7 November 2021

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Bible readings for today

• Ruth 3:1-5; 4:13-17
• Psalms 127:1-5
• Hebrew 9:24-28
• Mark 12:38-44

Collect

Compassionate God,
you love the widow and the orphan,
the poor and the marginalized;
you provide for us in our hour of need,
make us willing to share what we have received,
giving even the smallest gift with great love,
as an act of generous worship to you.
Through Jesus Christ our Liberator,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
Amen

Mark 12:38-44

Today's story is about understanding that God doesn't look at the value of what we give, but rather at our heart 

What's Fair?

The Family Challenge can help lead into conversations about fairness. What’s fair? Allow your children to talk about fairness. Many (most!) of them will have experienced situations where things weren’t fair.  Sometimes our children think things aren’t fair, but what they’re really seeing is a situation where people haven’t been treated exactly the same.  This week is a good opportunity to talk about fairness.

There are 3 basic ways that we can think about fairness. The first is treating everyone the same.  If there are 5 chocolate bars and 5 people in your family, it makes sense that each person would get one chocolate bar. This is what most, especially young, children would consider fairness. But in reality that way of being fair doesn’t always work.  For example, at tea time, if Mum and Dad received the exact same portion size as the toddler, the toddler wouldn’t be able to finish all the food on his plate and Mum and Dad would still be hungry.  So in that case, fairness is more about meeting people’s needs. A child that outgrows her school uniform needs a new one. A child whose uniform still fits, might not.
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Finally, fairness can be about what people deserve.  If you tell your children that you have 5 special jobs that need doing and you’re willing to pay $3 per job, then the children who do the jobs will get more money than the children who chose not to.  Most children will accept that that’s fair because they all had equal opportunities to earn and each child would have earned the same amount for the same kind of job.
Being fair can be complicated, but helping children identify fairness and unfairness in their world is important.

Gospel Conversations

The story of "the widow's mite" is a powerful one which many of us have been familiar with since Sunday School days. Today the Rev'd Katene Eruera, Manukura of St John's Theological College, joins Bishop Steve, Rev Anne van Gend and Rev Michael Godfrey to talk about what the two little stories in this week's Gospel have to say about power, money, success, and being noticed by God.

The Widow's Coins

What you need:

• A wealthy business person dressed up in a suit carrying a briefcase 
• A religious person carrying a Bible and a cross
• An old woman dressed in shabby clothes
• Jesus
• 2 or 3 disciples
• Narrator
• Monopoly money
• A bulging small coin bag or wallet
• A hammer
• A small bag with a few coins
• A larger bag stuffed with paper
• 2 small 10 cent pieces wrapped in a tissue
• A metal rubbish bin or box

What you do:
The only person who needs to talk is the narrator, who can read the story.  Allow the characters to act things out.

Story:
One day Jesus and his disciples were in the temple, in the place where people could come and bring their gifts of money.  They were watching as people came in and went out.  If you’ve ever people-watched, you know it can be really interesting to see what people do. 

There were money boxes made of metal along one wall.  When people dropped their coins inside, there was a metal, clanking noise and everyone would know that someone had just given money to the temple. Jesus and his disciples talked quietly amongst themselves. There were lots of other people there too and it was pretty noisy, but everyone moved aside as a very wealthy business person walked into the room.  S/He (depending on whether you have a girl or boy playing this role) was carrying a briefcase. S/he walked very importantly.  S/He pushed others aside as s/he got close to the money box.  Then s/he took out his/her wallet. There was so much money, so many bills.  There were 5 dollar bills and 10 dollar bills, 20 dollar bills and 50 dollar bills, 100 dollar bills and even 500 dollar bills. The business person thought for a minute and pulled out 2 50 dollar bills!  Wow, that was a lot of money!  S/He added a couple of 5’s to make it look like more and put it in the money box.  But no one noticed, so s/he reached in and took the money out, held it up in the air and dropped it dramatically into the money box. But the paper money didn’t make noise like coins would, so with one last desperate effort, the business person took the money out.  S/he looked around and pulled a hammer from the briefcase.  When s/he dropped the money in this time, s/he hammered on the box so everyone would look and see how much money s/he put in.  People oooo-ed and awe-ed.  Jesus and his disciples watched.

Next came a very religious person with 2 bags of coins (the small coin bag and the larger stuffed bag).  S/he walked very solemnly.  This was important work, giving to God.  S/he got up to the money box and tipped his/her little bag of coins out.  The coins made a lot of noise as they entered the metal box.  People turned to see who had put all that money in the box.  The religious person checked that the bigger bag of coins was still in his/her hand and turned around and walked away.  Jesus and his disciples watched.

For awhile, no one went near the money boxes, but then an old woman, dressed in shabby clothes walked slowly into the room.  No one moved aside for her as she carefully made her way over to the wall.  She pulled a tissue out of her waistband and opened it up.  Inside were two small coins.  She held them up and shook the tissue to see if there were any more coins in there, but there weren’t.  Those two coins were all she had.  She walked over to the money box and quietly put in her coins.  They didn’t make much noise, but she didn’t care.  She didn’t think anyone noticed, but someone did.  Jesus saw her and so did his disciples. 

Jesus turned to his disciples and said, “It’s easy to be impressed when we see people giving a lot of money, but this woman gave more than anyone else!”  The disciples looked at Jesus.  They were confused. They said, “ Master, she only gave two coins and they weren’t very much.  Did you see how much the business person gave?  Or how bout that guy with the Bible- he gave tons of money.” 
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Jesus said, “You’re right, they did give a lot of money, but they still had a lot more.  You shouldn’t compare what one person gives to what another does.  God doesn’t look at us like that.  In God’s eyes, that woman gave the most because she gave everything she had, trusting God to take care of her.”  Jesus and the disciples smiled.

What is Fair?

Giving to God

​What you need:

• Wrapped lollies  (be aware of food allergies in your group)- enough for each child to have 1 with 25 or more left over
• 2 bowls
• 2 serviettes to cover the bowls 

What you do:

1. Put 2-3 fewer lollies than half the number of children that you have in 1 bowl, put all the rest in the other (eg if you have 14 children, put 4 in one bowl
2. Cover both bowls
3. Choose 2 children to distribute the candy and give them each a bowl.  (Because there’s an element of unfairness in this activity, either choose 2 children that will be able to cope with this temporarily or explain briefly what’s going to happen)
4. Tell them to give out the lollies and make sure that every child has 1.  Then they should come back to the front when they’ve finished. Tell them they can keep whatever lollies are left as a thank you for the good job they’ll do.

Say something like, “Mmmm, lollies are good.  You can eat yours now if you’d like, or wait until later.  I’m just wondering if 1 of our helpers gave out more lollies than the other one.  What do you think?”  Allow time for the children to discuss this. If the children aren’t sure, ask the helpers to tell them how many they gave out. Then ask the two helpers to show their bowls (esp if the children haven’t been able to see them).  “I see that one of our helpers still has a lot of lollies left.  They’re going to have a good time eating those!  But our other helper doesn’t have any left at all.  That’s a bit sad. Do you think that’s fair?   Allow the children to share their ideas.  “Do you think it was easy for ____ (whoever had fewer lollies) to give ALL the lollies away?” All children to share.   “ I agree, maybe it harder for the person with very few to give all his lollies away because he didn’t have any left for himself.”
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It’s a bit like our story today.  When the widow in our story gave her two coins, she didn’t have as much to give as some other people.  So it didn’t look like she gave very much at all, just like it might not have looked like _____ gave out very many lollies.  But when we see what they each had left, then it’s easier to understand that it takes trust to do that.  _______ needed to trust that we are usually fair in our children’s church.  The widow needed to trust that God would take care of her.  While other people looked at the widow and saw someone who’s contribution probably didn’t do much to help the temple, Jesus saw someone who was willing to give all that she had to help God’s work.  Jesus wasn’t looking at what the widow gave, he was looking at how much she kept back for herself and how much she trusted in God to take care of her.

What you need:

• Photocopy of page of coins (2 coins per person)
• Basket (extra baskets if your congregation or group is large)
• Some quiet music for playing in the background

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 What you do:

1. Cut out the coins beforehand
2. Explain that in our prayer time today, we’re going to give what we have to God. 
3. Give each person a 2 paper coins.
4. Invite them to think about what they’d like to give to God- it might be a talent they have, time, money or other resources.
5. Explain that when the music is playing and when they’re ready,  everyone is invited to come and put their 2 coins in the basket to represent what they’re giving to God
6. Say something like, “Dear God, thank you that you accept our gifts and allow us to share what we have with you and with others.” Play the music.  When everyone is seated again or after about 2 minutes, say something like, “Thank you that we can give to you, knowing that you accept whatever we give and also knowing that you always take care of us.  In Jesus’ name, Amen”

 Note:  You could also include the offertory at this time, allowing people to put their 2 coins as well as their offertory gift into the basket.

​Faith In Action

Do each of the things written on the pieces of paper chosen. Work together to decide how best to get the tasks done.  For example, if ‘bake a cake for a neighbour’ is one task, think about how to accomplish it.  This is a good opportunity to talk about how if a 3 year old child got that paper, it would be unrealistic to expect her to do it all by herself, but she could do her part.  Not everyone has the ability to do everything, but each can do as much as he or she is able to accomplish the goal.

I Wonder...

• I wonder if you would have wanted to give out all of your lollies.
• I wonder what the widow was thinking when she put her 2 small coins in the box.
• I wonder what happened to the widow after she left the temple

​Piggy Bank

Files Available For Download: Piggy Bank.docx

This is a fun activity that allows the children to make a piggy bank.  Please see the attached document for instructions and a photo.

Suck It Up!

10 Cent Coin Drop

What you need:

• A collection of different coins (20-30)
• 2 plates
• 2 drinking straws for each round you want to play
• 2 bowls
• A table

What you do:

1. Divide the coins onto the two plates.  Make sure that there’s a good assortment of coins on both plates and that the coins are sitting flat.
2. Choose 2 players and give each a drinking straw.
3. Place the empty bowls about 10-15 cms from each plate
4. The idea of the game is that the players transfer the money by sucking on the straw and picking the coins up.  They then release their breath and drop the coins into the bowl.  The player with the largest amount of money at the end of one minute wins.

Note: The bowls are close to the plates because coins are heavy and it’s difficult to hold onto them for very long.  This game is not suitable for very young players.

​What you need:

• 10 glasses filled with water
• 10 10c coins
• A chair with a back
• 10 post it notes and a pen

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What you do:

1. Write on each piece of paper something that a person can do for or give to someone else. (Parents can choose these things or they can be brainstormed with the children)
2. Put the glasses in a triangle shape on the floor with one piece of paper (folded) under each glass.
3. Set the chair about 30-60 cms from the glasses with the back of the chair closes to the glasses
4. Have each family member kneel on the chair and drop the coins over the back, trying to get as many coins as possible in the glasses.
5. Each player gets to choose one of the glasses that a coin is in and take the paper out from underneath.
6. After everyone has had a turn, open your papers and as a family decide how you will do those kind things for someone else.

A Cheerful Giver

Files Available To Download: Memory Verse.docx

​ 2 Cor 9:7  God loves a cheerful giver.

What you need:
One set of coins for each pair of students. One drinking straw for each pair.
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What you do:
Put children in pairs.  (One child will bring the coins using the drinking straw (suck it up game).  The other will put the memory verse together) 
Have one member sit on one side of the room and have the other but their coins upside down on the floor (so the words don’t get transported in order).  On go, get the straw holding players to move the coins one at a time to their partner.  The partner will work to put the mem verse in order.  The first team that completes the challenge wins, but allow everyone to finish.

Coin activities

• Have a treasure hunt, hiding chocolate coins around the room.
• Do some coin rubbings - collect different coins, place paper over the top and rub some crayons over the top to leave the imprint. You might like to bring in some foreign coins, if you have some available, to show the children how coins can be of different values. Other coin rubbing activities can be found here