Toddler’s Church started its autumn term at All Saints Thorpe Acre with Dishley today. One of my tasks was to come up with a story for the first letter of our Bible alphabet. A for Adam and, of course, for apple. How could it be anything else but the story of our fall… but how to tackle that for pre-school children (and their parents / carers)? Here is my attempt:

We’re starting our term with the first letter of the alphabet – A. Things that begin with the letter A? [wait for apple]. Did you hear the joke about the apple? What’s worse than taking a bite of an apple and finding a worm? Taking a bite and finding half a worm! What about some names that begin with A [wait for Adam].

Our story today is about a man called Adam, his wife Eve, an apple and a kind of worm.

Adam and Eve lived in a wonderful place called Eden that God had made. All sorts of birds and animals lived happily together and the fruit on the trees and bushes was always ripe and tasty. God often came to visit and there was only one rule – don’t eat the fruit growing on just one of the trees. It was called the tree of knowledge. Nowadays, you won’t find it anywhere on earth but some people think it looked a bit like an apple tree, so we’ll call the fruit an apple.

Sadly there was a wicked creature in the garden, an evil snake who, unfairly, gives all other snakes a bad name. In those days, some animals could talk and Adam and Eve would often chat to them. Unfortunately, Eve got chatting to the evil snake, who persuaded her to take one of those apples which God had said were off-limits. Worse still, when she told Adam, he ate some too.

I think the right thing to do would have been to find God and tell him what they had done but they tried to hide it. Maybe you’ve done something naughty and tried to hide it from the people who love and care for you? You certainly can’t hide something from God and, although he was very sad, he had to send them away from that wonderful place called Eden.

Worms in apples aren’t that common but, if you do find one – hopefully not half of one – remember Adam and Eve’s mistake. It can be hard not to do wrong things but, when you do, try to say sorry to the person you hurt and to God instead of trying to hide them away.