A story on the theme of Luke 10.38-42

Title: “Resting in God” (Prayer)

Theme:  We need to root ourselves in the "one thing" that God desires for us--to focus on "being"...and allow any "doing" flow out of that.  

Will had been sitting quietly thinking for quite a long time. He had been thinking about how fun it had been, earlier in the afternoon, to play with the Lego set that he had gotten last Christmas. It had been more than nine months that he’d had it and he’d learned how to build it and rebuild it and add parts and change parts around. He could make it move other Lego blocks from one place to another and then move itself from one place to another. It was a very complicated set with wires and motors and gears and belts and hinges and tracks and batteries and controls.

He hadn’t always had such nice thoughts. In fact, almost as soon as he had unwrapped the package and discovered that it was just what he had been hoping for and ripped open the box and started to build it...he had gotten mad...really mad...really, really mad...so mad that he broke a part of it. It just wouldn’t go together the way it looked in the picture on the box. 

Now as he sat quietly, he wondered, “What was I thinking? How could I build that complicated kit with wires and motors and gears and belts and hinges and tracks and batteries and controls by just looking at the picture on the box and not even looking at the plans. The plans were very good plans. They showed very clearly, step by step, how to put the kit together; how to snap one block on top of the other. But he hadn’t even seen them inside the box, he was in such a hurry to build the kit.

Now as he sat quietly, he remembered how easy it had been to build the kit after he finally studied the plans; laid out all the parts so he could see them; and started following the plans slowly putting together all the blocks and wires and motors and gears and belts and hinges and tracks and batteries and controls -- step by step

Now as he sat quietly, he thought about other times since last Christmas when he had just sat quietly and thought through what he was going to do before he did it. When he did that, by the time he got around to doing something, he really knew what he was doing and he had discovered that some of the things that he thought he should do were things that he didn’t have to or shouldn’t do.

Now as he sat quietly, he thought that when he stopped early in the morning, right after he woke up, and thought and prayed about what he was going to do that day...his day usually went a lot better. 

A story on the theme of 1 Corinthians 12.27

Theme: As we recognize the God-given diversity within our church, we must affirm, respect and encourage each other as having a pivotal place in building up the church.

Mark was # 3. That is, he was the third son in his family. There were times when he loved being the third son. His two big brothers were very nice to him. They took him places that he wouldn’t have been able to go alone. Because of them, he got to do lots of things that his friends who were his age didn’t get to do. He got to play lots of sports with them in the neighborhood. He was never a very important member of the team, but he was on their team. Best of all, his brothers didn’t let any body give him a hard time or make fun of him because he couldn’t play their games very well.

But then there were times when he didn’t like being the littlest brother. He could never do things as well as his big brothers. He never knew as much as his big brothers. He didn’t even understand the things that they talked about sometimes. They tried to make him feel like he was an important part of their family and an important part of the team of three brothers, but sometimes even that didn’t help. Especially when he got left behind if they ran fast some place or rode their bikes across their neighborhood.

Then one day, their neighbor Mr. Lowe came over. He had locked himself out of his house. All the members of his family were away. He couldn’t find the key they usually hid some place outside for emergencies like this. He didn’t want to break a window or have to pay a locksmith a lot to come and open the door for him. He had walked all around the house and tried every window to see if it was unlocked. They were all locked except one. He got excited when that window started to come open, but then after just a few inches it stopped. It was open, but not far enough for him to squeeze through. 

That was why Mr. Lowe came next door to Mark’s house. He was looking for someone small who could get through the window. All three brothers were in the back yard together. He looked them over. First he looked at brother # 1. He was obviously too big to squeeze through the opening in the window. Then he looked at brother # 2. He looked a long time. He wondered and wondered if he could fit through the opening in the window. Nope! He shook his head. He didn’t think so. Then he looked at brother #3 who, of course, was Mark. He looked just the right size to squeeze through the window. In fact, he might not have to even squeeze.

All of them went next door to Mr. Lowe’s house. They found the window that was open -- just a little bit. And Mr. Lowe lifted Mark up to the window. Mark slipped right in. He didn’t even have to squeeze. He ran through the house to the back door and opened it. When he opened it and stepped through it, he heard cheers -- from Mr. Lowe and his brothers. And then he got a wonderful surprise. Mr. Lowe gave him $5 for his work. 

Mark who thought he was too small to keep up with his brothers, found out that for some things he needed to be small to do the job. That felt really good. He was needed.

A story on the theme of 1 Samuel 17.26-45

Topic/Title: “Know yourself that you may know God”

Theme: Of all the voices around you, telling you what you can and can’t do, God’s is the most important for you to listen to.

Change the names and genders and parental configurations as works best for your context.

 Alyssa had a nightlight in her room, but she was afraid of the dark. She lived alone with her mom. One pretty dark night, right after they had come home from shopping, she went to her room, turned on the lights, and picked up a book to read. While she was reading, she heard a crash in the other room like something had broken and then a loud thud. She ran into the kitchen and found her mom on the floor.

It looked like her mom had dropped a jar of lemonade and then had slipped on the spilled lemonade and bumped her head on the counter and knocked herself out. “What should I do?” thought Alyssa. She thought about trying to find her mom’s cell phone, but thought that might be too hard. Then she thought that she should run next door to their neighbors and tell her what happened.

But it was very, very dark outside. Their porch light had burned out and they hadn’t had a new bulb. There were no street lights in their neighborhood. Their neighbors had one light on in their house, but it was dark between her house and theirs. And Alyssa was afraid of the dark!

She thought about her friends making fun of her for being afraid of the dark. About her mom saying when her mom was small she was really afraid of the dark and didn’t get over it until she was grown up. She thought of all the scary cartoons she had seen about people getting hurt in the dark. How could she go next door?

Then she remembered part of a Bible verse that she had heard in Sunday School. It said that God would be with her when she was in the dark and she didn’t need to be afraid. Well, if God knew she didn’t have to be afraid, maybe she could trust him and not be afraid.

She knew she had to act fast. She poked her head out the door. Looked around. Nothing out there to be afraid of. Nothing between her and her neighbors. She ran for it like something scary was chasing her. But she got to her neighbors door....and nothing scary had happened to her -- nothing at all. And she wasn’t afraid. She knocked and they came. She told them what happened. They called the ambulance and went over to see how her mom was doing.

After it was all over, she agreed that if God knew she didn’t have to be afraid of the dark, she probably didn’t have to be afraid.