The Great Banquet

Originally we were going to tell this story a week ago. But that day there were too many other activities going on in Macau & when it came time to start we only had two kids; our “policy” is that we have three before we trot out the whole program. So instead we all went out for tea. One other family (with two girls) made it in time for tea, another (with one boy) came so late that we were done already! Need to think of changing our name again to “Latecomers’ Family Fellowship” (only one syllable’s difference in the Chinese phrases). Sigh. I kind of appreciate the break myself; this puts me an extra week ahead in preparation. But I feel bad for our helpers from Hong Kong who were going to lead the story for the first time.

So this week, we had some other volunteers from a different Hong Kong church. We didn’t have them lead anything as they don’t know our kids & had no prep time either, but I was very happy to have them help out during the game & craft & then the free time.

This parable was lots of fun! The king announces he is preparing a wedding banquet for his son. So first a servant helps him set a table with a white tablecloth, candlesticks, and bowls & chopsticks. Then the king sends out the servant to tell the invited guests that things are ready. The first person shows him a deed for land and says, sorry, have to go look at my new property. The second says, oh but I just bought an ox and I have to try him out with the plow! So we put our cow horns on another kid and the apologetic guest puts a harness around him and leads him off to go plowing. The third says, but I just got married, so I can’t come! She put on a tissue wedding veil and her ”husband” (mine!), a huge paper bowtie. (The Hong Kong volunteers were taking pictures; I sure hope they send us some!!) So the servant goes back to the king and says, nobody wants to come. The king says okay, then, we’ll invite the poor, the lame and the blind! First a couple of “poor” were dressed up in ripped clothing, and escorted to the table. Next, one using crutches and another a cane, and another one ended up being carried (under some protest) to the table. Finally, the last two kids were decked out in black-paper-covered glasses and led to the table.

Next, the servant explains, you are very welcome at the king’s table but he wants you to dress up in special garments to honor his son. Our “wedding garments” were party hats. I was half counting on at least one kid refusing to wear a hat, but they were all very cooperative—however, we were actually one hat short. Fortunately the one left without a hat is intelligent enough to respond to a whisper that we know she is not rebellious, we just need her to act the part. Otherwise she might have gotten her feelings hurt when the king comes in to personally distribute cookies in everyone’s food bowl but the one without a party hat is scolded for her lack of respect and thrown out of the party without any food!

The poor girl—she was also the very last to get a cookie in our game time, which was kind of like musical chairs. There were enough chairs for each person, so when the music stopped they first all sat down, but then had to get up and check whether their stool had a “wedding garment” (this time, a small paper bowtie) stuck to the bottom of it. Only one did. That person got a cookie and then he/she & one “undressed” stool were taken out of the game. We kept playing until everyone got a cookie. Everyone liked this game just fine! One girl kept trying to sit on two stools at once though, to double her chances. Turned out she was second to the last to win!

Because we had the volunteers here, the parents were able to have their longer Bible study starting right after the story. It worked out well that they were gone during craft time; the project was to make invitations not to a banquet, but to a Christmas Eve Open House we’ll be holding this Saturday at our home. So when the parents finished, they were presented with the completed invitations! I had written out the details earlier & copied then onto parchment paper; we glued these onto a red card and made a lacy border. They were pretty and the moms were surprised!