Palm Sunday – The Donkey’s Story

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The donkey has a story to tell about the crucifixion on Palm Sunday. This skit requires two people, the donkey and a translator.

To pull it off effectively the person in the role of donkey must be willing to look foolish and to bray his/her heart out as he brays with excited enthusiasm one minute, brays in fear another, and brays in contentment and peace another.

The translator’s job is to translate the braying into language the children will understand. For props I made two brown paper ears and pinned them to my head (yes, I was the braying donkey) and I held my hands (hooves) up to my chest with fingers hanging down as if I were walking on my hind feet. (This probably looks more like a begging puppy, but children have good imaginations.) A rope leash could be around the donkey’s neck as the donkey leads the translator into the church.

It isn’t easy to bray the donkey’s part ahead of the translator and keep it all straight, so I printed notes on a 3X5 card to keep myself in the right place.

The Donkey’s Story

Donkey and translator enter, donkey eagerly leading the way…

Translator: (apologetically) We don’t usually bring animals to church with us, but this donkey insisted on coming with me today. He says he has quite a tale to tell us.

Donkey: Haw He Haw (Try to give inflections of excitement in voice.)

Translator: The donkey says, “Wow! What a day I’ve had today!” (turning to donkey) Won’t you please tell us about it?

Donkey: (Bray trying to give inflections of fear.)

Translator: The donkey says, It started when two strange guys came and took me away.  I’m a young donkey and have never been away from home.

Donkey: (Bray: curiosity)

Translator: The donkey says, These guys led me outside the city where I met a man who was different from any man I’ve ever met. He had the kindest eyes I’ve ever seen. And they looked sad too.

By the way, do you have a name, Donkey?

Donkey: (Bray: brief – matter of fact)

Translator: The donkey says we can call him Jake. Do you have more to tell us?

Donkey: (Bray: fear followed by wonder of wonders & peace)

Translator: Jake says, The two strangers helped this kind man to sit on my back. Nobody has ever ridden on my back before, so I started to jump around and toss him right off. But this man was different. I felt peaceful, and I just wanted to do whatever he wanted.

Donkey: (Bray: excitement)

Translator: Jake says, he headed me along the main road into the city, and soon there were people everywhere. Everyone was shouting “Hosanna” and “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” It was like this guy was a king on the way to being crowned. I wondered if this could be the Messiah?

Donkey: (Bray: wonder, distant recollections)

Translator: Jake says, Then it came to me… Messiah! Yes! Didn’t I remember my mother telling me about something that happened to her grandfather long ago? Mama said her mama told her about it. Jake thinks that a donkey carried the Messiah’s mother to Bethlehem the very night he was born. She said the donkey told about seeing the baby Jesus being born. And then there were shepherds who came and told about angels on the hillside to tell them about baby Jesus.

Donkey: (Bray: awe)

Translator: Jake says, “Wow! He chose just a little donkey like me to ride! But it couldn’t be, could it? I mean, I’m just a plain ole donkey. Shouldn’t a king be riding a great stallion?”

Donkey: (Bray: as if praying)

Translator: Jake says we should pray… Our Heavenly Father, we thank you for coming to us and for showing us your love. Bless these children and draw them closer to you every day.

Donkey: (Bray: motioning with head to invite to follow and praise Jesus)

Translator: Jake says we can praise Jesus just like the people did on the road to Jerusalem. Let’s shout “Hosanna” and praise Jesus too! (Give each child a palm leaf and lead them around the church saying “Hosanna” and “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!”)

 

The Creation, a Bible storybook for children by Janice D. Green

WWJD – How do you know?

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I have a leather key chain fob with the letters WWJD stamped on it. Many children wear WWJD bracelets as reminders to stop and ask themselves the question, “What Would Jesus Do?” before making everyday decisions they face.

I like to see children wear the bracelets and to know that they care about pleasing Jesus. But sometimes I want to ask them, “How do you know what Jesus would do?”

Who exactly is Jesus? What are his teachings? Other than just being “good,” what does Jesus expect?

The New Testament is full of teachings about giving of oneself to the point of sacrifice. Do we know this Jesus? Do we know the Jesus who was willing to suffer and die for the sake of saving sinners like you and me? Are we wiilling to suffer for Jesus?

It is easy to wear a bracelet or a cross to show the world we love Jesus – at least it is in most places in the USA. It is easy to praise God when he blesses us with health and posessions. But when things don’t go well, when disaster strikes or when evil gets an upper hand at our expense, do we really know what Jesus would do in our situation?

Before we can know what Jesus would do, we have to know Jesus. For us to know Jesus we have to spend time with him – time reading the Bible and time talking with him in prayer. Only when we understand who he is will we be able to truly walk in his footsteps.

Lord, help me to seek you with all my heart. Your Word promises that if we seek you we will find you if we seek with all our hearts. Please put that passion in my heart so that I may find you and truly know you. Then it will be easier to know what you would do if you were in my situation. I want to please and serve you with my life.

Bible Games and fun

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Make learning Bible stories fun by turning them into games. Here are a few that can be played almost anywhere with little or no supplies:

Bible Charades: One person thinks of a person in the Bible and using no words acts out or pantomimes  that character while everyone else tries to guess who the Bible character could be. The person who gets it right is the next person to chose a Bible character to act out.

Bible Twenty Questions: One person, called the answerer,  thinks of a character, place, or thing in the Bible. Everyone else, the questioners, tries to guess by asking only questions that can be answered with yes or no. No other questions are allowed. Keep a count of the number of questions asked. The object is to guess the character, place, or thing before you ask 20 questions.

For example, say the answerer is thinking of Goliath. He/She starts by saying “I’m thinking of a Bible character.”  The questioners begin asking questions such as “Is this character a man?” (Note, you can’t ask if it is “a man or woman” because that question couldn’t be answered with a yes or no.) Other appropriate questions might include:

  • Is this character in the Old Testament?
  • Is this character a “good guy?”
  • Is this character young?
  • Does this character wear a special kind of clothes?
  • Is this character a king?

Bible Skits: Children enjoy acting. Let them create a Bible skit that focuses on a story you have read together. Bath robes are quick costumes for Bible costumes. Or for the Mom who sews, Bible costumes can be made quickly and easily with bargain fabrics.

 

Simon says

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If you have ever played the game “Simon says” you know the rules. The leader tells you to do one thing after another (like pull your ear or scratch your nose or take baby steps or giant steps). The secret is to know when to do it and when not to do it. If the leader says “Simon says wave your right hand” then you can wave your right hand. But if the leader just says “Wave your right hand” you must NOT wave your right hand.

Have you ever been fooled into doing something you shouldn’t just because someone told you to do it? Sometimes a friend might pull an April Fools trick on us to get us to do something silly. When that happens we laugh together because it was all in friendly fun.

But sometimes friends (probably not our best friends) tell us to do things that could hurt us. If someone told you to put a candy bar into your pocket in a store when no one was looking, would you do it? I hope not. I hope you wouldn’t cheat on a test if someone tried to show you the answers when the teacher looked away. Or suppose some classmates were making fun of a boy or girl and wanted you to do it with them. Would you?

Just as in the game “Simon says,” there are time when you should do what another person tells you to do, but there are also times when you should not. But how can we tell? Nobody is going to say “Simon says” first so you will know it’s really okay to do it.

We learn what is good and bad by learning about Jesus and what the Bible tells us about him. We can’t learn it all in a day, but if we spend a little time every day talking to God and learning from the Bible, we will learn what Jesus would say. If we hear someone tell us to do something, we can stop and consider whether Jesus would say to do it. If we don’t think Jesus would say it, we know we shouldn’t do it.

Even Jesus had to say no to someone who wanted him to do something wrong. Read Matthew 4:1-11 with your mom or dad to learn how Jesus answered Satan.

Luke 1:5-25 Christmas Story – Two Babies?

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Read Luke 1:5-25. (If you click on this link you can read it from the NIV Bible.)

An angel from God told a Priest named Zachariah that his wife was going to have a son, and that they were to name him John. His wife Elizabeth was old and had no children. Zachariah didn’t believe the angel at first so he was unable to speak again until after the baby was born. They named the baby John.

“Why does the Christmas story in the Bible start with a baby named John? I thought Jesus was the baby. ” Children look at me with puzzled faces when I read the Christmas story to them from the Bible. The book of Luke in the Bible tells about John before it tells about Jesus. Who is John?

John was called John the Baptist when he grew up. God had a special job for John to do. His important job was to help people get their hearts ready to meet Jesus. John taught people that they needed to turn from their sins and to be baptized. When John baptized Jesus, he knew that Jesus was the Son of God, the Messiah.

The real Christmas story is about Jesus, but God used people like John to help show that Jesus was God’s Son. John was about six months older than Jesus. He was also Jesus’ cousin.

Dear God, help me to remember John’s message to the people, and help me to keep from sinning. Help me to have a clean heart so I can live better for Jesus. Help me to remember that Jesus is the real reason why we have Christmas. Help me to love you more and more every day. Amen.

© 2010 by Janice D. Green