A relatively short story today to illustrate this beatitude. First we introduced King Saul & reminded everyone we’d seen him last week as Israel’s first king. Now we were jumping ahead several hundred years. Saul is already dead (crown off, pushed down into chair), and the kingdom of Israel is on its last legs. We introduce the prophet Jeremiah (in red robe), who has been trying to tell Israel to mend its ways to avoid disaster, but they continue disobedient.

So one day, Jeremiah gets a word from God (delivered by angel in halo) that he is supposed to invite the family of the Rechabites over to his home to drink some wine. So he does. (Someone gave us a bottle of wine years ago as a gift. Since we’re non-drinkers, it’s just sat around & probably has turned to vinegar by now—a Macau kitchen is no wine cellar! But it makes a handy prop from time to time so it hasn’t been wasted!)

But they refuse to drink the wine. Not because it tastes vinegary, hah! But because generations ago, one of their ancestors made a vow that his descendants would not drink wine, and this vow has never been broken. Jeremiah tries to press them, & they finally get up and leave.

Jeremiah asks God why he was supposed to invite them for a drink if they didn’t drink. The angel returns and tells him that they are an example that Israel would have done well to follow. Generations ago one ancestor makes one vow and they are still obedient today. While God speaks to His people over and over and they still don’t obey! Oh that Israel was as pure in heart as the Rechabites! Though Israel is doomed to destruction, God would surely bless the Rechabites (angel goes & finds each Rechabite, shakes their hands and says to each, God bless you.)

Just as God seeks those with pure hearts, so in our game we sought pure hearts—pure milk chocolate hearts, that is! We had three cups, put a heart under one, and then mixed them up while the kids watched, one at a time. If they concentrated their attention, they got rewarded by being able to guess which cup the heart was under, and got their chocolate. Played until everyone had won once.

And what is purer than snow, right? So for craft we made these snow globes, which were actually a lot prettier than the pictures turned out. I had bought coarser glitter than I usually do, thinking it would be more fun to watch fall as snow, but it wasn’t a good idea. It actually fell more slowly than the fine stuff; a lot of it wouldn’t even fall at all but stayed floating on the top of the globes, which detracted somewhat from the overall effect (nasty stormy snowclouds?) Turned out I had bought just enough little Christmas-y figurines when I was in the US, for one for each kid!