Sat 01 January 2000

[ Introduction: leader picks child to knock on bin, everyone calls 'come out Stinky!', Stinky comes out singing his intro tune ]

LEADER: How are you Stinky?

STINKY: Oh... I'm excited, but a little bit scared. I'm starting school soon, but I'm wondering what my teacher will be like!

LEADER: Ah! I see...

STINKY: Yes, yes. I wanted to know what my teacher is like, so I wrote to three of my friends who are in a year ahead of me. They are in a different class each. I asked them to tell me what their teacher was like when a boy was naughty. I'm naughty sometimes, so it'd be good to know.

LEADER: Good idea Stinky! That's a good way to find what a teacher is like!

STINKY: Yep! Here are the three letters from my friends. Do you think the little monkeys could help me read them?

LEADER: [Read Mr Grumpy]

STINKY: He doesn't sound good! Let's read the next one.

LEADER: [Read Mr Eezy]

STINKY: Oh, he sounded nice at first, but now I'm not sure. Let's read the third one!

LEADER: [Read Mr Loving]

STINKY: Hmm. So which teacher sounds the best?

LEADER: What do you think kids? [Kids answer]

STINKY: Yeah! Mr Loving sounds good, I like him! He's caring, but he's also fair. He cares when people do the wrong thing, but he also loves them enough to pay the punishment for them. That's amazing!

LEADER: He sounds like a great teacher, Stinky!

STINKY: Yeah! I hope I get him this year! Hey Miss Pat, I have a question. What about God? What is he like?

LEADER: What a good question! Let's find out what the Bible says. Let's ask Robbie the Robot!

[ Slide: \" I am the Lord, the Lord. I am a God who is tender and kind. I am gracious. I am slow to get angry. I am faithful and full of love. I continue to show my love to thousands of people. I forgive those who do evil. I forgive those who refuse to obey. And I forgive those who sin. But I do not let guilty people go without punishing them.\" Ex 34.6-7a, NIrV ]

LEADER: This bit of the Bible is God speaking to Moses, telling him what he's like. Who can tell me what God says he is like? [loving, trustworthy, and punishes sins, he cares about right and wrong]

STINKY: Wow, so God is loving and just! What does just mean?

LEADER: Just means God wants things to be fair and right. He doesn't ignore wrong things, He makes them right.

STINKY: What has God done with wrong things people do? That would tell us what He's like!

LEADER: What do you think kids, what has God done with the wrong things people do? [cross]

LEADER: The cross shows us what God is like. He is loving, and He is just.

STINKY: How did he show he was just?

LEADER: At the cross God punishes all the sin of the world. He didn't ignore all the wrong things people did. The wrong things had to be punished. If he just ignored it, he wouldn't be just.

STINKY: Just like Mr Loving, he didn't ignore the boy disobeying -- he punished it! How did God show he was loving?

LEADER: He was willing to give up his one and only Son to die, so we wouldn't have to pay the punishment for our sin.

STINKY: Oh, Mr Loving sorta did that too! He was willing to pay the punishment himself. Wow! So the cross shows us what God is like. He is loving, AND he's just. So what's the Bible Bite for today?

LEADER: Let's find out...

[ Slide: Bible Bite: The cross shows us that God is loving AND just., repeat with kids ]

LEADER: OK Stinky, let's see if you remember that ...

STINKY: OK... eh... Dropping an instrument shows us what it's like.

LEADER: Oh Stinky! Let's say it all together now. [repeat] Well Stinky, good luck with school -- I hope your teacher is loving AND just -- like God!

STINKY: Oh Miss Pat, thank you for teaching me what God is like, loving AND just. I better go now, see you later little monkeys!

[ [exit] ]

Mr Grumpy

Dear Stinky,

I want to tell you about Mr Grumpy. Once a boy in our class dropped a pencil while Mr Grumpy was talking. Mr Grumpy shouted at the boy, and told him he was silly. He made the boy cry. The boy had to stay for detention every day for two weeks. He also had to pick up 50 pieces of rubbish at lunch time. I don't think Mr Grumpy cares very much about us.

Mr Eezy

Dear Stinky,

I want to tell you about Mr Eezy. At the start we really liked Mr Eezy because he didn't mind what we did, he let us muck around, and he said it was OK. But one day a big boy in our class started picking on a little boy, because he had glasses. Mr Eezy saw it, but he pretended nothing happened. The big boy kept picking on the little boy, and then punched him, so the little boy cried. Mr Eezy still didn't do anything. Everyone in the class was scared that they would get picked on. It wasn't fair. Mr Eezy seems really nice, but he's not fair, he ignores it when people do something wrong. I don't think he really cares about us either.

Mr Loving

Dear Stinky,

I want to tell you about Mr Loving. One day a boy was playing with a really expensive music instrument that belonged to the school, throwing it up in the air. Mr Loving told him to stop, but he didn't. He then dropped it, and it broke. Mr Loving was angry, and told the boy he would have to pay for it. We all thought that was fair. But Mr Loving knew the boy couldn't afford to pay that much, so he took out his wallet and gave him the money, so he could take it to the principal and pay for it! We were amazed!

We know he really cares for us, and we feel safe with him because he cares about fairness. When someone does something wrong, he does something about it.

Category: scripts Tagged: Cross God Revelation Love Justice