Sunday 25th November 2018
Today Harry was welcomed into Sunday Club as a Junior Leader. Harry will be assisting within the group for the next few months as part of his work for the Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme
We thanked him for his willingness to support the work of Sunday Club and hope he enjoys the experience.
Our session today was based on the parable of the talents and began with an activity -Youngsters took a job card naming various job roles and identified equipment (tools) relevant to that job from a selection of equipment on the table.
We talked about how God has given each one of us a variety of “tools” to use to help build up and grow his kingdom and how we’ll all use the tools He gives us in different ways.
Audrey said; Jesus once told a story called the Parable of the Talents. In Jesus' story, a man was going away on a trip and so he called his servants together and gave each some of his money to use while he was gone. You will find that story in chapter 25 of the Gospel for Matthew. I don't think Jesus will mind if I change the parable a little bit and tell you a story that I call the 'Parable of the Three toolboxes'.
Once upon a time there was a man in the construction business. The man had to go away on a long trip and so he called three employees together and said, "I have to go on a long trip and so I am leaving you three in charge. I have put together a tool box for each of you to use to keep the business going while I am away."
The man then gave each of his employees a toolbox. The tool boxes contained all the tools the employees needed to do what the man expected of them, but since the three employees didn't have the same abilities, each toolbox was different. To the first employee, he gave a very large toolbox filled with every tool that you can imagine. To the second employee, he gave a smaller toolbox, but one that still had a good assortment of tools. To the third employee, he gave a very small tool box with just a few tools, but enough tools for the employee to do what was expected of him.
The man then left to go on his trip. When he returned, he called his employees together to see what they had done while he was gone.
The first employee said, "I knew that you had a great love for the homeless people of the world, so I used the toolbox that you gave me to build homes for the homeless."
That's great!" said the employer. "You have done so well that I am going to put you in charge of all new construction for the entire company."
The second employee said, " I knew that you had a great love for the elderly, so I used the toolbox you gave me to fix up the homes of elderly people who can no longer do the work themselves."
"Thats wonderful!" said the employer. "You have done such a good job, that I am putting you in charge of all the repair and maintenance work for the entire company."
Then he turned to the third employee and asked, "What did you do with the tools that I left for you?"
"I knew that you are a very demanding boss and that you expect a lot from your employees. I was afraid that if I used the tools you gave me that one of them might get broken or that I might lose one of them and make you angry. I pit the tools in a very safe place. They were there all the time you were gone. Look, here they are, just like new."
"What a worthless employee you are! I didn't give you the tools for safekeeping. I gave them to you to use in my business. You are fired!" Since they had proven that they would make good use of them, he took the mans toolbox and divided the tolls between the other two employees.
This story is a good picture of what God has done for us. He has given each of us tools to use in building His kingdom. We don't all have the same tools, but God expects us to use whatever tools He has given us. If we do, He will give us even more, but if we don't He may take them away and give them to someone who will use them. Listen to the words of Jesus, "For everyone who has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him.
We continued the theme by exploring the “tools” in my Toolbox suggesting various ideas for the tools God provides and then youngsters offered their own ideas. They choose various tool pictures from a selection and wrote their ideas on the picture tools and after constructing their own card/paper toolbox they placed their tools inside.
Prayer Dear Lord, help us to be faithful in using the gifts you have given us, to help others and to build up your Kingdom. In Jesus name we pray. Amen
We ended the session by playing a “find 2 matching cards” game which everyone enjoyed.
Word Search and Crosswords were also available for those who wished to complete them