T.T. 36 - Steps to Forgiving others.
T.T. 36 - Steps to Forgiving others.
Jesus said "For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins." (Matthew 6. 14,15).
Here is a simple three step reminder of how we can forgive others from our hearts.
1. Make a decision. You need to choose to forgive someone that may have hurt or harmed you. Don't wait until you feel forgiving or good thoughts towards that person - because you would probably wait for ever! No. By an act of your will you choose to forgive that person. By doing this you are not saying that what that person did is not important or doesn't matter. No, what you are basically doing is handing that person over to God to deal with in whatever way He chooses. As for you, you have chosen to forgive them.
2. Pray. Tell God about your decision. You could pray a prayer like this. "---------------- hurt me, but I choose to forgive them. From now onwards I will think and act as though that person never hurt me. I know this may be hard at times, but I know you will help me, because your Word says that 'I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me'."
3. Guard your thoughts. Just because you have chosen to forgive a person, and told God about it, doesn't mean that you will never feel unkind thoughts towards that person - perhaps when you see them again, or even think about them. This is when you need to guard your thoughts. Refuse to dwell on those unkind thoughts. Reject them and remind yourself that you have forgiven that person, and then pray that God will bless them. If you continue to do this, you will eventually find that you really have forgiven that person from your heart.
"Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving one another, just as in Christ God forgave you." (Ephesians 4.32).
T.T. 35 - Presenting puppet skits and plays.
T.T. 35 - Presenting puppet skits and plays.
This depends on why you want a group to present a play or skit. If your intention is to present it to a larger grouping, the best way is obviously to get your chosen performers to learn their lines. However, to do this well, usually requires lots of time and rehearsal. If, however, you simply wish to have a play or skit as an alternative way of telling a story, or to complement it - remembering that children are likely to remember more if they participate rather than just hear or see something - then there are a number of alternative ways you could consider.
Puppet skits. I usually record the skit beforehand, and then simply play it back as the children operate the puppets. I use 'different' voices for the different puppet characters. However, if you are not too confident in doing this by yourself, you could use someone else to provide a few of the voices.
I used to hide behind the puppeteers and read the script as they performed. However I soon discovered that with some classes it is not a good idea for "teacher" to remain out of sight for too long! However, I have used older children to read the script in this way, and even had the puppeteers read it themselves
Plays. There are two ways in which I do this. In both cases, I act as Narrator and intermingle with the children as they act out their play. 1. I hold the script in my hand, and simply hold it in front of the characters to read their part at the appropriate times. 2. I whisper the needed words to the actors at the appropriate times. This works especially well for younger children whose reading skills may not be too high.
At face value, both of the above methods seem rather 'clumsy', but you must bear in mind that the purpose of the exercise is not a perfect production, but to involve the children as much as possible. In fact I usually find that children are very keen to act out stories in this way - especially if there is plenty of action.
Check out
http://christianstoriesandplays.blogspot.com for all my plays and puppet skits.
