Blessed are the Persecuted

I'm cheating and using Chinese again since I had to get it all written out for Mrs. Lei to lead. We did the story of Peter & John healing the lame man ("Silver and Gold have I none…") and being thrown into jail for it.

耶穌復活和升天之後﹐他的門徒在耶路撒冷傳福音。兩個叫彼得和約翰。	兩個男子大十字架
有一天﹐他們去聖典﹐同時有一個瘸腿的人被人抬來﹐為求賙濟。	兩個大人抬一個男子﹐放在地。他有杯﹐向彼得和約翰求賙濟
彼得叫他望著他們。	要望著
彼得說﹕金﹐銀﹐我都沒有﹐只把我所有的給你。我奉耶穌基督的名﹐叫你你起來行走﹗	拉他起身
那個人歡喜到又行走﹐又跳躍	行走﹐跳躍
週圍的人很出奇﹐想知道怎樣發生。他們解識是藉著耶穌的名。	大家問他們怎能得﹐要答 [耶穌]
跟住有些猶太祭司出來	兩個或三個男子戴太
祭司不喜歡聽他們用耶穌的名﹐所以拉他們坐監。	叫另外一個男子帶槍﹐拉彼得和約翰﹐坐兩張檯後邊
他們坐監就辛苦。監裏有老鼠﹗他們要過一夜。	扔兩隻老鼠子入監
第二天﹐要去祭司面前。祭司問他們﹐要不要改你答案﹖你們用甚麼能力作這事呢﹖	要答 [耶穌]
祭司覺得很出奇﹔這些無學問的人敢同祭司駁嘴。 叫帶槍那個人看著他們﹐就一齊商量	帶槍的人拉彼得和約翰企側邊
他們說﹕我們怎樣辦﹖很想因為他們說開耶穌的名就殺死他們。但他們很明顯作了很大的神職。很怕我們殺死他們﹐百姓就殺死我們﹗後來決定了...	祭司拍著肩為商量﹔決定了就叫彼得和約翰回來
向他們說﹕今次我們讓你走﹐但從今以後﹐你們不准奉耶穌的名教訓人。但他們回答說﹕我們要聽神的話才聽你的話吧。	說完﹐彼得和約翰去接近大家
彼得和約翰現有甚麼感受﹖懼怕﹖	問大家
反而幾開心﹗他們說﹕要想念著耶穌為我們受很多苦﹔我們若可以為了尊重他受些少苦楚就很榮幸﹗
所有信徒一齊讚美神﹐說﹕主耶穌﹐多謝你保祐我們。求你幫我們將來也可以大膽﹐不怕他們的逼迫	大家一齊起身﹐舉高手
阿門

 

Game: "leaping and praising God" (on bouncy horse)

Craft: Peter & John in prison—craft sticks on paper

B. Study: Matthew 5:10-11

Nothing really unusual or exciting to report this week. We did have a very good adult Bible study on choosing to do what is right ( be it believing in Jesus or saying no to drugs or whatever), pointing out among other things that whatever you do, somebody's not going to like it, so you need to decide yourself what you think is right. And Bruce brought up an example of Jesus being hated for healing someone on the Sabbath, which led to some interesting parallels between 1^st-century Sabbath taboos and traditional Chinese New Year taboos such as not washing your hair on the first day of the New Year (don't want to wash your luck away). I think it helped make the "foreign" concept of Sabbath laws more understandable.