01.15.05

Hurry, hurry, hurry!

The Circus is in town!

The Greatest Show on Earth!

Get your fresh buttered popcorn!

Get your Hot Dogs!

Have you ever been to the Circus?

What special treats do you enjoy eating?

Cotton Candy?

Roasted Peanuts?

Funnel Cakes?

What are your favorite Circus Performances?

How is life like a circus?

take a moment and reflect on how life

--your life--

is like a circus . . .

put on spiritual eyeglasses

and ponder spiritual lessons
--parables--
that you can learn from:

a lion tamer

cotton candy

a high wire act

juggling

a balancing act

clowns

What parable from the circus
does God desire
to share with you?

Jesus started many parable stories with
these words:

"The Kingdom of Heaven is like a . . ."

How would Jesus have finished this story. . .

"The Kingdom of Heaven is like a Circus" . . . ?

Maybe like this--

Once, many years ago, a Circus came to town,

Circus Magnus.

There were lots of exotic animals
and many exciting circus acts.

There were the Elephants, and their keeper,

and lots of games like the dunking tank.

There was the Ticket Seller who sold
tickets to the shows.

There was the Sword Man with his shiny, sharp
sword and his lovely lady.

And the Grand Finale Act was
the Circus Master Puppeteer and his Living Marionettes.

Everyone worked hard for the
Circus Master Puppeteer,
Magnus.

The Elephant keeper had to carry many buckets of water
great distances for the elephants.

The Dunk Tank Man had to endure many
falls into the cold water tank.

The Lovely Lady had to risk being stabbed by the sword
as she hid in the little box.

And the Living Marionettes were manipulated
by the Circus Master Puppeteer as they hung
suspended in their harnesses.

Along came a quiet mime.

The man who was different.

And he changed their lives.

One person at a time.

He carried the water buckets for the Elephant keeper.

He exchanged places with the Dunk Tank Man.

He exchanged places with the Lovely Lady.

He exchanged places with the Living Marionettes.

This did not make the
Ball Thrower, the Ticket Seller or the Sword Man happy.

No, they were very angry with the mime.
The Ball Thrower threw balls at him.
The Ticket Seller struck him with his cane.
And the Sword Man stabbed him with his sword.

The Magnus, the Puppeteer tried
to control and manipulate the mime.

But it was too late.
The mime had been killed.

The next day, the circus moved on.

But things were different.

The mime had made a difference.

The water bucket man,
the dunk tank man,
the lovely lady,
the Living Marionettes
would never be the same.

The Puppeteer would never be the same, either.

Magnus was transformed
by the life and death
of the mime.

He followed the circus
as it moved out of town.

He was a different man.

. . . The Kingdom of Heaven . . .

"Who believes what we've heard and seen?

    Who would have thought GOD's saving power would look like this?"

. . . read the whole chapter of Isaiah 53

check out previous red worships--archive

Resource List for 01.15.05

The Holy Bible (Message, NAS, NCV, NIV, NLT)
online

The Parable
buy online