Parable of the ten pounds

Our volunteers from Hong Kong got to lead this week, and they did a super job. For our story, did you ever notice that although the story talks about the master giving a “pound” (or, as we chose to say, one piece of silver) to ten of his servants, we only see what happened with three of them? So we said he gave the money to “some” of his servants, and made that number be three. Then they were to go multiply their money. Somehow a parent ended up being the first servant. She “decided” to make her money by buying some little stampers at 2 for a silver piece & then selling them for 2 silver pieces each. So on the first round she ended up with 4 silver pieces. She wisely decided to hang onto two of them—if she lost the rest, she still would have doubled her money—and just buy four more. Then she starts out yelling, who wants to buy my stampers? I cried, I do! So she comes over and says, the price has gone up, they’re up to 3 silver coins each! Ha! That wasn’t in the script, but I loved how she was getting into her role! Anyway, I said forget it & she had to sell them at 2 coins each so ended up with a total of, surprise surprise, 10 silver coins.

What about the next servant? He figured the market for stampers was getting saturated, so he spent his silver coin to buy a shoeshine kit (a shoeshine brush). Then he shined shoes for a silver coin per pair. So five different folks had to put their feet up for him to brush, & then pay him one coin each time. He was really enjoying himself, collecting all these coins for such easy work!

The third servant was so afraid to do anything with the money that her sister had to come help. Together they “decided” to take the coin and put it in a little bag that one sister could wear around her neck so no one could steal it.

Now the master comes back, and of course he praises the two industrious servants and scolds the third.

Since today the adults were not having a regular Bible study but were having a thanksgiving-for-the-past-year sharing time, I didn’t want the parable to end here with the impression that the kingdom of God was about making money! So our narrator held up the big ear again and said, let him who has ears to hear, hear! Just like these servants were given a silver coin each, we have all been given the gift of the gospel. (One of the servants then distributed to everyone a picture of a gift box with a tag reading “gospel”). Our Lord and master does not want us to keep it to ourselves either, but to multiply it by sharing it with others so that they too can be blessed.

For our game, just as one silver coin became many in the hands of the faithful servants, the job for each of the two teams was to take one large sheet of paper and tear it up so that it became many pieces. Everyone understood this one and participated willingly! The girls beat the boys, 180 pieces to 108, or thereabout.

We followed this same theme for the craft. A fan when closed looks like just one rectangular piece, but then you open it out and see it “become” five blades that together can make you feel comfortable on a hot day.

I had so much fun just watching everything that was going on, I forgot to take pictures of any of the action. But here at least are what the fans looked like: