All creatures great and small
Props
a collection of animals - soft toys or 'Early Learning Centre' type farm and other animals.
Gathering
Leader: We gather together in Jesus' Name
All: Help us to explore, discover and learn togther
Engaging
Ask someone who has a pet to tell you what they have to do to look after it or, if you have the right props, ask children to point out which animals are found in the United Kingdom, and which they think are found in India.
When you drove to school today, were you held up by a cow in the middle of the road, or a pack of dogs running down the street? It would happen if you were in Vellore! India is absolutely full of people - but it's also full of animals.
When you travel around Vellore, you will see animals you recognise. There are lots of dogs. Most of the dogs will have an owner, but unlike the UK, many of them will spend all day wandering around the streets or compounds of schools, looking for food to eat - or mischief to get into! There will also be wild dogs too, which nobody owns. You won't often see a dog with a collar and name tag on it - and almost never see a dog being taken for a walk! There are also cats, often meant to catch insects and other little creatures. Of course, sometimes animals get hurt. There are vets in India, but not as many as in the UK. Many poor people can't afford to pay vets fees.
At least in the United Kingdom we are used to seeing dogs and cats in the street, even if they are on leads. We don't often see a cow ambling down the centre of the street, totally oblivious to the fact that the traffic is hooting at it, and finding ways to get past it! That will happen on every journey in India, for many animals that we expect to see on farms wander around the streets, rummaging in the rubbish for food. A walk through the main street of Vellore might well be disrupted by a sow and her family of piglets running through your legs. Donkeys relax in the sun in the shadow of the fort at the centre of Vellore. Goats will be climbing on buildings, pulling at old posters to eat the tasty glue! They all seem to know where to go at the end of the day to be milked or cared for, and the owners seem to know where their animals are.
If you live in the Fens, you might be able to tell your teacher that you were late for school because you got caught behind a tractor, pulling a great load. Sorry, it doesn't often happen in the centre of Cambridge, or Peterborough, so your teachers might not believe you! But if you live in Vellore, both in the towns and the villages, you will often see cows, oxen and buffaloes pulling cartloads of sugar cane or rice paddy, even furniture. They will be moving at their pace, surrounded by buses or lorries or cars going much faster and making a lot of noise. Look in the nearby rice fields and you will see oxen or buffaloes ploughing. Sometimes they will be lying in the water of the paddy fields, taking a rest and cooling down!
Go anywhere where lots of people visit, where buses stop, or go for a trip up into the hills, and you will see monkeys running around all over the place. If they are used to humans, they will be very cheeky, coming very close as they hope for scraps of food. Others will be a bit shyer - but not for long! With their pinched little faces, they'll want to investigate - and it will be hard to resist taking a photograph of a baby monkey clinging to its mother.
At the big Hindo temples you might see another animal that works. This is an elephant, who will bless pilgrims to the temple if they put some money into her trunk. She is taken for a walk around the town at various points in the day. However, not all elephants are tame and if you spot one in the hill areas wandering around, get out of the way fast - they can cause great damage to crops and fences - and maybe to you too! People living in these areas also have to be careful of snakes, tigers, bears and other wild animals. These animals have traditionally been hunted but because they are now endangered, conservation areas have been set up. Sometimes the people who live in these conservation areas are not too pleased, because it means there will be more wild animals around!
In Southern India, during January, there is a Hindu festival called Pongal. This festival is to give thanks for the harvest, particularly the rice and the sugar, and to pray for the next year's harvest. One day of the festival is the day of the animals. The day before, all the farm animals, especially those that work in the fields or pulling things, are given a bath in a nearby pond or stream. On the festival day, all the animals - sometimes even the dogs!- are decorated with paint, garlands, even balloons. Cows often have their horns painted. The animals are given a day without work. This is to thank them for all the work that they have done over the year. However, the next day they are back at work! The Pongal decorations will often last for quite a while, reminding people that the animals are special too and not to be taken for granted.
Can you remmeber a Bible story with a lot of animals in it? The most famous one must be the story of Noah's Ark - can anyone remember it? I wonder what it was like in Noah's ark? It must have been quite noisy, quite smelly, and a bit like a long holiday for each of the animals. That story reminds us that God cares for all the animal as well as people, for Noah had to save two of every type of animal. The rainbow is a promise of God to the whole of creation - but perhaps it is also a reminder to us to care for God's creation and his creatures. We mustn't take any of them for granted, and should thank God for them
(Check it out: Genesis chp 9 vss 8-17)
Responding
How can you be involved in helping to look after God's creatures? What could your Eco Committee do about this? Does the church where you live hold a pet service? Perhaps you could suggest it to one of the church ministers if they come into school!
Prayer
Give thanks for the joy that animals bring us. Pray for all animals that work in our country, remembering that for some it is hard and dangerous (farm animals, guide dogs, hearing dogs, dogs trained to find drugs or explosives or people trapped in buildings, police horses...)
Sending
Leader: Go in peace to discover God's world and your place in it.
All: We go in Jesus' name.