I've often struggled with how to approach Remembrance Sunday from a Christian perspective and I've come to find the beginning of John's gospel really helpful. As the fields were churned up by fighting, unseen poppy seeds were distributed, which meant that the following year the fields were full of bright poppies. Life came where death had been. Life found a way. This always reminds me of the verse in John 1:4-5 describing Jesus, which says: 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of all people. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
Just as life persisted in the poppy fields, Jesus' light will never be put out. With God there is always hope that war and death and violence will be defeated. This craft helps to explore this verse and this idea.
You will need: Black paper, a hole punch, sellotape, glue, red paper, scissors, battery operated tea lights.
Cut a roughly A6 size piece of black paper or card and punch lots of holes in it. You might need to fold the paper in certain places so that you can more easily distribute the holes.
Make the black paper into a tube and tape or glue to secure it.Make sure that the circumference of the tube is big enough to fit over the top of a tea light.
Make a poppy shape by cutting red and black paper. Stick the poppy to the top of the tube.
Switch on the battery operated tea light and place the tube over the top. Switch off the light in the room so that you can see the light shining through the holes in the tube.
Chat about the war and the sadness and grief for those who were lost. Talk about the new life symbolised by the poppies and the fact that death and fighting was not the end for those fields. Link that to the verse from John 1 and look at the light shining into the darkness through the holes in the tube. With Jesus there is always hope and Revelation 21 talks about God's kingdom where there is no more death or violence. What are their hopes for the world and for the places where there is war?
