

Prepare a picture of a worm or put one in some soil in a jar. You may be able to create a powerpointof several appropriate pictures

Introduction

Have you ever wondered what it must be like to be a worm? I don't suppose you have. I want to tell you the story of Wilberforce the worm. Now, I'm not a wormologist but there are some things you need to know about Wilberforce.

Wilberforce is an earth worm. He lives in the back garden just a few centimetres below the surface. In winter he burrows deeper into the soil to escape the frost. Wilberforce, like most worms; he doesn't like daylight but he does come to the surface at night. He lives on organic matter like dead leaves and vegetation.

The Message

Wilberforce isn't the only worm who lives in the garden. In fact there are many members of his family happily chewing their way through the earth just below the surface of my lawn. Wilberforce's favourite aunt is Winnie. It just so happened that last Thursday was Great Aunt Winnie's tenth birthday. Believe it or not a few worms do live that long, and Great Aunt Winnie was one of them.

The family planned to celebrate the old lady's birthday with a party. Members of the family were invited from all over the garden and even some from next door. Wilberforce was determined to be there. But there was a problem. Great Aunt Winnie lived in a home for elderly worms at the very end of the garden. For Wilberforce this meant a very long and hard journey.

It started badly as there was a very heavy shower of rain. Rain floods worm burrows and drives them to the surface. If this happens in daylight they often end up as breakfast for blackbirds. Wilberforce tunnelled his way just below the surface splashing through the rain water which had soaked down. It was hard and muddy work but Wilberforce was determined to press on.

In the middle of the lawn was a small pond sunk about half a metre into the earth. Wilberforce found it when he crashed straight into the side. This was not good news - it was a long way round for a worm and it took a long time to get to the other side. Once again Wilberforce felt like giving up. As he chewed a couple of rotting leaves his determination returned. He would get to the party - nothing would stop him. I'm pleased to say he made it. Great Aunt Winnie was very delighted to see him.

'I think,' she said, 'you win the prize for keeping going.'

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Think together about occasions when you would have found it easy to give up, but you kept on going - it might be a race, or a difficult piece of school work, it might be when you worked hard at trying to be someone's friend.

Saint Paul talked about keeping going and winning a very special prize - 'the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus.' It would have been so easy for Paul to give up when he was on his many journeys preaching about Jesus, all kinds of terrible things happened to him - he was beaten up more than once, he was thrown into prison several times, and he was even ship-wrecked on his way to his trial in Rome. But nothing stopped Paul because he knew that nothing was as wonderful as knowing Jesus and following him. He went on sharing the message of Jesus right up to the very end.

Prayer

Heavenly Father,
It's very easy to give up when something difficult comes along. It's much harder to keep going. Help us to remember how Jesus kept going even to the cross. When we want to give up, give us the strength to carry on. Amen.

Also this week you could share some of the stories about St Paul and how he continued to preach the word under the most difficult circumstances e.g:Acts chapters 9, 14, 16, 27 & 28.