I used the parable of the rich man who had many crops and built larger barns to store them (Luke 12:13-21). For my version, I had an acolyte bring out large trash bags of "stuff" I'd brought from home: stuffed animals, books, food, soap, toothpaste, plates, cups, bowls, silverware, towels, a pillow, a blanket, clothes, shoes, boots, raincoat, balls, frisbees, DVDs). These were dumped in front of me. Then the children and I sorted the stuff and put things in three boxes. These were in increasing sizes, starting with a regular-size box and ending with a wardrobe box used for moving. All said Mine! Mine! Mine! all over them. After we filled the boxes, the acolyte brought out a basket with a sign that said For God and others and pointed out that it was empty. In the parable, I reminded them, the man died and all his stuff no longer belonged to him. Jesus said this was what would happen to people who "store up treasure" for themselves but are not rich toward God."
Then I asked the kids if they thought they were rich. Almost none raised their hands. I asked the congregation; a few hands went up. I asked if they'd had breakfast that morning and expected to eat lunch and supper. They all said yes. I told them this made them rich compared to many people in the world. How many had more than one pair of shoes? Toys at home? After a few more similar questions, the acolyte brought me a bag, and handed out plastic bags full of coins to remind them that they were rich.
After I asked that they hold onto their coins a minute, we talked about the Diocese of Kajo Keji. I showed them a map of Sudan with the diocese marked on it, explained what refugees were (with pictures), and discussed the lack of food. "They are sharing what little they have with the refugees, but there is starvation, with people even eating grass." I had made poster-size pictures of Kajo Keji students in school uniforms and no shoes, the inside of a bare classroom (we talked about how different it was from their schools), a starving mother and child, and children in a refugee camp.
We are like the rich man, I explained, and had a choice of what to do with our money. We can keep it for ourselves (a small triangular box that said Mine! Mine! Mine! All for me!) or put the money we had received into the basket for our brothers and sisters who are starving in Kajo-Keji. Some of the kids started to put their money in the basket, and I invited the congregation to come forward. After everyone had contributed, I pointed out that no one had put money in the Mine box and lots of people had put money in the basket, while a couple of kids had kept the bags for themselves.
This allowed me to talk about how Jesus gave everything for us but only asks us to give part of what we have, and also how difficult it is to give our money away. That morning, I told them, I had thought about buying some new clothes for going on vacation; but I decided I should skip the shopping and give the money to Kajo Keji. I explained that it's easy to give one time at a service like this but harder to do it on an ongoing basis. I suggested putting a cup on their table, and every time they eat give a quarter for the people who are hungry in Kajo Keji.
Between the two services, we collected $1,035.25!
