Sharing Our Food

Gleaning (adapted from St. Andrew's Society)

Read together: Ruth 2:1-8

From earliest times, God has had a plan to see that all of God’s people have enough

good, healthy food to eat. You and I are part of God’s plan to feed the hungry.

Gather: 3 small brown bags

3 different fruits or vegetables

Bible

sheet of paper with word “glean” printed on it

Preparation: Put one fruit or vegetable in each bag

(Give your child a small brown bag containing one of the fruits inside.) What’s in your bag? Have the children try to figure out which fruit/vegetable is in the bag.  

Discuss: Share together favorite fruits and vegetables and favorite foods. Recall memories of favorite dishes or special time when you eat some foods (special times you share fruit pies or special vegetable dishes. For example, Pastor Chris' family makes apple butter together. My family loves apples and we stop at farms and pick apples whenever we can. We laugh a lot remembering all the times we've picked apples. Remind each other that fruits and vegetables like these help our bodies grow strong and healthy when we eat them.

Look together: At the card with the word "glean" on it. Glean sounds like “clean” or like “gleam,” but it starts with a “G” and ends with an “N.”

It means to pick, dig, or gather fruits and vegetables that are left behind in the fields after the farmers have picked the fruit and vegetables. In Ruth’s time, thousands of years ago, the law said that farmers could only go through their field one time to harvest their crop. They also were not allowed to harvest anything at the  edges or corners of the field. Everything that was left behind was for the people who did not have land to grow their food on. So people who often didn't have enough food -- widows, orphans, people who were ill or

disabled, and people who were immigrants, who had come to Israel from other countries, were welcome to come into the field and glean—picking, digging, or gathering the leftover food for themselves and their families. God wants people to help others make sure they have enough food.

Today, some caring farmers let people come and pick fruit and vegetables from their farms. And other people help get those for people who can't get to the farms. We will be picking apples for people who don't have enough food to eat, but can't get to the farms themselves. Isn't it great to be a part of God's plan to make sure everyone has enough to eat?