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Growing the Good Stuff
Week 4 - PATIENCE
Part 1
Lead in session DRAMA
Outline for Leaders
A workman is doing a job in Orchard Street, but it’s taking a long time. Mrs Green, the lady at number 3 is becoming quite impatient and irritated that this work is going on, particularly as it is right outside her front door. Lloyd, the Community Policeman, comes walking down the street doing his round and sees that all is not well. He explains how we must get along with one another and understand that these jobs have to be done. Mrs Green eventually understands and thanks Lloyd for reminding her.
Characters: Lloyd (policeman), Mrs Green, one or two workmen / women.
Props: Front doors numbered 3 and 5, policeman’s helmet, street set-up, workman’s overalls, high viz vest, hard hat, ear defenders, anything that you can use to improvise in creating the workman's zone - cones, makeshift cardboard barrier, something to depict a hole in the road or similar, makeshift kango hammer (we use one made from a few cardboard tubes) , sound effect noise for kango, red and white warning tape.
Orchard Street stage set: Same for each week comprising - cardboard doors, green patch of grass, flowers in flower pots, Orchard Street road sign, house brick back drop.
Sketch - The Need for patience in orchard street
Narrator: Today down in Orchard St all is not well. A workman (or work woman) is digging up the road as there is a problem with the telephone cable. Mrs Green at number 3 is fed up with the work being done outside her front door, they are making a mess and creating lots of noise (workman drilling the road with Kango hammer sound effect).
Mrs Green:(comes out of her door) Can't you work any quieter? I'm fed up with you working outside my house!
Narrator: When Lloyd does his usual round he stops to talk to the workman and he can see that Mrs Green is not happy.
Lloyd: (turning to the workman) Morning, I see you've got a bit of a job on here, when do you think you will be finished?
Workman: Ur not for a couple of days mate. Gotta repair this telephone cable and then put the road straight, we are working as fast as we can.
Lloyd: Thanks for the update, all the best with the job.
Narrator: Lloyd goes over to chat to Mrs Green.
Lloyd: Mrs Green I know you are not happy about the workman outside your house but he (they) is doing his best to get finished and he (they) has to do his job, everyone in the street needs their telephones to be back working properly. Just a little patience my dear is what’s needed. We all need to have patience now and again, it's very important if we are to get on with one another. Now, I'm sure the job will be sorted as quickly possible, and we wouldn't want to fall out over this now would we.
Mrs Green: I suppose you are right Lloyd. I know, I bet he'd love a nice cup of tea and biscuit. (Mrs Green goes back inside and comes out with a tray and goes over to the workman).
Workman: (looking surprised) Oh thanks love I could do with a cuppa (wiping the sweat from his brow).
Mrs Green: Well I'm sorry for moaning, I just need a bit of patience don't I. When did you say you'd be finished (smiling cheekily).
Narrator: It seems like Mrs Green is getting the message about patience. Lloyd smiles to himself and carries on down the road.
Part 2
Bible Chat
The Patience of Joseph - Genesis 37, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 46
For this story you could use an old suitcase and gather together a toy sheep, brightly coloured piece of cloth for the coat of many colours, a plastic lion, a money bag (a homemade cardboard one will do) , toy handcuffs, an Egyptian ruler’s headgear, jailer’s keys, all as pictured on the right.
One way to use these props very effectively is to line them up as you speak about them, creating a time-line on a long table. If you do this, you might like to ask the kids if they know what a time-line is before you start.
Bible Chat
How patient are you? Do you mind waiting for something good? (Take a couple of answers if kids respond here.)
One of the most patient people I've ever read about was a guy called Joseph. He waited a long, long time for something good to happen. He was very patient indeed, and all the time he kept trusting God. We read about Joseph in the very first book of the Bible called Genesis, here's his story.
Joseph had eleven brothers and his family were all sheep farmers (take the sheep out of the case and stand it on the table). One day Joseph’s father gave him a very special gift, actually it probably wasn't a very good idea but he did it anyway. It was a coat made up of many colours (take out the coloured cloth). Joseph was a dreamer, he used to tell his brothers all about his dreams. Unfortunately his brothers we not very happy about the coat or Joseph, they didn't like things Joseph said, they didn't want to hear about his dreams. And, they didn't like the way he seemed to get special treatment from their father.
One day Joseph set off to visit his brothers who were out with their sheep in the open countryside. It took him a while to find them as shepherds continually moved their flocks around in search of good grass. Finally, Joseph could see his brothers flocks out in front of him, soon he would be sitting with them. But and it's a big but! Before Joseph got to the site, his brothers saw him coming and decided to kill him saying, "Here comes that dreamer, let's throw him into a pit and say that some wild animal killed him." Sure enough, when Joseph got to the camp, they took hold of him (their very own brother) and threw him into a pit. They were thinking about killing him but decided instead to sell him to some passing slave traders, they were people who bought people and made them become slaves, what a terrible thing to do, sell their own brother Joseph (take out the money bag). His brothers made up a story to tell their father about a wild animal killing Joseph. Poor Joseph was off to Egypt!
The slave traders sold Joseph to an army officer in Egypt. This was very sad for Joseph to be a slave, far from home in a stranger's house, but he settled down and tried to make the best of it. Despite being a slave, Joseph made a great job of looking after the army officer's house and the officer was very pleased with him. Everything seemed to be going alright until another awful thing happened to Joseph. Joseph was accused of doing something wrong that he hadn't done at all. The army officer didn't believe Joseph was innocent, he got mad and had Joseph thrown in prison (take out the handcuffs and jailer’s keys). But God was with him.
After Joseph had been in prison a while Pharaoh king of all Egypt had a strange dream, Pharaoh believed that this dream had a special meaning, but none of his advisers could tell him what it meant. This really troubled Pharaoh and he was very worried about it. He insisted that someone should tell him what the dream meant, no one came forward. But then, one of pharaoh's servants who had been in prison with Joseph and knew that Joseph could interpret dreams, told Pharaoh all about him. Pharaoh called for Joseph and he was brought up from the prison to see the king. With God's help Joseph was able to tell Pharaoh what his dream meant, there was going to be a food shortage across the whole of Egypt and many other places too. Joseph also told Pharaoh what he must do to make sure the people of Egypt didn't starve. Realising that God was with Joseph, Pharaoh made Joseph the top man over all of the food in the land. Joseph would make sure that no one went hungry (take out the Ruler’s hat and put it on).
Joseph ruled over Egypt with Pharaoh and became very powerful. But he never forgot his God, he patiently trusted Him through all his troubles.
In all of this time Joseph must have wondered if he would ever see his brothers again and one day he did. They came to Egypt to buy food because where they lived there was a famine. When Joseph's brothers turned up, he couldn’t believe his eyes. They didn’t recognise him at first. Joseph cried and told them who he was. Realising how powerful and important Joseph had become made his brothers feel quite afraid. Their little brother whom they had treated so awfully was now a great ruler. He told them not to be afraid about what they had done to him because God had turned it for good so that he could help people to have food during the time of famine. Eventually, all his brothers and Joseph’s old father Jacob, moved to Egypt to be close to Joseph.
Joseph could have been very angry at what his brothers did to him. To be away from his father and his home in a strange house and then put in prison, when he had done nothing wrong, must have been very difficult for him but he trusted in God to help him through. He had to be so patient when everything seemed to be going wrong, trusting that God was with him all the time working out a plan for his life.
Sometimes when we pray to God for help we have to be PATIENT for the answer like Joseph did. God gave Joseph an amazing job to do of organising the storage of food for Pharaoh ready for when the years of famine came. As a result, Joseph saved thousands of lives. Now that’s worth being PATIENT for isn’t it!
Part 3 - Response time
Discuss with the children things they have to be patient for. These could include, birthdays, a special occasion, reaching 16, Christmas, the weekend when there is no school!
Ask them what 'they can't wait for' - something coming along that they would like hurried up.
You could take some objects or pictures from home to talk about things that relate to time and patience. An egg timer, a clock, an advent calendar or advent candle, a birthday card. Talk about being patient and waiting your turn in a queue.
Not being patient can sometimes hurt other people's feelings and get them agitated. Pushing into a queue, not waiting your turn. Being impatient can even create danger, particularly on the roads. Going over the traffic lights on red or even a train crossing.
Being patient is often quite hard but if we put our trust in Jesus and ask for His help He will not disappoint us. He will give us what we need to be more patient.
We also need to remember how really important it is to be patient with other people. We need to patient at home, with friends, with each other. Sometimes our younger siblings require a lot of patience and our elderly relatives too who sometimes don’t understand us. We must be patient when we can do something quickly and those around us might be a little slower, show patience and kindness always.
I have found that Jesus is so PATIENT with me even when I have made the wrong choices and not followed His ways. He is always forgiving, caring and kind. When we follow Jesus he helps us to grow good stuff in our lives, like patience.
Below:
Ideas of things that can be talked about with respect to patience.
(PowerPoint of these images can be downloaded from bottom of this page)
