Ripples

by Jim Payton

which is in Israel, two people, Mary and Joseph had a baby. It was a miracle baby made by God. You have heard of God haven’t you?’

  ‘Course I have,’ said Adam. ‘He lives in Heaven and has got a long beard. He helps people but he has never helped my Mum. I don’t know why he doesn’t help her. She asks lots of people for help but she can’t have found him yet. Do you know where heaven is?’

  ‘Yes, I think so,’ said Janet thoughtfully. ‘I will try and tell you after I have told you about Christmas.

  ‘Well, when Mary and Joseph arrived in Bethlehem, all the hotels were full. There was nowhere for them to stay, and the baby was due to be born. The best they could get was a shed attached to a hotel. That is where Jesus was born. When he was born, Mary put him in a thing that held hay for the animals. It’s called a manger. There wasn’t a proper bed or anything. So those animals, dolls and things over there are to remind us what it was like when Jesus was born. Jesus is God’s son. God is Jesus’ father.’

  ‘I knew that,’ said Adam. ‘You were going to tell me what Christmas is though.’

  ‘Well I have,’ said Janet. ‘Christmas is Jesus’ birthday. You do know what a birthday is don’t you?’

  ‘Yeah, course I do,’ said Adam. ‘How old is this Jesus today?’

  ‘About 2,011 years old.’

  ‘You are silly,’ said Adam. ‘Nobody can be that old. That is older than those people sitting in there.’ Adam pointed to the people sitting in the Church. ‘It is older than my Mum.’

  ‘Well I told you it was a long long time ago,’ said Janet.

  ‘Is Jesus in there with those people?’ asked Adam.

  ‘Maybe,’ said Janet. ‘Some people killed him and he went to Heaven to be with God.’

  ‘Oh,’ said Adam. ‘Why is every one happy in there singing then? When my uncle died, my Mum cried. She was sad, she wasn’t happy.’

  ‘We are happy because it is Jesus’ birthday and Jesus was God’s present to us. He was a very special present.’

  ‘Sometimes Mum says I am special to her,’ said Adam. ‘So that is Christmas. It is a birthday.’

  ‘Yes,’ said Janet. ‘It is Jesus’ birthday and because it is we give presents to each other so we remember God’s present to us.’

  ‘What is a present?’ asked Adam.

  ‘It is a surprise wrapped up in paper so you don’t know what it is until you open it,’ explained Janet.

  ‘I have never had a present,’ said Adam. ‘Where do I go to get one?’

  ‘My Mum will have one,’ said Janet. ‘Come with me.’ Janet grabbed hold of Adam’s hand and they walked into the Church. They went to Janet’s Mum and Dad and sat down beside them. ‘This is Adam,’ whispered Janet. ‘He doesn’t know what a present is. His Mum doesn’t know either. I said you will give him a present.’

  ‘Of course I will,’ Janet’s Mum whispered back. ‘As soon as it is Christmas day I will do that.’

  So, Adam sat in Church with Janet and her parents until the service finished just after midnight, which meant it was Christmas Day. Janet’s Mum talked with the Minister and some other people in the Church. There was a lot of talking, and people going here and there. Adam just sat with Janet. It was nice and warm so he was happy.

  ‘So young Adam,’ said Janet’s Dad. ‘Which street do you live in?’

  ‘I don’t know the name,’ said Adam. ‘I can show you though’

  ‘Is there only you and your Mum, or do you have brothers and sisters?’ asked the Minister.

  ‘There’s just me and Mum,’ said Adam.

  ‘Okay,’ said Janet’s Dad. ‘You come with us and we’ll take you home.’

  ‘Do I get a present?’ asked Adam.

  ‘Yes of course you do,’ said Janet’s Dad. ‘And later on we will get a present for your Mum as well.’

  Adam went home to his Mum in Janet’s Dad’s car. He got some new warm clothes and some lollies as presents. His Mum got a food parcel, and some clothes, and both Adam, and his Mum, went to Janet’s home for a Christmas meal.

  The next Sunday, Adam and his Mum went to Church with Janet and her parents. As they sat in Church Adam turned to Janet and said,

  ‘You don’t have to tell me where Heaven is now. Mum says we have found it.’

  Story 34 Easter 2

  When somebody says Easter to you, what do you think of? When I was a child, it meant Easter eggs and hot cross buns to eat. I can only remember getting hollow chocolate eggs. I do not know if that was because Mum and Dad only bought that type, or if they did not make marshmallow eggs in those days. I don’t think they made solid chocolate ones or ones with other lollies inside them when I was your age. What ones do you like best?

  I can remember learning at school that in some countries people painted the shells of hard-boiled eggs. I felt sorry for the children in those countries. Fancy not having chocolate eggs! I remember my wife making marshmallow Easter eggs for our five children. She used real eggs to make the egg shape in a tray of flour. She would then pour the marshmallow mix into the shape and leave it until it set. That made one-half of the egg. Two halves would then be stuck together and dipped into chocolate. I liked to help so that I could eat the ones that were the wrong shape or had something else wrong with them. Sometimes, when we were making marshmallow Easter eggs, the children would misbehave. Sometimes they would fight, argue, or do something else needing punishment. Quite often, the punishment would be a smack on the backside, or hand, the same as when I was growing up. That would hurt. I sometimes wished that by some miracle, someone else would take my punishment for me. Perhaps if I were a King, I would think, then when I did something wrong I could have someone else punished for what I had done. I thought that would be a good idea.

  Have you ever heard of somebody punished for bad things that somebody else had done? I have. Jesus. His punishment was death for all the wrong things done by people. He even died for all the wrong things that people who had not even been born might do. Jesus was a good person. He never ever did anything wrong, but bad people killed him because he was so good. God is Jesus’ father and he knew that Jesus was good. He did not want Jesus to die but he and Jesus had a plan. That plan was for Jesus to suffer by dying for all the bad things that other people had done. That is still the same today. If you love God, then when you do something bad against God’s rules, he tells Jesus that he died so the bad things you have done will be blamed on him, and you will still be good. That does not seem fair does it, but Jesus loves us so much he takes our punishment. Because that happens, it means that we can go to heaven. If Jesus had not been so good, we would not be able to go to heaven or have God and Jesus as our friends.

  So, when you have your Easter eggs and hot cross buns, remember Jesus and say, “Thank you Jesus for my Easter eggs and for loving me so I can be your friend and go to be in heaven with you. Amen.”

  Story 35 A Letter from Rex

  Hello young people and those older people who are young at heart. My name is Rex. I am 11 years of age. I am writing this in Emperor Tiberius’ reign. It is about 10 years since Rome appointed Pontius Pilate prefect of Judaea.

  I am writing this letter because something very special has happened. It is so special that if not written down, then I think some important people will try to say it never happened. My Dad is a Roman Centurion. That means that he is in the Emperor’s army and is in Charge of 100 soldiers. I do not much like living here in Jerusalem. I would rather be living in Rome but Dad says it is important to be here as we are protecting land owned by us Romans. Anyway, back to important things. Dad had been telling us about a Jewish man who was going from town to town and making sick people well again. Apparently, he believed his father was a God. He was poor, but many Jews thought he was going to start a fight against us Romans. Dad’s bosses were keeping an eye on Jesus, because that was his name, to make sure he was not going to cause trouble. Then, some of the Jewish Priests arrested him and sent him to Pontius Pilate accusing him of plotting to over-throw
our Roman rule and make himself King of the Jews. He apparently broke some Jewish Religious laws or something. Pilate questioned him and decided that no laws had been broken, but because the Jewish leaders kicked up such a fuss and wanted Jesus killed, Pilate told Dad and his men to take Jesus and crucify him to stop any trouble once and for all. Therefore, that is what Dad did. He and his men nailed Jesus to a cross. There were a couple of criminals crucified at the same time.

  Dad was there when Jesus died. There was what felt like an earthquake and the sun disappeared for about 3 or 4 hours so that it was as if it was nighttime. Dad got frightened and it takes a lot to scare him. Dad really believed, at that moment, that Jesus was the Son of the Jewish God. He could not have been the son of a Roman God because they are not real and cannot have babies.

  Now for the big special thing I was saying at the beginning. Three days after Dad had seen the person Jesus die, and seen him taken and put in a burial chamber, he saw him alive. You see, Dad had placed guards outside the burial chamber because some of the Jewish Priests thought someone might try to steal Jesus’ body. Dad was here at home early in the morning when one of his guards arrived and knocked frantically at our door. He told Dad that someone was trying to break into the burial chamber. Dad ran to the chamber just in time to see two men dressed in white finish pushing the stone away