Today I brought the children's story. I put some images on my iPad and brought the along. Here's a streamlined version.
Today the message is going to be about what we do when we're in sticky situations.
We're all in sticky situations from time to time.
Maybe we borrowed something from someone, and lost it. Maybe we borrowed something, and broke it. Maybe we told someone we would do something, then completely forgot about it. Maybe we have a big decision to make. Maybe we said something to someone and now realize it hurt their feelings, but don't want to apologize because we're embarrassed and don't want to bring it up.
In these times it's helpful to have someone to talk to. A friend. We're going to talk about those kinds of friends today.
In our community we have a lot of relationships. And the Bible and outside culture tell us a lot of things about these relationships.
Here's one relationship. What relationship does this seem to be?
Yeah, it seems to be a parent child relationship. The Bible tells us a lot about parent child relationships. So does our society.
What about this kind of relationship?
This seems more like romantic love. And our culture has a lot to say about this: how to get a relationship like this, how to keep a relationship like this, how to make one happy.
What about this one?
Yeah, also romantic love, but with people who are older, maybe married. Our society also focuses a lot on this kind of relationship, and the Bible has several things to say on this subject too. But the kind of relationship I'd like to talk to you about today is this kind:
Friendship is not focused on as much in our culture. We don't focus so much, in the movies, and in music, on friendship as we do on those loving relationships. But these friendships can be really important when we're in sticky situations.
Now, thinking about being in sticky situations made me think of a part of the Bible - I don't know the Bible too well, but I'm working on that, and this community is helping me with that. It made me think of King David. Do you guys know King David? He was in the old testament, he came before Jesus.
Well, David had been named the next king by King Saul. But then Saul became jealous of David and turned on him. He threatened him. David had to run away into the desert. He lost his job, his family, his community, and had to run away. He was in what we might call a sticky situation.
He hid in a cave.
In the cave David prayed to God to bring him community. And God answered, by sending him his friend Jonathan.
As Saul came closer and closer to where David was, and David's life was more and more threatened, Jonathan came to David and told him that things would be OK. He told David to have faith, saying that Saul would not hurt him, that Jonathan knew this, God knew this, and even in his heart Saul knew this.
Jonathan could have joked with David. He could have just made him laugh in order to feel better, or told him, "It's all those other people's fault that you're in here - blame them!" But instead he gave him assurance that the future was going to be OK. The verse says:
It's really nice to have a friend who helps you find strength in God. We have lots of kinds of friends, but this is a particularly good kind. Now, they don't have to say "Mimi, find strength in God". Maybe they just listen to you when you're down. Maybe they share lunch with you, or let you play with a toy of theirs. Maybe they tell you things are going to be OK and to have faith. Think about whether you have a friend like that, and if you do, thank God for that kind of person in your life, because that's a special thing to have.
Then, think about whether you can be a friend like Jonathan to others. If you can provide encouragement and help direct someone who's in a tricky situation, or dealing with something tough.
Thank you for listening.
____
I wish I had ended with a prayer aloud, but that didn't occur to me until too late.
I really enjoyed this!
I got the message idea from Capital Church (I don't know the book of 1 Samuel very well on my own!)
The message came from Pastor Troy's series on "The Life and Lyrics of David" which looked at David's life and what he wrote in the psalms. That series is available here, and the message I build my Sunday School story around can be found here. (It's terrific).
Today the message is going to be about what we do when we're in sticky situations.
We're all in sticky situations from time to time.
Maybe we borrowed something from someone, and lost it. Maybe we borrowed something, and broke it. Maybe we told someone we would do something, then completely forgot about it. Maybe we have a big decision to make. Maybe we said something to someone and now realize it hurt their feelings, but don't want to apologize because we're embarrassed and don't want to bring it up.
In these times it's helpful to have someone to talk to. A friend. We're going to talk about those kinds of friends today.
In our community we have a lot of relationships. And the Bible and outside culture tell us a lot of things about these relationships.
Here's one relationship. What relationship does this seem to be?
Yeah, it seems to be a parent child relationship. The Bible tells us a lot about parent child relationships. So does our society.
What about this kind of relationship?
This seems more like romantic love. And our culture has a lot to say about this: how to get a relationship like this, how to keep a relationship like this, how to make one happy.
What about this one?
Yeah, also romantic love, but with people who are older, maybe married. Our society also focuses a lot on this kind of relationship, and the Bible has several things to say on this subject too. But the kind of relationship I'd like to talk to you about today is this kind:
Friendship is not focused on as much in our culture. We don't focus so much, in the movies, and in music, on friendship as we do on those loving relationships. But these friendships can be really important when we're in sticky situations.
Now, thinking about being in sticky situations made me think of a part of the Bible - I don't know the Bible too well, but I'm working on that, and this community is helping me with that. It made me think of King David. Do you guys know King David? He was in the old testament, he came before Jesus.
Well, David had been named the next king by King Saul. But then Saul became jealous of David and turned on him. He threatened him. David had to run away into the desert. He lost his job, his family, his community, and had to run away. He was in what we might call a sticky situation.
He hid in a cave.
In the cave David prayed to God to bring him community. And God answered, by sending him his friend Jonathan.
As Saul came closer and closer to where David was, and David's life was more and more threatened, Jonathan came to David and told him that things would be OK. He told David to have faith, saying that Saul would not hurt him, that Jonathan knew this, God knew this, and even in his heart Saul knew this.
Jonathan could have joked with David. He could have just made him laugh in order to feel better, or told him, "It's all those other people's fault that you're in here - blame them!" But instead he gave him assurance that the future was going to be OK. The verse says:
It's really nice to have a friend who helps you find strength in God. We have lots of kinds of friends, but this is a particularly good kind. Now, they don't have to say "Mimi, find strength in God". Maybe they just listen to you when you're down. Maybe they share lunch with you, or let you play with a toy of theirs. Maybe they tell you things are going to be OK and to have faith. Think about whether you have a friend like that, and if you do, thank God for that kind of person in your life, because that's a special thing to have.
Then, think about whether you can be a friend like Jonathan to others. If you can provide encouragement and help direct someone who's in a tricky situation, or dealing with something tough.
Thank you for listening.
____
I wish I had ended with a prayer aloud, but that didn't occur to me until too late.
I really enjoyed this!
I got the message idea from Capital Church (I don't know the book of 1 Samuel very well on my own!)
The message came from Pastor Troy's series on "The Life and Lyrics of David" which looked at David's life and what he wrote in the psalms. That series is available here, and the message I build my Sunday School story around can be found here. (It's terrific).
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