God's Justice

We were on vacation over the first Sunday in August.  A couple of volunteers from Hong Kong came to lead the service.  But August is such a big month for children’s activities, that the attendance was very low.  So low that the volunteers decided not to lead the regular program.  There were only two Sundays left, then for using the old curriculum, but now three more stories.  So we decided this was worth keeping, and we’d skip the story originally planned for next week.

The story, then, to illustrate God’s justice in not punishing the innocent with the guilty was the rescue of Lot and his family from Sodom.  We first introduced Abraham and his nephew who came to Canaan together.  But because God blessed them both, they had so many flocks and herds they had to separate.  So Lot went to live in the city of Sodom (he goes & sits down).

So one day, God came with two angels to visit Abraham (three folks in haloes). First they congratulate Abraham that he will soon have a son.  Then, God tells him, another reason we are here today is that I have heard that the people of Sodom are terribly wicked.  My two angels here are going to go and see if this is really so, and if they are beyond saving then I will destroy the whole city.  Well, this was not good news to Abraham—his nephew lived in that city!  So he starts bargaining with God: since you’re so just, you wouldn’t destroy a whole city if there were 50 righteous in it, would you?  We lined up five people, each with a “10” sign around their neck.  God says, no, I won’t.  Well, how about 45?  Would you destroy it for the lack of just five of the fifty? (one of the “10” signs is exchanged for a “5”)  God says no.  Abraham continues: how about 40 (the number 5 person sits down), 30 (a 10 sits down), 20 (another 10 sits) or, please bear with me, how about if there are 10 righteous people (just one 10 stays standing).  God promises if there are 10 righteous people in Sodom, he will not destroy the city.

So God and Abraham sit down and Lot comes back to the front.  Lot has a wife (which he got to pick for himself, a cute visiting girl) and two daughters, that the girl got to pick.  So the two angels now come and spread a blanket on the floor, ready to spend the night in the open square of the city.  Lot goes out and persuades them to stay overnight at his house.  So they come, but while they are all sitting around with their bowls and chopsticks, everyone else in the room came and surrounded them, yelling, send those guests of yours out so we can “gaau” them to death (a great Chinese word that can mean almost anything you need it to mean).  Lot steps to the door and tries to reason with them but they start attacking him, so one of the angels grabs him and pulls him back inside.  Then says, in the name of God, you can’t see!  Everyone groped around and finally sat down.

So then we said, we see that everyone in the city is wicked except Lot and his family.  How many righteous did there need to be to spare the city? 10  How many are there here?  Count ‘em, four!  So the angels tell Lot that God is going to destroy the city, so they must hurry and leave.  They start slowly packing clothing into tote bags, but the angels say, there is no time for that!  They each grab two people and pull them back to the back of the room, and then God comes and dumps “fire” where they were just sitting.

Next came one of our favorite game times—everyone was split into groups of three: one Lot & two angels.  Whoever was Lot sat on a blanket, while the two angels donned haloes and dragged the blanket from one end of the room to the other.  This is especially fun when, as happened Sunday, an elderly grandmother got to be the carpet rider.  

 

For craft time we said that, no one knows for sure, but it is certainly possible that the fire that destroyed Sodom came from a volcano.  So we made little volcano shapes out of clay, filled them with a spoonful of baking soda, dripped in some vinegar and watched them foam!

And then after our Bible study, we all celebrated Sally's birthday.