Fall

Think of all the meanings of the word “fall.” Why do we call Autumn – Fall?

What do you like best and least about the season of Fall?

In the U.S., Fall means going “back to school.” The stores are full of “back to school” sales. What kinds of changes in life do you associate with the Fall, if any? What time of year is your “back to school” time? How do people prepare to go back to school? Think of yourself and others at various ages – preschool, kindergarten, grade school, junior high or high school etc. What did you like and dislike about the first week of school? Can you remember your first day of school? Describe it to your partners.

In your native culture, does the weather change during the Fall season? How? Do you like or dislike the Fall season weather? Do you change your clothes, your eating habits etc. when Fall arrives? Give examples.

A favorite teacher taught about the “seasons of life” - that in our lives as humans we go through seasons – winter, spring, summer and fall – just as a tree or crop does. What would be the season of Fall in a human life? When was the last time you felt that you were in a season of Fall in your life? Describe such a season to your conversation partners.

What kinds of holidays or parties does your culture have during the Fall season, if any? Describe such things to your partners.

In the U.S countryside, harvest-time is very significant. Often an entire family and all the kids gather to reap the harvest from crops planted in the spring. What kind of crops are harvested in the Fall, in your native country? Have you ever picked vegetables or fruit during a harvest season? What did you do with the crops you harvested?

The saying “one sows and another reaps” means that often one person makes the hard work of investing in something but others actually get the benefit. Can you think of examples of this principle in your life or in history?

The theme of the “harvest” is often used in the Bible. Often people are the crop and God is the farmer who wishes to raise a good crop! Here are two examples:

“Jesus said to them, ‘My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to accomplish His work. Do you not say, “There are yet four months and then comes the harvest?” Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes, and look on the fields, that they are white for harvest. Already he who reaps is receiving wages, and is gathering fruit for eternal life, that he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together. For in this case, the saying is true: one sows and another reaps.” John 4:35

“Jesus said, ‘The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore beseech the Lord of the Harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.” Luke 10:2