National Youth Sunday 2012
Bridging the Gap (Romans 15:5 – 7, NLT)
Children’s Story by Marissa Witkovsky
Materials:
vegetable oil, dark-colored vinegar, dish soap, glass jar with lid
Message:
**Let them answer the questions for a little while if they are a talkative group.**
Have you ever gotten mad at someone before because you disagreed with them? What did you disagree about- does anyone want to share? (If they don’t want to answer, you can share a story of your own where you got mad because you disagreed.) I bet we have all disagreed with a brother/sister, or with our mom/dad or with a friend at school. What about when our parent wants us to clean, but we want to play outside? Or at school when the teacher wants us not to talk, but we want to talk to our friend? There are always lots of people who don’t have the same ideas as us or like to do different activities than us.
Let’s look at this for a minute. Let’s say that we are this vegetable oil. (Pour some into the jar - make sure it is enough that the kids can see.) If we add more oil to us in the jar it mixes in very easily. (Pour more oil into jar.) This is like adding to us more ideas or activities or other things that we like. If a friend at school wants to color an art project green and so do you, then you are going to mix well and everyone will be happy. Or if your brother or sister wants to watch the same movie as you then you are not going to get upset or mad at each other. But what if we add some vinegar to the jar - what happens then? (Add enough vinegar that the kids can see, swirl it around and show that it doesn’t mix.) It doesn’t look like they are mixing together does it? This is like adding to us something we don’t like. If we don’t like the color red but the friend at school wants to color with red then you are going to disagree. Or if you want to watch a movie and your brother or sister wants to play a video game you might get mad at each other.
We all know it is hard to be happy and get along when we don’t agree with someone. So, what do we do about it? Are we going to scream and yell and get even madder at the person? Yes we might, but is that what we should do? Any ideas what would be better to do instead? (Talk to them, talk to a parent, compromise, etc.)
Do you know who else can help us? God can! Let’s say this soap is God. If we put God into the mix when we are disagreeing, what happens? (Put some soap into jar and mix-it will probably turn a weird color, but it will make the oil and vinegar mix.) Everything is mixed now! If we don’t see people as God sees them, and respect their ideas or what they want to do, we will never mix or get along. But if we treat them like God treats them, then we will all get along better.
Prayer:
Dear Lord, thank you for accepting us the way we are. We know that people are going to be different than us, but help us to listen to everyone and respect their ideas and their opinions. With your help, let us learn to compromise and love each other no matter what. Amen.
2