Script 58 The Parable of the Talents

Transcription

1 Script 58 The Parable of the Talents Proper 28 (The Sunday Closest to November 16) Matthew 25:14-26 Theme This parable is one of those difficult stories where people always feel sorry for the villain : in this case the man who kept his talent to himself. I think one of the points Jesus is making is that gifts are there to be shared, they don t work in isolation. (It s like hoarding your Easter Egg, eventually it goes bad you don t enjoy it and nobody else can eat it either.) Set up The liturgical color is Green. Ask some of the children to be ready to give you a hand Before the Gospel. A soccer ball. Optional: any sort of musical instrument, preferably one some child can feasibly play like a recorder or a keyboard. A CD player, or similar, with some dance music to play on it. A bag of gold chocolate coins for the Gospel. A picture of the Annunciation to the Virgin Mary (search on Google Images). Welcome the children and lead them in The Sign of the Cross + (p. xxxvi). Ask everyone (children and Leaders) to think about the past week. Leader Did we do anything wrong? Did things get in a mess? Let s get rid of all that by saying we re sorry. The Kyrie Lord Jesus, you came to call sinners,

2 292 Proper 28 Lord Jesus, you came to help the unhappy, Christ have mercy. Christ have mercy. Lord Jesus, you came to tell us how much God loves us, Ask the children to repeat The Prayer for Forgiveness after you (p. xxxvi). INTRODUCTION Talents Ask the children what they are good at. Can anyone here play soccer ball? Who s good at drawing? at texting? Add other suitable skills skateboarding, ballet, etc. Give everyone a chance to put their hand up. What an amazing bunch of people! Let s thank God for all the things we can do. Opening Prayer Ask the children to repeat after you: God our Father, We thank you for making us: For giving us hands to work for you, hearts to love you, And voices to praise you. Amen. Before the Gospel Bring forward one child plus soccer ball, and four others. Leader Right, I want to think about the talents we ve got. Name here is good at games Sometimes he plays with one kid... They bounce the ball to one another. Sometimes with two... They play Piggy-in-the-Middle.

3 Sometimes with the whole group... Throw the ball round the whole group including the Leader. So for this talent... Tap first kid on shoulder. You have the effect of loads of happy people Indicate the others. Do the same thing if you can rustle up somebody who can play a musical instru ment. The effect was that kid got so good she started a band. Line some kids up behind. And they got a recording contract... Put on the CD. And when other people heard the music they began to dance... (They do.) Bring forward another child. This kid had a talent as well... The kid folds her arms. But she never told anyone what the talent was... The kid turns her back. So nobody was made happy not even the kid with the talent. That s very sad. Jesus told a story about it once. The Gospel Procession Script 58 The Parable of the Talents 293 The Gospel Matthew 25:14-26 Have the three servants at the front, they should either be big kids or grown-ups. The lazy servant should be another Leader. Hand over the gold coins as you come to that bit of the story make sure that the two good servants have spare coins in their pockets so that they can give you back the extra. The lazy servant should look suspicious and sneak off to bury the money, only reappearing when emphatically gestured to present himself. Calm the fierce biblical language down a bit.

4 294 Proper 28 At verse 24 use this rewrite The servant who had received one talent came forward and said: Master, I knew you were difficult to please, so I didn t do anything. I just buried my talent in the ground. You can have it back again. And the master said, You lazy ungrateful servant! Where did you get these ideas about me? Give your talent back. I ll give it to one of the others. You re fired. Get out of here right now! After the Gospel Leader So who were the good servants? And who was the lazy one? They should get that right Why was the master so angry? Take all answers, but establish It was because the lazy servant didn t even try. Do you think God gets that angry? We don t know but I think we can guess He s very sad when people don t use their talents. Because if you don t do anything, that s it! All you ve done is put a wrench in the works: Nothing happens. You see God won t make you do anything. He gives you talents, and chances, and loves you to try. Song God Forgave My Sin, with its refrain, Freely, freely you have received, freely, freely give, would fit in well here. Final You never know how important your talent is. Prayer Let s think about somebody who used her talent really well... Put up a picture of the Annunciation to the Virgin Mary God knew Mary was the right person to look after His Son, and He sent the Angel Gabriel to ask her if she would use her talent for Him. It was completely up to her and, thank goodness, she said Yes. Let s ask her to pray for us. End with a Hail Mary... and a Glory Be... (p. xxxvii).

5 Script 58 The Parable of the Talents 295 Back in Church Rerun the soccer ball moment. Bring forward the kid, the soccer ball and the others. Leader Name here is good at games. Sometimes he/she played with one kid... They bounce the ball to one another. Sometimes with two... They play Piggy-in-the-Middle. Sometimes with the whole group... Throw the ball around the whole group including the Leader. So for this talent, tap first kid on shoulder... You have the effect of loads of happy people... Indicate the others. Just think how awful it would have been if Name had grabbed his ball and kept it to himself! (He does so.) Then nobody could have played at all... All the kids sit down abruptly. God likes us to use our talents.