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!

Healing the lame man (Acts 3)

Our story:

Last week, besides celebrating Mr. Lei's birthday, what birthday did we celebrate?	(ask all)
But at that time, to say "there is now a church" meant something different than it does today. Nowadays, you can see that some people are Christians	stick cross labels on some kids
while others are Jews	stick Star of David labels on others
But at that time, the Christians didn't think of themselves as separate from the Jews.	stick both labels on all kids except lame-man-to-be, & stars on all adults.
The believers would go to each others' homes and pray and share together, and eat "the Lord's supper" to remember Jesus' death.	a couple of kids "visit" a couple of others, they eat some crackers, drink some juice together
But they still thought of themselves as good Jews—they just thought they understood the real meaning of their religion better. So they disciples would go to the temple just like before to worship God with the other Jews.	all kids & adults join together & sing "Isn't God Wonderful" then all sit down.
So, today two disciples, Peter and John, are going to the temple together.	choose two to be P & J, have them walk one round of room
As they got there, they encountered a man being carried to the entrance of the temple. This 40-something man had been lame since birth. So every day he sat by the entrance of the temple begging for charity.	two larger kids (or adults) carry smaller child, carrying tin cup, & sit him on pillow on floor.
When he saw Peter & John, he hoped they would give him money.	holds out cup to P & J
But they didn't have any money. The man was very disappointed.	ask them if they have money, have them check their pockets
But Peter got his attention and said, look, I don't have any money, but what I have is even better: In the name of Jesus Christ, I say to you, get up and walk!	he looks at P & J. They grab his hands & have him stand up.
Was he happy? Boy, was he happy!	ask all
He went walking around, and jumping, and dancing—Peter and John danced along with him for the joy of it!	he jumps around, all three dance
Together they went into the temple. A lot of people recognized the man, and were amazed. They knew that Jesus had miraculously healed people, but Jesus was gone now. They asked Peter & John, did YOU heal this man?	they ask P & J
They said no, it wasn't really us. We're nobodies. We just trust in Jesus; it's in His name that this man was healed. So do you think the people were happy to hear that?	ask all
Actually they were a bit scared! If Jesus' power is so great that He could heal this man when He wasn't even there, would He use it to punish the people who hadn't believed in Him? But Peter & John said, don't worry! As soon as you admit your sin, it is completely fortiven and you are right with God. Oh! Now that made the people happy!	after speech, all look happy
That day, many people confessed their sin and trusted Jesus as their Savior. Can you remember how many people believed in last week's story?	ask all
Today, it's up to…	write 5000 on board & ask one to read

As I introduced this story, I'd forgotten that last Sunday evening most of us had gone to an evening feast for the 15^th anniversary of the mother church. So when I asked what birthday we'd celebrated (I'm thinking Pentecost), they said: "The Gospel Center"! Well, yes, that too!

We'd already done different "jumping for joy" games on different occasions, and I wanted something new. Finally came up with Tiddlywinks, which I made by cutting plastic circles out of an ice-cream carton. None of the adults or kids had played with them before, so that was fun.

For our craft, we made paper men with springy legs made from folding two long strips of paper together.

Bible study was on Mark 2:1-12, trying to bring out how this was another instance of the person wanting one thing, but getting something even better.

The Gift of the Holy Spirit

We jumped from Easter to Pentecost, to begin a series in Acts. Our story for Sunday the 19th:

40 days after Jesus rose from the dead, he went back to heaven. He told His disciples to wait for the Holy Spirit to come and give them power to witness for Him. Now it's been another 10 days	(all count to 40, then to 10)
It's a big Jewish holiday. Jews from many different countries have come to Jerusalem to celebrate	give flags from different countries to adults
But Jesus' disciples are afraid to join them for fear of being arrested. They are staying inside and praying, waiting for the Holy Spirit that Jesus had promised.	all kids kneel to pray
Suddenly there is the sound of a big wind	turn on ceiling fan to high
and they see what looks like fire come down and settle on everyone's heads!	sprinkle orange paper shreds on all heads
But not only on their heads—it's as if they have fire in their hearts, too! Suddenly they're not afraid any more, and they want to go out and tell everyone about Jesus.	They get up, show their muscles
But all these people out there are speaking all different languages. How will they communicate? Something really wild happened—they opened their mouths to preach, and it came out in the language of whatever person they were talking to at the time!	have slips of paper with "Jesus has risen, just as He said" printed in languages of adults' flags. Match flags on paper with adults' flags to give it to them while saying "Jesus is risen"
The people listening are amazed! They start discussing this with each other—and forget to listen to the message!	the adults all huddle together
Finally, Peter gets up and gets everyone's attention	one boy as Peter stands on stool
In a loud voice, he begins to preach: "Jesus has risen from the dead" "The blood of Christ can cleanse all of our sin" "God loves you and wants to have a close relationship with you" "Trust in Jesus and receive eternal life"	Have each sentence on a banner. Have one child put up each banner on the board as Peter reads or says that sentence.
All the people around are thrilled at the message. They want to know what they need to do next. Peter says: "If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved."	This verse also put up on board
Lots and lots of people believed that day. The disciples kept track of how many	Have one child bring clipboard around room for all to sign
When they added it all up, how many were there?	Underneath signature sheet on clipboard are sheets with numbers 500, 700, 600, 800, & 400. Have children copy these one by one on board, one child adds them up (=3000)
In one day 3000 people believed! You could say it was the birthday of the Christian church. So let's celebrate that!	sing happy birthday—have birthday cake!

Originally I hadn't written in to do the counting to 40 & 10 at the beginning of the story. But people were chatting & not paying attention, so Mr. Lei came up with the idea on the spot as an immediate attention-grabber. GREAT move! So I wrote it in as a keeper!

For a game, I had copies of the banners with the four sentences from Peter's "sermon", cut into pieces with 1-2 characters each (for 5-7 pieces per sentence). The pieces for one sentence at a time was distributed to the adults. The idea was supposed to be that one kid at a time would take the adults and arrange them to get the sentence in the right order. I think at least some of our kids could have done it by themselves, but the parents were maybe a little too quick to help. And we had more kids than sentences, and the room was crowded…we ended up giving up on the game after just two rounds. We were running behind time anyway.

By the way, a zillion thanks to my good friend Mrs. Tong who wrote out all the banners for me. It would have either taken me forever (I write Chinese like a kindergartner), or would have wasted tons of paper printer ink!

For a craft, (a zillion thanks for internet craft sites!), Bruce and I ate a lot of canned food the week before so I could freeze water in the empty cans. Sunday morning we wrapped them with paper on which "dot-to-dot"dove patterns were drawn. The kids' job was to pound nails lightly through the dots into the can. The idea being, once the ice melts you put little candles in them & you have "Holy Spirit" candle holders—fire and dove!

Bible study was from Ephesians 1:16-20, about other gifts (besides the "birthday gifts" of boldness and other tongues) the Spirit wants to give believers. I was afraid it was going to be too abstract, but it seemed to go fairly well. Two people participated who don't usually say anything, so that's exciting!

The Walk to Emmaus

We've done the resurrection story twice already, so I wanted to do something a little different this year. This story worked well—and we had exactly three kids, so just the right number of characters.

Last week was the Chinese grave-sweeping festival. Some families went on the actual holiday, but some go anywhere around the time that it's convenient. It's one reason we only had three kids! It struck me as interesting that this festival always falls right around Easter. So I say in the story that the reason the women went to the grave was to "sweep" (or "beautify") it—which would have been all they could have done if they had been met with a stone they couldn't roll away. But unlike any of our grave-sweeping friends, when these ladies got to the tomb, the occupant had come back to life!

Today is Easter Sunday. On the first Easter Sunday afternoon, two friends were walking from Jerusalem to another village.	two kids start walking together. 1. Wears jacket with rip or stain
One says to the other, this past week has been like a bad dream! The other agrees with him.
Another person, a stranger, walks up behind them and says, what are you talking about?	third person walks with them, wearing jacket with hood
They say, what do you think? We would think anyone coming from Jerusalem would know about what happened there. But the stranger says he doesn't know. So they say, it's a long story; let's sit down & we'll tell you all about it.	They pull up three stools and sit down.
1. Have you heard this name before? (he answers yes) Well, then you know how for the past three years he has been going around teaching and doing great works.	they show stranger a piece of paper with the name "Jesus;" he reads it.
2. Do you remember that time we were on the boat, and there was that huge wind & big waves? We were afraid we were going to die! But Jesus got up and told the storm to settle down—and it did!	turn on small fan for wind, scatter bits of blue for waves. Boy stands up and makes settle-down gesture, sits back down
1. And His preaching was really helpful. I had loaned this jacket to my friend, and when she gave it back to me it was dirty—see how dirty? I was so angry I didn't talk to my friend for weeks! But Jesus told us the importance of forgiving each other. So I forgave her, and you know what? I did feel a lot better after that.	takes off jacket, shows rip or stain, puts it back on
2. Yes, He was a really good man. We thought He was surely the Son of God, come to save Israel. But the leaders of Israel were so jealous of Him that they had Him killed. And not only that, but He died on a cross, which is a really horrible way to die. It was awful!!	picks up sticks from ground, forms them into a cross to show the others
1. But then—you'll never believe this—this morning, some friends were going to sweep His grave. But it was open, and empty, and they said they saw an angel who told them Jesus had come back to life! They didn't see Him, though. Now was this like something you'd dream, or what?	stands up, puts on halo, flaps arms like wings
But the stranger replies: you guys really don't know your history, do you? (Huh?)	sticks the word "history" on board
You know, many hundreds of years ago, God had already sent messengers to tell us that His Son would come to earth and suffer, and be killed, and come back to life. Remember? There was David (1000 years ago), and Isaiah (700 years ago) and Zechariah (500 years ago) for three!	Sticks up names and dates: David, Isaiah, Zechariah, 1000, 700, 500, yrs. Ago (adult B. study was from a couple of these prophecies)
1 & 2. Wow, you have really given us a lot to think about! Listen, it's getting late, let's have dinner together, okay?	they get up & walk around, set up table & sit. Servant girl brings loaf of bread, pours water
The stranger said, let's give thanks for the food. He holds his hands up to pray, and his sleeves fall back. They see scars on his wrists—just like the scars from someone being nailed to a cross!	lifts hands to pray, sleeves fall back & there are scars on his wrists
1 & 2. You—you are Jesus! You really did come back to life!
He smiles and says, that's right! Enjoy your dinner, friends! Then he disappears.	Jesus gets up, pats them on shoulders, leaves.
1 & 2. Wow, He really is alive again! We'd better hurry back to Jerusalem and tell our friends!	They get up and run back to group

The only glitch in the story came when we discovered "Jesus" had ripped off the little scar marks I'd stuck to his wrists, obviously too early. Oh well!

We emphasized (dramatic license) that they recognized him by the scars on His hands (the Chinese use the same word for arm & hand), so that it would tie in with our game. All the adult women—and we had a couple of volunteers visiting that day, to make it more fun—went into a side room and each then stuck a hand out through the slightly-open door (all at the same time). The object was to find your mother/grandmother (or wife) by recognizing her hand. Our boys don't take well to being blindfolded, but we started off with my husband & then our one neuro-typical girl & they did have to be blindfolded. Neither of them guessed correctly. Bruce guessed Grandma Si's hand as mine, and we all teased him that he has to hold my hand more often! Lei Ka Hei visually picked his mom's hand, correctly. Si Wa Hon had a special trick—can't say whether or not it was deliberate. He just yanked hard on each hand in turn, and everyone involuntarily yelped. He knew his grandmother by her voice!

For our craft, we made "Easter bonnets" from paper plates and bowls; aren't they pretty?

A relaxing Sunday

This past Sunday was a nice break for me. No preparation needed. Some volunteers came over from a church in Hong Kong, and went with me and the kids to a public park for an hour. This gave the adults time to talk without interruption. At the end of the time we came back and had a potluck.

We ended up with the same amount of volunteers (including me) as kids, which worked well. We ended up going our separate ways. I got my exercise that morning! I was with Si Wa Hon, who made a beeline for the stairs going up to the top of Macau's tallest hill, the one with the lighthouse at the top. No cable cars for a-Si! Fortunately he was willing to pause from time to time to let this huffing, puffing old lady catch up!

We hadn't expected him to show up that morning. His grandmother had said last week that the family was going up to China for Saturday's holiday (grave-sweeping festival), and that they were not going to make it back in time. But there they were. Grandma told us that she had arrived back home at 8:00 that morning, and then fried up her yummy sticky rice, and got to church on time! Wow! We were honored!!!

The adult discussion centered on the grave-sweeping festival, which traditionally includes burning incense and making other offerings to one's ancestors. How are Christians supposed to behave at these family gatherings, and how do they deal with pressure from non-Christian relatives? Excellent use of the discussion time.

 

Exit Saul, Enter David

Our story this past week was really too long. I wanted to end the OT unit, & Saul's death & David finally getting to be king, seemed like a good stopping point. But I needed to flesh that transition out a bit, and it ended up a bit too fleshy (like me)!

Story Part One:

Saul is really miserable. Because he was jealous of David, David had left & didn't lead the army anymore. So they didn't have the success in battle that they used to. Nothing is as good as it used to be!	introduce Saul (in crown)
In the past, there was Samuel to teach Saul how to do what pleased God.	introduce Samuel (in red mantle)
But Samuel has died.	Samuel sits down
Saul says to himself, if Samuel hadn't died, I could ask his help. Even if he has rejected me, he might have been willing to help seek God's blessing just for Israel's sake. But now what should I do?
What are the choices Saul has?	Three kids help put three choices up on board: confess sin & beg for God's mercy ask David to come back & lead the army ask his advisors what to do
Which one of these should he choose?	get adults to come to a consensus. Have one child find it on chart and ü.
Do you think Saul chose that one?	(ask all)
Nope. He didn't choose any of them! Now, when he had first become king, and he was still concerned about keeping Israel holy, he had gotten rid of all the mediums and sorcerers in the land.	put "magician's headdress" on girl, send her away. (Have her take off headdress & take it with her) (to kitchen)
But now? Saul calls on some of his servants and asks them if there are any mediums still around somewhere, because he wants to ask for some advice.	he sends servants to look for her.
They go find her, then come tell Saul there is a medium at Endor.	They come back & point to where she is
Saul disguises himself, so that no one will know what he is doing.	takes off crown, puts on jacket
He goes and finds the medium. He asks her to call up the spirit of a dead person for him. She answers, why are you asking me to do that? Don't you know that the king has ordered all mediums out of the land?	Saul goes to kitchen, girl comes out to talk
But Saul promises her that she won't get in trouble. So she prepares to call up a spirit for him.	They set up a table, girl puts on headdress & takes out "crystal ball"
Saul tells her to call up Samuel. Pretty soon, she says she sees an old man in her crystal ball. The man is very unhappy about being disturbed, and says that whoever had decided to disturb him deserved to die—indeed, he would die, very soon!	Girl acts like she is seeing things in ball.
Saul is terribly frightened and hurries back to the palace.	Saul gets up & runs back to sofas
Not long after, once again they are fighting with the Philistines.	Saul & several others fight with swords
Saul's son, David's good friend Jonathan, has already died.	one boy "dies" (pushed down on sofa)
Saul is badly injured. He's really afraid of being captured by the enemy; he'd rather die! So he falls on his sword on purpose to kill himself.	Saul falls on his sword.
The Philistines celebrate!	Philistine army high-fives each other

Story part two:

Israel has a very hard time for the next several years. They're constantly being attacked by the Philistines.	Philistines keep waving their swords around
Finally, someone says they should really find David and get him to come and be king in Saul's place. Everyone thinks this is a great idea.	a couple of Israelites high-five
They go find David.	choose a boy to be David, crown him.
David has to spend the first several years conquering the Philistines.	more fighting
Finally, he is triumphant, and there is peace. David can finally just enjoy being king for a while.	David sits on throne, given scepter, people bow to him
So one of the first things he does is gather his servants and ask: are there any of Saul's family left in Israel? I would like to show kindness to them for the sake of my dear friend Jonathan.	Calls a couple of servants to come before him
One servant says, are you crazy? Saul was your enemy who wanted to kill you! It wouldn't be safe to let any of his family get close to you!	One servant makes "x" sign
But David says, I don't care of the whole family hates me, I still want to be kind to them.
A second servant says, well, there's a son of Jonathan's, called Mephibosheth. But you definitely don't want to have anything to do with him. He's crippled from when he fell as a child. Can't walk. Obviously he is a bad-luck person and would bring bad luck to your kingdom.	second servant makes "x" sign
But David says, if he is a son o fmy friend Jonathan, then I don't care how good or bad my luck is, I'll be thrilled to have him around! Go get him and bring him here! Hurry!	They go and get Mephibosheth. A lame child if we have one! Otherwise have one use a walker.
David is very happy to meet Jonathan's son. He commands one servant to be in charge of tending Saul's family fields and making sure Mephibosheth gets the profit from them.	One servant bows & leaves
And he welcomes Mephibosheth to come and live with him and eat with him at his table for the rest of his life.	David & Mephibosheth embrace

Like I said, a bit too long. And too much talking & not enough action in the second part. Sigh.

We played a simple ring toss game—the rings were supposed to "fall on the sword".

We made scepters for a craft—wrapped Styrofoam balls in soft clay, stuck them on the ends of gold-painted chopsticks, and then rolled them in glitter. They ended up looking more like golden caramel apples than scepters, ha! And I inadvertently chose a clay that was a bit too wet & most of the kids don't like getting their hands that grungy. So mainly the adults did the crafting. Sigh.

For Bible study, we chose Romans 12:16-17, about being willing to associate with the lowly, and not taking revenge on your enemies.

David and Jonathan

Our story:

Last time we saw David kill the giant Goliath	introduce David
Was Saul happy?	face without mouth, have child draw "happy"
Saul took David home with him to his palace & made him head of the army. He succeeded in whatever he did.	Saul (with crown) shakes David's hand
The Israelites loved David, especially the women, who would dance and sing songs praising him.	Have all girls/women dance with tambourine & noisemakers, singing: "Souloh saatsei chin, chin; Daaihwaih saatsei maahn, maahn."
Was Saul happy about that?	have child draw "unhappy" mouth on 2nd face
In those days Saul was often unhappy. Sometimes he would have David sit near him and play on his harp so that the music would make him feel better.	Saul on chair, David on stool with harp
But sometimes, even the music didn't help. Once or twice, when David was playing the harp for him, Saul lost his temper and tried to spear David! But David got away safely.	Still sitting together, Saul grabs spear and goes after David, who runs away.
Now, Saul had a son called Jonathan. Even though Jonathan knew that David was destined to be king, he wasn't jealous. He and David were very good friends.	introduce Jonathan (smaller crown)
Today they are out in a field together practicing their archery.	put quiver on David; let them both try shooting a few arrows at target
David tells Jonathan that he is afraid that sooner or later, Saul is going to kill him. Jonathan doesn't want to believe this. But David is afraid to go back to the palace. So they figure out a way for Jonathan to find out what Saul's attitude really is.	(someone can be helping them shoot while this is being explained)
Jonathan says to him, okay, don't come back yet. I will come back here in three days. You be hiding behind this rock here. I will do target practice like today, and bring a boy with me to pick up my arrows. If I tell him that the arrows are beside him, then you know it is safe to come home. But if I tell the boy, you have to go farther ahead, then you will know that you need to go away, because my father really does want to kill you.	Pull stacked stools covered with blanket out as indicated hiding place. Have boys repeat instructions until David can say what he is supposed to do. They shake hands & part
That night, everybody in the palace had dinner together. Saul noticed David was missing, but he wasn't too worried yet.	all but David sit around tables, pass out small crackers to all
The second night, they all ate together again, and again David wasn't there. This time Saul asked Jonathan where he was.	2nd round of crackers.
Jonathan answered, I told him he could go home & visit his family. Saul had a huge reaction: You and David are plotting things behind my back! You're planning to betray me! He grabbed his spear and tried to kill his own son in anger, but Jonathan got away.	Saul grabs spear and tries to throw it at Jonathan, who gets up & runs away.
So on the third day, Jonathan gois back to the field and does a little target practice.	Jonathan & another boy (wearing quiver). Jonathan shoots a couple of arrows.
He tells the boy to hurry and chase the arrows that are way out in front of him. Then he has the boy bring the bow and arrows back home while he stays there.	servant boy picks up arrows and leaves
David comes out from behind the rock and they embrace. Jonathan gives him some food for his journey into exile.	they hug, Jonathan gives him some food (the leftover crackers). David leaves.

Kevin had bought some toy bow & arrows a long time ago which we never used. They really came in handy for this story; thanks Kevin! The kids weren't very good at shooting them (neither am I, if you want to know the truth, even if my highest grade ever in gym was in archery!), but it was fun to try. Having David repeat the instructions for what to listen for turned out really well. We had a new (second-time) boy playing David, who is very much smarter than any of the other boys, but this little exercise showed up his particular difficulty in concentrating on instructions. Great practice for him!

Our game could have been a craft, but I couldn't think of another game. So I had sixteen hearts cut into two in various configurations. Half of each heart was pasted to a large sheet of paper at the front of the room. The kids took turns receiving a half heart & finding its mate. I was afraid it might be too easy, but I think it was just about right. This was to illustrate how good friends are like two halves of one heart.

For craft time we made quivers from paper towel rolls (I have been saving them up for such an occasion; now I'll have to start over!) and ribbon.

Bible study was on I John 4:8-12, loving one another. I ended the study by saying that, while the Bible does say we must love with our actions and not just with words, it is also good to say it in words. So I went around the circle & told each one a reason or two that I love them. (And I really do!!) They all were a little embarrassed, perhaps, but I think they all liked it anyway!