Fear: In the garden

After they had eaten Jesus and his friends went to a place called the Garden of Gethsemane to pray together. Jesus prayed so hard that he was sweating, he was asking his Father God if there was any other way. But as Jesus was filled with worry and fear his friends had fallen asleep, but they were about to feel that worry and fear too.

Click here for the downloadable version.

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The story

Read Luke 22:47-53​ or listen to the story here.

Jesus' friends must have been terrified when soldiers appeared. Fearful for themselves, each other and Jesus. One was so scared that he tried to hurt someone near him, but Jesus stopped him and healed one of the people coming to arrest him. After this the disciples ran away and hid. Peter (one of Jesus' friends) even pretended he didn't know Jesus but then felt really guilty.

When we are scared or fearful we sometimes make choices like hurting someone, running away or pretending the worry doesn't exist...just like Jesus' friends did. But Jesus did something different. He prayed to God about all his worry and fear and he trusted God to help him. We can do that too. God wants to hear all our fears and worries and be with us through them. Sometimes he might take away the things we are scared of, he might give us strength and courage to face our fears, he might send people to help us and he will always send love and comfort for us.

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Ask each other...

How would you have felt in the garden?
How might Jesus have felt talking to God?
What makes you scared, worried or fearful at the moment?
How would you feel if you gave your fears to God?

Make sure everyone has a chance to think and to share their thoughts. There are no right or wrong answers!

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Respond

We all enjoy different things and we all respond to God in different ways. So here are five ways you might choose to respond together. Click on the + to see what you need to do.

Song: You need not fear

Click here if you want to learn the actions.

Craft: Tulip hands

Equipment
Scissors, glue or sticky tape, a pencil, felt tips, a lollipop stick (or a stick), paper (plain or patterned), a jar or a container of some sort, some moss or grass and some pebbles.

Instructions

1. Place your hand on the paper with your fingers closed together on one half of your paper. Draw around your hand with a pencil, then fold your paper in half, slightly overlapping the edge of your drawing. Cut around your hand shape, being careful to leave a good section of the folded paper uncut. This is now your tulip!
2. If you’re using plain paper, decorate the outside with beautiful colours. On the inside of your tulip write ‘Your will be done’, as Jesus prayed in the garden.
3. Using glue or sticky tape, stick your lollipop stick to the back of your flower and leave to dry.
4. Take your playdough or blue tac and stick a good lump in the bottom of your pot. Press your lollipop stick down into the playdough/blue tac so your flower is standing up.
5. Decorate around your pot with moss, grass and stones to create that garden look.
6. Put your beautiful prayer flower on a shelf where you will be able to see it often. Whenever you see your flower you can remember that beautiful things happen when we talk to God about our worries.

Bake: Praying in colours

Set the household the task of finding food in each of the colours below, like a scavenger hunt. "Can you find a red food?"

When you've found that colour pause and speak to God. Depending on when you last shopped you might need to get creative!

• Red – Say sorry to God for something.
• Purple – Tell God something you fear.
• Green – Ask God to help someone you know.
• Orange – Tell God about something in the news.
• Yellow – Is there something you want God's help with?

If you don't want people running around the kitchen this also works well with a bag of skittles or smarties.

Extra challenge
Can you use the food you found to make lunch together? We've included a couple of examples we tried.

Playdough: Your will be done

Using something tactile can be a great way of thinking and talking about the story. Draw or make a tree and use play dough to add leaves to pray for people that you know.

Which hard things could you ask God to help you face?

You can click here to download the mat.

Outside: Jump your fear out

Sometimes using words is tricky and we don't always know what we want to say. We can give our fears to God in different ways because he hears us even when we aren't talking.

Sometimes getting outside and using our energy doing something different can help us shake off some of that fear and give it to God. You might shout out a few words or ask God to help you as you go.

You can do it in any weather. Why not try running, jumping or throwing your fears to God?

• Rain - put on some water proofs and go puddle jumping.
• Snow - make snowballs and throw them at a wall or tree or just as far as you can.
• Sunshine - find a big space and just run.

Whatever you do, talk about what fears you are giving to God, it might just be a word or two.

• How do you feel after your time outside with God?

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Talk to God

King Jesus,
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When I am full of fear, help me to give it to you. Help me feel your comfort and love.

Help me with my fear of....

​Amen.