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| BEFORE THE SERVICE -
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Furniture :
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The lectern is at the hospital side of the church.
All in front of the altar before the service begins :
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Table in centre for bird 'seed', and 'human plant' to sit on;
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Two stands for 'bird' toy and plant pot;
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'Rock' for wilting 'flower'.
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Properties :
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At the side of the church, ready to be picked up as needed :
- Seeds in basket for sower and in smaller basket for pecking;
- birds 'toy';
- leaf;
- pot plant ( the "labelled plant" );
- sunshade for human plant;
- worldly labels for thorns - the "weeds".
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People :
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Someone at the back ready to give out music if required.
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| ACTION SONG
( "HELLO, EVERYONE" )
| Every line in the song is repeated, sung first by the leader and second by everyone. The actions are as implied by the words. Any friendly warming-up song emphasising that we are gathered in the presence of God would do.
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| AGAINST THE OVERHEAD PROJECTOR TABLE
| - or somewhere convenient for the action, and visible to the congregation. The Sower will later point to the basket and comment on it.
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| AUCKLAND CITY MISSION ( ACM ).
| The Auckland City Mission is an Anglican ministry to the needy in the Auckland area. It was a suitable organisation for support under the heading "The Harvest". Any other appropriate activity could be substituted.
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| BIRDS.
| The 'birds' was a wooden toy that when swung around set birds pecking at a tray. The stand was a flower stand at the front of the church where the 'toy' was placed after demonstrating it to the congregation.
The intention is "to remind us that God plants His message in our lives"; some other image could be substituted.
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| DEVONPORT CHRISTIAN CARE.
| Devonport Christian Care is a local organisation operated by the churches of Devonport. It offers care and help to anyone in need in the parish.
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| DONOR.
| Someone had donated a harvest display for the service; this is where we fitted it in. It isn't necessary to the service, but added a nice touch - and we never refuse donations !
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| LABELLED PLANT.
| The "Labelled plant" comes from the side of the church ( where it must have been placed before the service ! ) and is placed on a second flower stand at the front.
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| MIMING A WILTING PLANT
| I can't describe how to do that, but our mimer somehow managed very well to convey the plant's growing from seed, then feeling the heat, and finally being overcome and wilting to the ground.
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| NARRATORS, SEVERAL.
| We used several narrators, partly to spread the action around, but also to emphasise the different sides to the story.
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| PECK UP.
| The "pecking up" ( which you needn't do with your beak ) puts into action the previous lines from the poem - notably, "all God's good words just go". It might be worth adding a few words to make this connection clear.
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| POEM
| The poem "The seed is scattered" runs through much of the service. It is original, written for this service. Click the "poem next" links to work through it.
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| PSALM.
| We found it helpful for the singer to sing the refrain once, then to get the congregation to sing it before starting on the psalm proper. This seems to give those present enough confidence to join in the refrains during the psalm. The solos are sung to a simple plainchant; the melody we used for the refrain is :
( We are not sure of the source. )
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| PUPPETS.
| We have no record of what the puppets did. They were in the service because we had an experienced puppeteer among our helpers, and it was sensible to take advantage of his availability. Something related to the theme of the service would obviously be a good idea - or, as they are not linked to the service, you can just leave them out.
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| READERS, SEVERAL.
| The readings are split to get more people involved, not for any special significance in the words.
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| ROCK.
| A table covered with grey cloth. Details aren't important, but it has to look like a dry, unsheltered, uninviting place.
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| SCREEN.
| The screen was wire netting that covered the table to protect the seed from being pecked up.
In our service, it wasn't explained properly but the idea was to show that doing or saying the 'right' things prevents the seed from being eaten away. We've left it there in case you find the idea useful; you can either develop it or get rid of it.
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| SEED.
| The 'seeds' are strips of coloured paper, each loosely rolled into a ball. Each strip of paper has a Bible verse written on it. We used 12 different verses, on 12 different colours of paper, and made about 10 balls from each piece of paper. There should be at least one 'seed' for each member of the congregation. These are placed in a basket ready for the sower to scatter among the congregation.
A second smaller basket of 'seed' is available for the sower to scatter on the central table in Part 2.
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| SONG
| We have no record of this song. Nothing depends directly on it, so you could leave it out, or perhaps put in something appropriate.
( It's there because the Song Person was eager to contribute to the service, but would only contribute the song. The song itself was harmless, and the Song Person would be encouraged by participation in the service, so it was accepted. )
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| SUPER SUNDAY CLUB
| That's what we call what used to be called our Sunday School. Insert a suitable local Christian Sunday activity - or leave it out.
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| TAPE
| We sang the song "Hello, everyone" to the accompaniment of a tape. That gave a more positive and rhythmic lead to the singing than we would have managed with the organ.
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| WEEDS
| The "weeds" are labels, large enough to be seen throughout the church, bearing the names of the distractions mentioned in the play - worry, love of riches, strife, gossip, trials, nightly parties, greed, drunkenness, bitterness, anxiety, drug abuse, slander, anger. They must be on paper rather than card, as Plant must be able to screw them up.
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