Puppet Parables

Welcome to the Lehigh Valley Baptist Church tent! Unless you’ve been here for a while, then thanks for sticking around. It’s time for our puppet show. (pause) And I guess I’m the only puppet here right now, so sit back and I’ll tell you a story.

Here’s a story about my great-great-great-and a few more greats-grandfather. Now, he was on my mother Betty’s side of the family, so he was English. In his city they did things a bit different then everywhere else. Every week they picked some person living in the city to be king. Just for the week. They figured kings don’t really do anything anyway – and if they were only king for a week, how much harm could they do. Well, they found out.

That was Monday. By Wednesday great grandfather Arty was pretty comfortable being king, and he called to the king across the river – Lance.

But great grandfather Arty didn’t know what he was doing.

It was at this point that the people of great grandfather’s city realized what a silly idea it was to have a new king every week. It was also at this moment when great grandfather realized how silly it was for a king to go to war without first making sure he could win. Now let me tell you about great uncle Patrick. He was on my father’s side, but he was different from the rest of the family, he was the only Irishman in our family. He was also a builder, and one day Count Bellavich came to him and asked him to build a tower.

So great uncle Patrick took the Count’s money and started building the tower. First he dug a big tower-sized hole in the ground, so the tower would have a tower-worthy basement. Then he built a foundation, and made it nice and strong, so the tower wouldn’t fall down. And then he went back to the count.

Great uncle Patrick learned two things that day. First, never work for Count Bellavich. Second, no one should start a building without first making sure they can finish it. Why did I tell you these stories? If you read your Bible you will find some stories that Jesus told. He called them parables. He told these stories to help people understand some very important things. Once Jesus talked about how a king wouldn’t go to war without first making sure his army was big enough to win, and how a man wouldn’t build a tower without first making sure he had enough money to finish it. Now just like no one builds a tower without knowing they can finish it, or goes to war without knowing they can win, no person can become a Christian without out first finding out what being a Christian really is.

My father made sure I understood that. I was a very inquisitive child. I asked a lot of questions.

You see what I mean? But my father was a very patient man, and he tried to answer my questions. Sometimes he would let me help him when he worked around the house. One day he was out planting seeds and I went along. He spread seed over the whole field, and then we went home. A few months later I was out in that field with him again.

He showed me all that for a reason. He said that Jesus told a story – a parable – about a farmer that sowed seed, just like my father. He said the seed is like the Word of God, and the different ground is like different people. My father told me about a girl – someone tried to give her a little book that talked about the Bible. But before they could explain she just said:

That was like the hard ground. Later someone invited her out to Church, at first she was excited:

But that didn’t last long.

That was the shallow, rocky ground. Then a friend of gave her a Bible to read, and told her it was important to know what the Bible says:

But when her friend asked her about it later:

And that was the ground with all the weeds. But then he told me about another girl. Someone asked her if she would like to know more about the Bible.

And then she was invited out to Church.

And then she was given a Bible.

And she really did. That was the good ground. My dad explained all this to me because he wanted me to be good ground, receptive ground, he wanted me to let the Word of God effect my life. And that’s why I tell these stories – these parables – to you. A king won’t go to war unless his army can win, a man won’t build a town unless he can pay for it, and a person can’t become a Christian, unless they find out what being a Christian really is. And you can only do that if your life is good ground for the Word of God.

And now a word from our sponsor.

Jesus told three stories – or parables – about things that were lost. One was about a lost coin. That story reminds me of my mother. Her name is Betty, but all us kids call her mom. I remember, when I was a little kid, one day she made cupcakes. Now, I loved cupcakes and I really wanted to eat them.

Jesus told a parable about a woman who lost a coin, and searched all over her house until she found it. And when she did find it, she rejoiced. Jesus also told a parable about a man with a flock of sheep. 100 sheep to be exact. One of the sheep was lost, and although the man had 99 safe and sound, back in is fold, the man searched and searched until he found that one lost sheep. Jesus told one more parable about something that was lost, but first let me tell you about my uncle Larry, and his daughter. Uncle Larry was very rich, and his daughter – my cousin – loved going to the circus. So one day my cousin decided it was time for her to leave.

So my Uncle Larry gave her share of the inheritance to his daughter. And she went from town to town, going to the circus every day, eating pretzels and cotton candy, and playing carnival games every night. She became friends with everyone at the circus, and she loved every minute of it. Until her money ran out. Then he friends left her, and every night she would sneak behind the tent and eat some of the scraps left for the circus animals.

So after seeing the error of her ways, she headed back home.

Jesus told a parable about a young man who took his inheritance an spent it all. Once he realized how wrong he was, he returned to his father only wanting to be a servant. But his father took him, and treated him as his son once again. Like the lost sheep, and the lost coin, God cares for each one of us. It doesn’t matter how many other people there are, He cares about every one. And it doesn’t matter how bad we’ve treated Him, or how much we’ve wasted what He’s given us, He still loves us, and wants us to return to Him. But that’s up to us.

Well, that’s all the stories I have time for right now. I hope you enjoyed them. Stick around, we have some more things going on – there’ll be some more music in just a little bit. And maybe I’ll be back after that. Have a great day.