Children’s Story for October 31st, 2004

By Barrette Plett, Bethel Mennonite Church, Winnipeg, MB

Bible Passages

These are the special texts for an All Saints Day focus

Daniel 7: 1-3, 15 – 18
Psalm 149
Ephesians 1: 11 – 23
Luke 6:20-31 (Today’s story focuses on verses 27 – 31)

Theme/Scripture Connections

Today's themes all focus on praising God, particularly praising God for the glory of God's Kingdom. The Daniel passage in the lectionary connects this praise to the Luke and Ephesians passages. In Daniel, we are exhorted to praise God because the Kingdom of Heaven is ours. Ephesians again proclaims the Kingdom of Heaven and asserts Christ's reign in Heaven. This brings us back to the Luke passage. Where Ephesians asserts Christ's authority and anticipates the coming Kingdom of Heaven, Luke shows us what that Kingdom might look like; Christ's authority requires us to follow the Golden Rule and give much of ourselves.

Supplies Needed

Apple
small milk carton
ball cap and coat
toy cars
something special to you

Object Lesson

Show the children the special item you have brought. Explain why it is special. Ask them if they think that you would give it away. Ask them how they think you'd feel if the item was lost, stolen or taken away from you. Explain that you have a story for them where people have special things taken away from them.

Story: Love your enemies

(While telling the story, pantomime the story or get some older children to act it out, using the props listed above.)

I'm going to tell you 3 stories – about a girl named Tracy, a boy named James and another boy named Paul. Once, there was a little girl named Tracy. She was walking home from school. On her way home from school, she was going to have a snack; she had an apple and some milk. Her mom had given her the apple before school. It was the reddest, sweetest-looking apple and the girl loved apples. She shined it on her sleeve and was just about to bite into it when another girl ran up and grabbed the apple from her. Before she could say anything, the other girl took a big bite out of the apple. Tracy looked at the other girl. The girl started to run away, but Tracy shouted, “Wait!” What do you think happened next? When the girl stopped, Tracy said, “You must be very hungry. Would you like some milk, too?” The girl was surprised, but then came back to Tracy and took the milk. “Thank you,” she said. “I haven't eaten all day because my mom didn't pack a lunch for me.” Tracy was glad that she'd shared the apple.

The next day, a boy named James was walking to the store. He was wearing his new baseball cap; he'd gotten it for his birthday and it had his favourite football team's logo on it (eg. the Blue Bombers). As he walked, it started to get windy and cool. He pulled up his jacket collar and walked on. When he was almost home, a bigger boy ran up to him and grabbed his cap! Before James could say anything, the boy put the cap on his head and started to run away, but James shouted, “Wait!” What do you think happened next? When the boy stopped, James said, “You must be very cold. Would you like to borrow my jacket, too?” The boy was surprised, but came back to James and took his jacket. “Thanks,” he said, “My jacket is too small for me, but I'll give these back when my dad buys me a new one.” James was glad that he'd offered his jacket.

The next day, a boy named Paul was playing with his new toy car in the sandbox. He'd just gotten the car from his Grandma. It was red and went very fast. He made lots of roads in the sandbox to drive it on. Suddenly, a girl ran into the sandbox and grabbed James' car. Before he could do anything, she shoved it into her pocket and started to run away. But James shouted, “Wait!” What do you think happened next? The girl stopped and James said, “That's my favourite car, but you can play with it if you want. I've already made some pretty neat roads here and I have some other cars, too. You wanna come see?” The girl was surprised, but came back to James. “Thanks,” she said. “No one ever lets me play with them.” “Maybe you shouldn’t take their toys,” thought James, but he decided not to bring it up right then. They made a great big city in the sand and played together all afternoon.

Questions

Do you think these could be true stories? Which parts are hard to believe?
Do you really think that someone might give away their things to another person?
What happened because three of these children did the hard but unselfish thing?
Do you know what the Golden Rule is (Do unto others as you would have them do to you.)?
Which people in the story were following this rule?

Teaching

In the Bible, Jesus tells his followers that if someone steals their shirt, they should give that person their jacket, too. These stories are kind of like this. Jesus wants us to surprise people who are mean to us by being kind and helpful, even if that is hard and unusual.

Prayer

Jesus, help us to be kind and generous to people when they're not kind to us. Help us to look for ways to help people and to remember to treat others the way we would like to be treated.