Chris Gribble

The kids looked at this story last week as a spin on The Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector.  Hope you might enjoy it too.

The Boy Who Thought He Was Better

 There were some people hanging around Jesus, who thought they were pretty good.  They were pretty happy when they looked at themselves.  But when they looked at some of the other people around who they didn’t think were very good, they scrunched up their faces and looked at them with disgust.

Jesus wasn’t very happy about the way the people were doing this, so he told them a story a bit like this.

There were two teenagers, a teenage boy, and a teenage girl.  The teenage boy thought he was pretty good, and other people thought he was pretty good too.  He always dressed nice, and didn’t seem to get in to trouble like some of the other kids his age.

People didn’t look at the teenage girl the same though.  She dressed in these messy black clothes all the time.  She never smiled.  And she had piercings, like rings and stuff in her nose, and in her lips.

Both of these teenagers went to pray to God.

The boy, feeling pretty good about himself, prayed like this;

“Thank you God that I’m not like the other kids my age who get into trouble.  I go to church every week; I pray before I eat any of my meals.  I don’t swear, I don’t smoke, and I definitely don’t have any disgusting piercings like that girl over there.  Ohh, thankyou that I’m not like her.  Yeah, that’s what I’m glad about most of all.  That I’m better than her.”

The teenage girl knew exactly how this boy and others looked at her.  And she figured God must have looked at her the same way.  But for some reason, she felt like praying anyway.  So she prayed like this;

“I’m sorry God if I’m not what you or other people want me to be like.  But this is who I am, and I don’t know how to be any different.  And I don’t know if I really want to be any different.  But I do want someone to love me, just as I am.  Will you God?  Will you be kind, and love me, and like me just the way I am?”

The girl came away with a warm feeling in her heart.  It was her who went home knowing in her heart that she was accepted and loved by God.

The boy didn’t feel the same way.  He tried telling himself that he was the better one, but he didn’t have a very good feeling in his heart.  He went home not feeling very good.

Jesus says that those who put others down to try and make themselves feel better, will end up feeling worse than those who come to God looking for him to accept them just as they are.  They are the ones who will really feel God’s love and kindness toward them.

The kids looked at the Parable of the Prodigal Son this morning.  This is a modern spin on the parable for the kids today.

-Luke

‘Dad’s Love’

There was a dad who had two kids, a daughter, and a son.  The dad loved his kids, and he liked to play fun games with them.  The son, who was the younger of the two, got pretty cranky sometimes when things didn’t go his way in some of these games.

One day, the dad was playing cricket with his two kids.  The son was batting when the dad bowled the ball right into the wickets.  When the dad cheered, and said it was his sister’s turn to bat, the son got really cranky at his dad.

He said to his dad, “I hate you!”.  And as he stormed off, he even swore at his dad.

The son went and found a place to hide around the other side of the house, because he thought he might get in big trouble for saying those things to his dad.  But the dad didn’t even chase after his son.  The dad was hurt by what the son said to him, so he let him go.

While the boy was hiding, he heard his dad and his sister having fun together.  They were laughing, and yelling.  It all sounded like so much fun.  The son began to realise how much fun he was missing out on with his dad, by getting so cranky all the time when things didn’t go his way.

He was sitting in the dirt, in his hiding place, getting bitten by ants and mossies, when he thought to himself;

“I don’t want to be here.  I want to be with my dad.  I know I’m going to get in big trouble when I go back around there.  But I’m going to go back anyway, because I’d rather get in trouble, than miss out on anymore with my dad.”

So, the son got up out of the dirt, and went back around to where his dad and sister were playing, ready to face the music.  As the son walked around the corner of the house, the dad looked over and saw his son coming.  The boy got ready to get in big trouble for saying the things he said.  He got a bit scared and began to cry, as his dad walked towards him.

He said, “I’m sorry dad,” and cringed his eyes shut.  But just as he did, his dad lifted his son into his arms and gave him a big hug.  The dad said, “I love you Son, and I’m glad you’ve come back to play.”

The boy was relieved, but he cried a bit anyway, because he couldn’t believe how much his dad loved him, even after the mean things he’d said to his dad.

When the daughter saw this but, she was furious!  Then it was her who stormed off.  The dad chased after her, and he said, “What’s wrong?”  She turned around, her face red with anger, and said;

“How could you let him get away with saying those mean things to you?  He swore at you, and you don’t even give him a smack.  You just let him back into our game.  That’s just not fair.  I’ve never done anything like that, but you don’t love me any more than you love him.”

The dad looked lovingly at his daughter, and said;

“My dear daughter, I love you with all the love I have.  And I love your brother the same.  I was hurt by what he said.  I was even more hurt that he didn’t want to play with us.  But he came back.  He wants to be back, and that makes me happy.  And because it makes me happy, it should make you happy too.”

This is a spin on the parable of ‘The Good Samaritan’ (Luke 10:30-35), which was shared with the kids last week.  It was funny to hear the kids’ replies about who was the one that did what God wanted; “The naughty kid… Oh no, not the naughty kid… Was he the naughty kid?”

-Luke

The Kind Helper

Jessie and Lucy were really good friends.  They were the best of friends at church.  Jessie and Lucy looked forward to seeing each other at church, because they went to different schools, and didn’t get to see other until the weekend when they went to church.

One Sunday morning, Jessie had slept in too long, and he was running late for church.  And, more importantly, he was late for seeing Lucy.  That’s what he was more worried about.

So Jessie rushed out the door, and was quickly on his way to church, which was close enough for him to walk to from his house.  While he was on his way, another boy came around the corner on his bike.  The boy’s bike skidded on some loose gravel.  The boy fell off his bike, hurting himself badly on the rough road.  He was bleeding on his knee and on his elbow.

When Jessie saw this happen, he felt bad for the other boy.  But he was already late for church, and his friend, Lucy, would be waiting for him.  So he kept on going.

Something Jessie didn’t know but, was that his friend, Lucy, was also running late for church that day.  Lucy was running even later than Jessie.  Lucy was in hurry to get to church, when she came across the boy who had fallen off his bike, after Jessie had already gone on ahead.

Lucy saw the boy, and she knew she should probably help him.  But then she thought about Jessie who would be waiting for her at church.  And she thought, “Church is the more important thing”.  So she kept on going.

Now, while Jessie and Lucy were rushing to get to church, they passed another kid walking the other way.  This kid wasn’t on his way to church.  He didn’t even go to church.  The kid was in Lucy’s class at school.  He was always messing about in class, especially in religion.  Lucy thought he was pretty naughty, and he didn’t really know much about the Bible, like she did.

The kid passed both Jessie and Lucy on their way to church, and then he saw the boy who’d fallen off his bike.  Without thinking about anything else, the kid quickly ran over to the boy to help him.  He helped the boy with his bike.  And he even took off his own shirt to clean up the boy’s knee and elbow that were still bleeding.

After he had cleaned him up, the kid helped the boy up, and put the boys arm over his shoulder on one side, and held the boy’s bike with his other arm.  The kid then walked the boy back to boy’s house, where his mum and dad were.

As part of our Kids Church program we’ve been teaching the kids about some of Jesus’ parables.  With that, I’ve been trying to create a parallel story for each parable, in the hope that the kids might relate to and connect with the lessons in the parables in a fresh way.  This story, about ‘The Boy and His Lunch Money’, is a spin on the parable of ‘The Farmer Scattering Seed’ (Luke 8:4-15).

-Luke

Story of the Boy and His Lunch Money

This is the story about a boy and his lunch money –

This particular boy, he’s in grade 5.  And for one day each week, the boy’s mum gives him $4 (two $2 coins) to buy a nice tasty lunch at school, so he could feel good, and have fun, and learn lots of cool stuff at school.

On the first week, the boy went to school with his lunch money, but some mean bullies stole the boy’s money.  He couldn’t buy his lunch that day.  He felt really hungry.

Because he felt so hungry, he didn’t have much fun at school that day, and he couldn’t learn very well in class.

He went home not feeling very happy.

On the second week, the boy went to school with his lunch money again.  This time, the bullies didn’t steal his money.  He was pretty happy about that, so instead of buying a nice good lunch like his mum wanted him to, he thought he might give himself a treat.  He used his money to buy some lollies instead.  And they were really yummy.

The lollies made the boy happy for a little while.  But when it was time to go back to class, the lollies began to make him feel a bit sick in the tummy.  And because he didn’t have his good food like he was supposed to, the boy got tired in class, and he couldn’t learn very well.

Again, the boy went home not feeling very happy.

On the third week, the boy went to school with his lunch money.  He didn’t want to feel sick this time, so he used his money to buy some good lunch like he was supposed to.  But when he sat down to eat it, his friends came over to talk to him.  They were calling him to come and play with them.

It looked like a lot of fun, so instead of eating all his good food, the boy ran after his friends to play with them.  It was a lot of fun.  But when it was time to go back to class, the boy began to feel hungry because he didn’t eat all his lunch.  He felt tired, and he couldn’t learn very well in class.

Again, the boy went home not feeling very happy.

On the fourth week, the boy went to school with his lunch money again.  The boy didn’t want to feel tired, or sick, or hungry any more.  Getting lunch money for school was a treat, so he was determined to buy some good tasty food, and eat it all this time.

And that’s what he did.  After he ate all his good food, the boy still had time to play with his friends.  He felt great, and he had lots of fun.  When it was time to go to class, the boy still felt good, so he had a great day where he learnt lots of cool stuff at school.

This time, the boy went home feeling really good and happy.

The boy’s lunch money is like God’s message that God wants to give us.  His message is a real treat, like the boy’s lunch money.  It’s meant to help us feel good and happy, so we can have fun and live the best we can.  But like the boy with his lunch money, God’s message only works in us when we take it right into our hearts.  When we take God’s message into our hearts and really see what it means for us, then it fills our lives with lots of cool stuff.