Reflections on the Adam and Eve story and the Chapter House
In the story where did Adam and Eve live?
How was it described?
What sort of a place was it?
Who might the creature have been?
What might he have been a symbol of?
Why do you think God told Adam and Eve not to eat the fruit from the tree growing in the middle of the paradise garden?
Why did the creature want Adam and Eve to eat the fruit?
What did the creature hope might happen?
What happened after Adam and Eve ate the fruit?
Did it change the way they felt about the paradise garden?
Do you think God might have told Adam and Eve not to eat the fruit so that He could protect them?
Perhaps God wanted to keep them safe?
Why did He make them leave the garden?
Christians think of God as being like a parent or carer.
A parent or carer wants to protect their child from things that might harm them.
Sometimes a parent or guardian might tell a child not to do something to protect them.
They might tell them to be careful when they are:
playing near roads
talking to people online, or playing online games
using electrical equipment
playing near water
Can you think of the ways your parents and carers try to protect you?
The paradise garden was perfect but things came into it that spoiled the garden for Adam and Eve.
What sort of things spoil our world?
In the story God tried to protect Adam and Eve.
Parents and carers try to protect their children.
The Minster is trying to protect the Chapter House. It was built to last, but even buildings decay, just as the world decays if we do not look after it.
We are going to think about how we can try to protect our world and look after it, just as God asked Adam and Eve to look after the world.
You are going to be given 2 leaves and a creature
On one leaf we want you to write down the things that you think make the world beautiful
On the creature we want you to write down things that you think spoil the world, or threaten it
On the other leaf we want you to write down some ideas for ways that we might protect the world
Once you have finished you might want to share your thoughts with the rest of your class.
You could even put them all together to make your own paradise garden.