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Reap what you sow

Key Stage

3 and 4

Theme

'Reap what you sow': Harvest - a time of plenty or a time of reckoning?

Preparation

You will need to prepare:

A series of 'Headlines' on OHP or some other form of projection. The headlines should reflect some of the major events in agriculture over the last couple of years.

Information on diseases can be found on some or all of the following:
BSE: www.defra.gov.uk/animalh/bse/index.htmlSwine Fever: www.pighealth.com/csf.htm
www.britannica.com/seo/s/swine-feverFoot and Mouth : www.defra.gov.uk/footandmouth/GM crops: www.foodfuture.org.uk/gmcrops/
Other information can be found at: National Farmers Union: www.nfu.org.ukGreenpeace: www.greenpeace.orgREEP (RE and Environment Project) has useful material for further work in the secondary curriculum materials section, including an Ecoquiz and a unit on responsibility for the environment. www.reep.org

A brief address for each issue, e.g. BSE - probably caused by the type of feed given to cattle, with a devastating effect on human life (nvCJD). This can be done by you or the students.

An OHT with a large pointing finger.

A copy of Genesis 2:11-13; 20-25; 31

Development

  1. Introduce the worship with the reading from Genesis.
  2. Make a dramatic presentation about events in agriculture and food science in the last few years, emphasizing:
    This affects us all
    It is about the food we eat
    It is about the quality of the environment in which we live
    It is about the future.
    Either you - or students - might use the 'News Headlines' OHT you have prepared.
    You could use recorded music/sound introduction from news broadcasts to introduce each point.
    You might use one person to announce each issue and another to make the brief comment.
  3. Project the OHT with the pointing finger.
    Ask: 'Have the farmers got it wrong?'
    Using cheaper food made from rendered animals (or the excessive use of organophosphates) contributed to BSE - and nvCJD.
    Foot and mouth disease is difficult to control when animals which may be infected are moved around the country (from Cumbria to Cornwall) for sale or slaughter.
    GM foods: better crops or another crisis waiting to curse the countryside?
  4. Ask: 'But have WE got it wrong?'
    How much crisis is caused by our always wanting cheap food ... at any price?
    Would we have cared about cattle being fed other rendered animals if it were not for BSE/nvCJD?
    Would we care about the excessive transport of animals for slaughter if it were not for foot and mouth disease?
    Part of our human make-up is to like to have someone to blame - too often, maybe, it's so that we can walk away from a problem.
  5. The message here is that we are all involved and all share some responsibility for what has happened and is still happening.
    We also share a responsibility for working out a better way of using God's creation in providing our food.
    And in planning for the future.

Reflection

Bless to us, O God,
The sky that is above us,
The earth that is beneath us,
All creatures who are around us,
Your image deep within us.

Adapted from Celtic Worship Through the Year, by Ray Simpson, Hodder & Stoughton ISBN 0-340-68667-7