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!

BLessed are the Merciful

Finally got a couple of pictures today. Simply had to, as this is one of my favorite stories in our series.

We first introduced Israel’s first King, Saul, complete with crown and fancy paper robe. Unfortunately, he was not a real good king, so after a little booing and hissing we had one of the kids stick a big masking-tape ‘X’ on his chest. Saul had a loyal servant named David, who was a much more godly man. Applause, and then we had another child make a star out of masking tape for his chest.

David fought battles for Saul (runs around room poking at people with his foam sword), and then would hand over the spoils to the king (gives moneybag to Saul, who was disappointed to discover that the money was inedible…). So, did Saul love David? Well, he did at first but then he became quite jealous of him, and wanted to kill him! Saul stands up and yells, Kill him! So David and his men had to flee. They need some food for the journey, so they stop and visit the priest (man in red shawl), who gives them a bag of bread. They continue running and finally hide in a cave (in the bathtub, behind the drawn shower curtain).

Now Saul and his men are in hot pursuit. They get as far as the priest’s and ask if he has seen him. The priest says yes, and I gave them some food for their journey. Saul says, kill him! A flash of the sword and the priest falls over dead. They keep running around looking for David. Finally, Saul has to go to the bathroom! He goes into a cave for privacy—the very cave in which David is hiding!

The three inside the tub discuss whether this is God’s opportunity to kill Saul, but David won’t do it. He reaches out from behind the curtain (took a teeny bit of persuasion to keep him from opening the curtain) and cuts a corner off his paper robe. Saul finishes his business and heads back out to seek David. David comes to the door of the cave, waves the corner of the robe and says, look, Saul! I could have killed you, but I didn’t! Saul apologizes, and stops chasing David.

The instructions for this week’s game made the leader laugh out loud: since we don’t want our kids chasing anyone around with scissors, our game will not involve trying to cut pieces off anyone’s clothing. :-) Instead, we will just try to grab clothespins off someone’s clothing. The kids lined up on stools, shoulder to shoulder—they were supposed to stay put on the stools, but it did get a little rowdy, oh well. One of the adults donned a jacket with about 25 clothespins all over it, and scurried back and forth along the line while the kids grabbed for the pins. We played it twice, the second time with a usually very timid mom as the volunteer. She did great, running as fast as she could and even hiding one of the clothespins under her arm. :-)

For the craft, our teenage leader did a very good job of explaining that the Bible mentions that David actually regretted his merciful act of cutting off part of Saul’s robe as not being merciful enough! Perhaps if he would have had the chance, he would have sewn the piece back on for Saul. He didn’t have that chance, so we will do that for him! Everyone got a “garment” with a corner cut off; the fabric was loosely woven enough so that they could use relatively blunt darning-type needles to repair the corner with yarn. When we did this years ago, I had actually sewn up “three-dimensional” garments with seams. I dreaded having to do that again this year when I realized, duh, just one layer in garment shape is fine, no one is going to complain! So here’s how they turned out:

Blessed are Those Who Hunger and Thirst after Righteousness

Still not managing to get any pictures these days, sigh. Our story for this beatitude was taken from the book of Acts. First, though, we have Jesus stand up and say, “Go and Preach the Gospel.” Two of those who respond to the call are Paul and Silas, whom we identify with large crosses hung around their necks. As they are going around preaching, they come to a city called Thessalonica. A man named Jason invites them into his home (serves them tea). The next morning they go to the synagogue, and present the gospel from a Jewish perspective. They remind them how the Passover commemorates the escape from Egypt (stick the word for Passover up on the board), when every household had to kill a lamb and put its blood on the lintel and doorposts. (Stick a large paper “door” on board, have a volunteer come up & brush red paint on top & sides). That now, God has sent His Son Jesus to be the eternal Passover Lamb (hold up crucifixion picture), and we are saved by his blood shed for forgiveness of sin. Most of the people laughed at them, though one or two believed (they get cross stickers). After a little while the unbelievers decide that chasing Paul & Silas out of the synagogue isn’t enough; they should find them and have them punished. But they can’t find them (they are behind the display easel), so instead they grab Jason, their host, and drag him before the judge (man in long black robe). The judge takes some money from him & lets him go. Then the believers find Paul & Silas & suggest they head to the next town, which they do. They go to Berea, and preach the same message in the synagogue, complete with paint applied to a fresh door, and the crucifixion picture. But this time, the response is different. The Bereans are truly hungering and thirsting after righteousness, so they search the Scriptures to see if it is really true. One of them finds and reads Isaiah 53:6—“All we like sheep have gone astray; we have all turned to our own way, and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.” They are excited at this wonderful truth & everyone stands up and sings “All Praise to Jesus.”

“Happy” are those who hunger and thirst…for our game we had a relay race involving each team cracking and eating its way through bowls of pistachio nuts, which are translated “happy nuts” in Cantonese because they look like little smiles.

For craft we related the beatitude to hungering after things that are good for you, such as fruit and vegetables rather than ice cream and coke. We made simple “refrigerators” from folded paper with shelves drawn in, and everyone got veggie stickers to put on their shelves.

Blessed are the Meek

Some frustration in planning this one, mainly because the standard Chinese Bible translation of “meek” is more like “nice” or “kind.” I preferred to go with the traditional interpretation of meekness so had to sneak in the fact that another translation does suggest this.

The hero of today’s story was John the Baptist. We introduced our John the Baptist, dressing him in a “camel’s hair garment” (a wooly jacket-liner) and leather belt. Then he was supposed to eat locusts and honey. As when we did this the first time, we explained that we didn’t have any locusts (Wòhng Chùhng in phonetic Cantonese) but we did have ordinary Chùhng (worms). Our previous John had been totally shocked when I offered him a gummi worm; had to be coaxed to eat it. This time, our John had no problem; grabbed the worm and started munching. But then we brought out the jar of honey and he was having none of it! I have no idea why he had such a big reaction. Neither did his mom, who was leading the story and who finally convinced him to dip the end of his worm in the honey. After which he turned it around and chewed only on the other end!

Many people liked to come out to the wilderness to hear John preach. Sometimes they would stay a long time & might get cold or hungry. So some people wore extra clothes (one person puts on two jackets) or brought extra food (one person with a bag of snacks). John preached the importance of repenting and living out God’s law of love. For example, people with two coats should share with those who have none (so she did), and people with extra food should share with the hungry (food-bearer passes out snacks to everyone). Lots of people wanted to be his disciples.

Then one day Jesus (in trademark white vest) comes along and is baptized by John (who sprinkles blue tissue scraps on his head). Immediately a voice from heaven announces that Jesus is God’s beloved Son. Wow! Suddenly it seems everyone wants to follow Jesus instead of John. So they all but one or two walk away from John. One asks John if he is jealous. John says, of course not! The whole purpose of my preaching is to get people ready to follow Jesus, so why should I be jealous?

Funny how there were other preachers at that time who wanted to be famous, but we don’t know their names. And here’s this John the Baptist, who wanted to give Jesus all the glory, and we have all heard of him! Even Jesus Himself had good things to say about him! We had written on the board His saying, “there is no one who has arisen who is greater than…” and one of the kids wrote in “…John.” Then Jesus stuck a gold star on John.

Our game was a meek/humble task: throwing out the garbage. Had a big piece of cardboard with a flap in it like a litter bin; everybody got to take a few tries at throwing a bag of “garbage” through the open flap.

Craft, likewise, was a meek/humble task: washing cars. Everybody got a very muddy toy car and was supposed to scrub it clean with a toothbrush.

John the Baptist was supposed to be our model of meekness for the day. So I was surprised, but not in a bad way, when someone was struck by how meek Jesus was, being without sin yet willing to be baptized by this nobody named John (who ate worms!). :-)

Blessed are They that Mourn

No pictures this week, I just keep getting too caught up in what’s going on!

For this week’s story, we first introduced King Hezekiah, a very good and godly king. (everyone applauds) But then he died and Judah ended up with Manasseh, whom no one liked. (boo, hiss) He put up the altars his father had torn down (he tapes a picture of an altar to the wall), and encouraged others to do the same (a couple more kids tape up altars). And he worshipped at the altar of the most horrible god of all of them (tapes up the word for evil (惡)over one of the altars. He even sacrificed his own son as a burnt offering to this god. (chooses “son,” leads him to the altar & dumps scraps of “fire” on his head) Finally, God punishes Manasseh and he is hauled off to prison in a far country (“soldier” with sword wraps a chain around his wrists and drags him around the room.

Manasseh now has two choices (kids hold up numbers 1 & 2). Number 1 (flip sign over): he can be upset with God, or number 2 (flip sign over): he can be upset with himself. Which one did he choose? Our Manasseh reached out without hesitation and chose number 2. Good choice! He knelt down and told God he was sorry for his sins. God had mercy on him and he was released from prison and restored to his kingship. (off with the chain, on with his crown) When he is king again, he lets everyone know that it is God’s mercy, and he quits worshipping any other gods (he & others tear down the altar pictures and tear them up).

For the game, we talked about mourning and crying until your hankie is soaked. Then everyone got a “hankie” (a small washcloth) & we put a basin of water in the middle of the floor (on a newspaper-lined shower curtain). Everyone raced to dip their hankies in the water and wring them out into cups, to see who could fill their cup the fastest.

For craft time, each person had a paper with three hearts drawn on it, and was given a little baggie with three different-colored hearts cut up into pieces & they were supposed to mend the broken hearts, like God does. It was kind of too hard though. I should have used colored paper that was white or some other color on the back, or at least scribbled on the back sides of the hearts before I cut them up. Kids couldn’t tell which side of the pieces was “up” so then had trouble fitting them together correctly. Oops. If there’s a next time--!

Blessed are the Poor in Spirit

Starting our unit on the Beatitudes. We explained that the parables we’d just finished learning were “made up” by Jesus to illustrate certain truths. But to illustrate each beatitude, we would use historical, true stories from the Bible.

The first story was about King Nebuchadnezzar, a man who needed to learn how to be poor in spirit.

We told how the Israelites had been so disobedient that God had to punish the whole nation by sending them into exile to Babylon. (“soldier” with sword drives everyone once around the room) Among them was a young man named Daniel (baseball cap) who loved God, but had to be exiled along with everyone else. The king of Babylon, a very powerful man, had a dream one night that was very troubling. He “told” the dream: He saw a huge tree (on flannel board). It bore lots of luscious fruit (kids stick flannel fruit on tree). All sorts of animals rested in its shade (kids stick on animals), and birds nested in its branches (kids stick on birds). But then an angel of the Lord appeared (child with halo) and said, cut down this tree! (Angel pulls off tree & sticks on stump). It is going to sit uncared for in the field for 7 periods of time, until it knows that God is the one in charge of the world!

Well, the king wanted to know what this dream meant, so he asked everyone. Daniel says, I know! He says, I am sorry to say this, but you are the tree, and God is going to cut you down and you will be abandoned by everyone for 7 periods of time, until you learn that God is in charge, not you. Daniel begs the king to acknowledge God now, and perhaps avoid this punishment. But the king just thanks him for his explanation.

A year goes by and nothing happens, so the king has forgotten all about the dream by now. But has God forgotten? No! So, one day the king is walking on the roof of his palace and exclaiming over how wonderful he is to have made Babylon so great. The angel appears and says, “That’s enough, King Nebuchadnezzar! You are going to be punished until you learn that God is the one who makes nations great!”

Immediately the king has something like a stroke and loses his mind. He is driven away from the palace (by the soldier), and lives out in the field. He has to eat grass like an ox (shredded seaweed). His hair (a mophead) and his nails (some great gorilla fingers I found at a dollar store not long before Halloween) grow grotesquely long.

Finally after seven years, he is restored to his right mind. Right away he acknowledges that God is indeed in control. And he is restored to his kingdom.

Our game was called, “How long until the tree falls?” We put a “tree” (some fake flowers in a vase) in the middle of a large cardboard circle laid atop about 15 building blocks. Kids took turns pulling blocks out from under the circle with a pair of tongs, trying not to be the one who made the tree fall. Played it twice.

For craft time (or “handwork”), we talked about how Nebuchadnezzar’s nails grew long because no one took care of them. But that some ladies grow theirs long on purpose, and paint them to look pretty. So the kids painted their mom’s nails.

There weren’t quite enough moms to go around, so I got my fingernails painted too. Wing Yan was convinced she was supposed to paint my FINGERS, so I helped as best I could to confine the polish to my nails. Good thing, too. I had bought a variety of tiny sample bottles, and the one she chose was full of glitter, which did not want to come off even with lavish application of polish remover. Still can see traces of it six days later!

I got to lead the Bible study again. A highlight for me was when we acknowledged that most of us are not quite so proud as King Nebuchadnezzar; by contrast we often feel stupid, useless, helpless, etc. I asked, so according to this truth that Jesus was trying to teach, do we need to overcome these things before we can enter the kingdom of heaven? One woman—one who usually doesn’t say a word—immediately spoke up and said, yes, we do. I said, a lot of people think that’s true, but what does this Bible verse say? Does it say, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, because when they overcome their poor self-esteem they can belong to the kingdom of heaven?” No! Jesus wants us to know that even though we might feel stupid and unlovely, we are still blessed, because He does love us, and welcomes us into His kingdom. Everyone got real quiet all of a sudden. “Salvation by grace” suddenly became a little more wonderful than they’d realized, I think. Precious moment!

Chinese New Year

Okay, here's the tassel fringe we did for January 22:
The following Sunday, we didn't have our regular program, just ate Chinese New Year snacks and chatted. A wonderful, needed break from preparation, for me! And without this chat time we never would have heard from dear Mrs. Ng that she had led her father to Christ before he died just a couple of months ago! Praise the Lord!