Ananias and Sapphira

We'd done this story before, during the ten commandments. That was nearly two years ago now, and some of the people remembered the story! Cool!

So here it is:

已經有機千人信主。有些有錢﹐有些貧窮	給他們看兩個公子﹐要說誰有錢﹐誰貧窮
但在基督教會眾全部平等的	放兩個公子在衣架﹔給大家看平等
怎能平等呢﹖是因為個個都當教會是大家庭﹔一齊分享所有。
當時有一個比較有錢的﹐叫巴拿巴	介紹巴拿巴
自己的田地﹐賣了﹐	將 [一塊田] 送給第二個﹐第二個給他一袋銀幣。
就將那些錢奉獻給教會。 (那時沒有奉獻箱﹔想奉獻就交給交會領袖彼得)	先介紹彼得(戴大的十字架)。巴拿把歸低﹐將那袋銀幣放在彼得腳前。
其他信徒欣賞他﹐讚他	個個都與巴拿巴握手
但有另外一個人﹐叫亞拿尼亞﹐和他太太 撒非喇見到多人讚巴拿巴﹐就嗑醋	介紹亞拿尼亞 和 撒非喇
但他沒有多錢。他怕賣了田地﹐就照顧不到自己的子女。	問大家--重要不重要﹖
後來他想到辦法﹕賣了田地﹐將價錢的一半奉獻給教會。只要說是田地的價錢。	問大家--好不好的意見﹖
所以他也賣了一塊田。	[一塊田] 又換一袋銀幣。
亞拿尼亞 和 撒非喇一齊數錢﹐分兩部份	一齊分兩堆﹔撒非喇將一半放自己的手袋
亞拿尼亞將一半﹐放在彼得腳前﹐說是那塊田的價錢﹐就等人的稱讚	歸低﹐將那袋銀幣放在彼得腳前。
但彼得問他﹕有沒有人逼你賣田地﹖亞拿尼亞說﹕沒有﹐是我自己的意見﹗	問亞拿尼亞﹐他作 [No, No!] ﹐又指出自己
彼得又問﹕有沒有人逼你奉獻成個價錢﹖他又答﹕沒有﹐是我自己的意見﹗	又作[No, No!] 又指出自己
最後問﹕有沒有人逼你向神說謊話﹖他又答﹕沒有﹗是我自己的 -- -- -- Uh-oh!	又作[No, No!] 又開始自出自己 --就知道自己的錯。
亞拿尼亞嚇親﹐仆低﹐要人擡他出去。	他仆低﹐兩個人擡他走
撒非喇在家裏等他回來﹐等很久	撒非喇表示不忍耐
她去見彼得﹐想問他去了哪裏。	去見彼得
彼得問她﹕這袋錢是不是你們那塊田的價錢﹖她說﹐是。	撒非喇看看那袋錢﹐就算﹐是﹐是﹗
彼得說﹕你與你的丈夫一樣想欺哄神?! 你以為神不知道嗎﹖
撒非喇又被嚇親﹐仆低﹐要人擡她出去。	她仆低﹐兩個人擡他走
嘩﹗說謊話好不好﹖	問每一個孩子

We next said, Ananias & Sapphira gave the "wrong" amount of money because they were trying to trick the other believers. But sometimes, people give the wrong amount of money when they buy something just because they don't know how to count change. So our game helped us practice adding up the right change. We had a collection of small snacks with various price tags that required combinations of two or three different kinds of coins. Each child got to choose which snack they wanted but then had to choose the right coins from a pile before they could "buy" it. Our one neurotypical nine-year-old was allowed to buy two snacks so that she would have to add the prices up in her head first. This was a popular game, no surprise!

The craft didn't go very well. First, I had had a hard time thinking of one. I finally found a nice little possibility in a Bible craft book, a "no lying" symbol, sort of like a "no smoking" symbol. I was just thinking of what materials to use when suddenly I realized this was a bit of a waste of time: our kids don't know how to lie! Ha! In the end I decided to use an idea where the kids write their names in crayon on a slip of paper, and then cover it up with magic marker like we try to cover our sin. Then I collected the papers and passed them out for each child to rub with a cotton ball and reveal the name that wasn't so hidden after all. Unfortunately, I had practiced on my last sheet of slightly-glossy printer paper. The paper I had bought at a different shop absorbed the marker too completely, so it didn't rub off, even over the crayon lettering! Sigh. Glad we have tolerant parents.

For Bible study, since we didn't want to focus on not lying, we looked at the concept of members of the body having different gifts, from Romans 12:4-8. Ananias didn't have the same gift of giving that Barnabas had, and that should have been all right. We speculated a little: if Ananias had received more affirmation for whatever gift it was he had, would he have been less tempted to try and get the kind of praise Barnabas got for his giving? All of us agreed that getting more affirmation can help reduce envy and increase harmony. So then I had each one choose someone else in the room to affirm for something they saw in them. (They couldn't choose me though; I'm too "up front") They all participated well, but something I found interesting was that, even when I kept encouraging them to do so, NONE of them would look the person they were praising in the eye. They would look anywhere but at that person! I think we need more practice at this, eh?

Something special: I had JUST decided to take one family's name off the list of those I pray for regularly, as they had come only once & we hadn't seen them since. But this morning, there they were! Mom actually left for part of the time because Suk Wa was mad at her and was throwing things at her. Sure enough, she calmed down when mom left. She got back just at the very end of the Bible study time. So she hadn't heard exactly why we had this "assignment," but she was willing to take part anyway. Then at the end she asked this great question: "I can say nice things about others, but what should I do when people are saying nasty things about someone else?" Just that she would ask the question impresses me—too many people don't see this as a problem! So we threw around some ideas (it's hard, isn't it? How do you balance letting people share their hurts with not wanting to listen to bad reports?) Finally I suggested something very unChinese—that she might try asking the complainer if she had talked to the offender, because maybe that person would be horrified to realize she'd offended and would want to apologize if she knew. Mrs. Chan nodded thoughtfully and said, "That's a good idea." Wow, I do like this lady! She and her daughter are staying on my list! She said they can't come this next week, but will be back on the 17^th. Great!

We had two volunteers from Taipa Chapel to watch the kids during the Bible study time again, which was a HUGE help. Bruce and Mr. Lei were both gone, so we wouldn't have had any believers in the study if Mrs. Lei and Mrs. Chu had had to watch the kids. So thankful!