Taste and See

God is good

by Janice Ross

Suitable for Whole School (Pri)

Aims

To consider what it means to taste and see that God is good.

Preparation and materials

• You will need the PowerPoint slides that accompany this assembly (Taste and See) and the means to display them.
• You will also need an apple to eat at the beginning of the assembly.
• Note: further information about the fruits in the ‘Assembly’, Step 7, is available at: https://everintransit.com/exotic-fruits/
• Optional: you may wish to have available some lesser-known fruits for volunteers to try during the ‘Assembly’, Step 8. Remember to check your school’s food policy.

Assembly

1. Show the apple to the children.
   
   Start the assembly by beginning to eat it in front of the children.
   
   Make comments such as, ‘This is so delicious! It’s been lying on my desk all morning and I couldn’t wait to eat it any longer.’
   
   Take another bite, and then ask the children, ‘Do you like apples?’
   
   
2. Ask the children how many apple varieties they think there are in the world.
   
   Listen to a range of responses.
   
   Explain that there are more than 7,500 known apple varieties in the world.
   
   
3. Ask the children whether they can name any types of apple, or describe any differences between the types.
   
   Show Slide 1.
   
   Point out the different colours and patterns, and read out the names of the apples on the slide.
   
   
4. Show Slide 2.
   
   Point out that there is not just one type of orange either. Instead, there is a whole variety of oranges with different colours and tastes, which grow in various countries round the world.
   
   
5. Ask the children to name their favourite fruit.
   
   Listen to a range of responses.
   
   Optional: you may wish to have a vote to find the children’s favourite fruit overall.
   
   
6. Point out that sometimes, we have special celebrations to say thank you for the harvest. Remind the children if they were involved in a recent harvest celebration in school.
   
   These are great opportunities to say thank you to God for the variety of beautiful foods that he has given us to enjoy. It is also a time to pause to remember all the people who are involved in producing food for us.
   
   
7. Point out that, as well as the fruits that we’ve mentioned, there are many fruits that we might not ever have tasted.
   
   Show Slide 3.
   
   The slide shows ten fruits from around the world. Going from left to right, they are:
   
   - top row: dragon fruit, passion fruit, Korean melon, feijoa (pineapple guava) and tamarillo (tree tomato)
   - middle row: kiwano (horned melon) and cherimoya
   - bottom row: loquat, (tamarillo, feijoa and passion fruit again), sour plum and longan fruit
   
   Ask the children whether they have eaten any of these and can describe the taste.
   
   
8. Optional: if appropriate (and after consulting the school food policy and checking for allergies), invite some volunteers to sample a variety of fruits.

Time for reflection

In the Bible, a young man called David wrote a song that encourages us to ‘taste and see that the Lord is good’.

David hadn’t been eating apples, oranges or passion fruit when he wrote this. Instead, something bad had just happened to him. He had just survived an attempt on his life! He had looked to God and asked him for help, and God had protected him.

Ask the children what they think it means to ‘taste and see God’.

Listen to a range of responses.

Explain that we can’t physically taste God, nor can we see God, but we can experience his love and care for us.

Christians believe that as they trust God to protect them, give them peace and help them in every situation, they experience God’s love and goodness.

David says that the only way to find out whether God is kind and good, and can look after us, is by trying him out. We can ask him to show us what he is like and ask him to be close to us every day.

Prayer
Dear God,
We know that you have made so many lovely fruits and other foods for us to enjoy.
We have tasted them, and they are good.
Help us to get to know you better so that, like David, we can discover that your love for us is also very good.
Amen.

Song/music

‘Autumn days’, available at: https://youtu.be/Mf5AfKdKFp4 (2.36 minutes long)