Service for Sunday 29th March 2020

All Age Talk

Being able to smell is a wonderful, God-given gift. What are some of your favourite fragrances? I like the smell of bread baking in the oven or the way the sea smells, new babies smell very sweet too, sometimes.

How we do smelling is rather complicated. Your nose is like an empty room. As you breathe, the air that comes in is moistened. Tiny hairs in your nose act like a broom or a brush and remove dust from the air. When smells come into your nose a message is sent to your brain and you’re able to recognise at least 10,000 different smells. Isn’t that amazing?

Your nose is important. It can protect you, telling you that there’s a fire when you smell smoke, and it helps you enjoy the flavours of the food you eat. I remember when I was in the Life Boys we’d have some fun to see if we could identify a few things with our noses while our eyes were closed. It was great fun; you should try it with the children in your life.

There’s a story found in the Bible which we’ll read later. It’s a story that tells us about a woman named Mary who gave Jesus a wonderful, fragrant gift. Jesus was visiting in the home of his friend, Lazarus. While he was there Mary, the sister of Lazarus, poured expensive perfumed oil over his feet and then wiped his feet with her hair. The Bible tells us “The house was filled with the fragrance of the ointment”.

Some found fault with Mary for using the expensive perfume in that way, but Jesus accepted what she had done as a gift and recognised that she was honouring him.

There are many ways to honour God. Enjoying all our senses; being able to see, feel, hear, taste, and smell and giving thanks for those gifts is a way to honour God. Let your thanks fill the house like the fragrance of perfume.

Father God,
We thank you for the five senses you’ve given to us;
That we’re able to see, smell, taste, hear and feel.
You’ve called us to be your children, and you’ve said that we’re all to be like little children.
So we ask that you give us the eyes of a child –
curious and determined to see what’s going on.
Give us the ears of a child – sharp and attentive, ready to hear your word of love.
And give us the energy of a child too – to run the race of life,
always trusting in you and your love for us,
expecting a response and confident that even we can change the world.
And help us, help us all to be your children, not just some of the time, but all of the time;
Help us to copy Jesus and each day to be more like him.
Because without him: ‘We can do nothing!’ and that’s a real truth that we can hold on to.
We ask in Jesus name. Amen

HYMN No. 137 ‘All things bright and beautiful…’

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