A great exchange rate..
As you probably know I’ve recently become the Youth Assistant at my church. This means I have lots of things to be planning and organising etc etc. One thing that I was asked to do in my new role last Sunday was to get up and give a solo children’s talk.
Piece of cake I thought! I’ve done that before.
NEVER have I got up in front of my church and shaken so much, completely involuntarily! It was quite bizar.
When planning my little talk I sat down with God after much deliberation and prayed about what I should say. I am fast learning that if I do this first I save a lot of time!
The story of the lost coin came to mind (find it here) mixed with an illustration that i’d heard from a preacher whilst I was in Nepal – with my own little twist of course.
I stood in front of my church and the looked back at me in expectation, an expextation that quickly turned to confusion and then finally disbelief. It was brilliant!
It went a little bit like this:
Now, who’s heard of a programme called Antiques roadshow? Anyone? Well I bet your parents or even Grandparents have. It’s a programme where people take very old things to be valued by an expert. Now before you all start asking your Mums and Dads to take you to the show with your grandparents I’d better explain what I mean.
Antiques are things that are collected from the past, some are worth a lot of money and people take these things to be valued and to see whether the experts will pay anything for them.
You know what? I’ve got an antique, I think it’s quite valuable.. would you like to see it?
[nods of agreement and interest]
Well I did something genius this morning, I thought my antique was so valuable that I decided to hide it so I didn’t lose it. I found the greatest hiding place too! The only thing is, it was that good I’ve forgotten where I put it.
[ask the congregation to rummage around under their chairs to find said antique and bring it to me]
What is it?
A penny!
[Looks of 'okay, she's lost it someone call those nice people in the pretty white coats!']
Yes that’s right, now this is no ordinary penny, it’s old look it says right here it’s from 1971 thats before 2000 that makes it old!
[So I begin to auction the penny =] ]
So I thought when I saw this Penny that I might try and sell it this morning.. so that’s what I’m going to do!
Right, how much will someone give me for this fabulous antique penny, it’s from the 1970’s it’s in very good condition considering the number of hands it’s been passed through.
Do I hear £50? Surely it’s a steal at £50? No? What about £40, it would look lovely in your purse i’m sure.
Hmm allright what about £30? C’mon it’s practically a relic!
[cue laughter from all corners, I'd just managed to call practically 80% of our church - relics in one short sentence. In that split second I remember thinking, ha! I quite like this job, you can get away with being cheeky and it's fun!]
.. all right all right as you’re family you can steal it away from me for just £10. That’s a bargain right? No?
Hmmm I have the feeling I am going to have to sweeten this deal slightly aren’t I. Hmm okay maybe I have one other thing that I could sell.
Okay… Now who’ll give me a penny for this crisp shiny new £10 note?
Anyone?
[Cue a few hands shooting up in the air and a lot of people thinking 'allright where's the catch?]
C’mon then get your money out? I think I’ll start a penny collection.
[Cheeky little chappy about 6-yrs-old walks quicklydown the front with his penny to retrieve the tenner! followed by a round of applause, and then it was time to explain myself to beat any roumours later of temporary insanity!]
You know, it’s funny how we value things isn’t it. A penny isn’t worth much at all is it? You can’t buy very much for a penny. But £10, that’s a few packets of sweets and a decent magazine isn’t it!
Sometimes perhaps we look at the penny and think it’s not worth much, so I’ll not bother with it. Pennies get lost in all kinds of places but do people look for them? Do people even notice that they have lost a penny? I’m sure you’d notice if you lost £10.
Jesus uses a story in the bible about coins, It’s about a lady who had ten coins on a necklace, she counted them everyday and she wore them out to special occasions. One day the lady was counting her coins and she realised she’d lost one, ‘oh no!’ she thought.’Where has it gone!’ She searched high and low for her coin.
Now perhaps if it was us we might think, well I have nine more coins, what does it matter if you lose one! But this lady loved her necklace so much that she was determined to find the lost coin. She searched high and low, she looked in all the cupboards, checked under the sink, down the back of the sofa but she still couldn’t find it. She looked in her bed, under her bed, under the carpet and swept her house from top to bottom until she finally found the coin.
And do you know what happened when she found it! She celebrated! She called out to her neighbours! Looook! I’ve found my coin Praise the Lord!
You know people in the world may look at us and think, they’re not worth very much, that persons only small what do they know about anything, they’re not important. They may think we look a little grubby and they might even think we’re not worth very much just like my penny. But you know what? God thinks you are so important!
When we don’t know Jesus and God’s love it’s a bit like we’re lost., like the story, like we’re a lost coin But God comes looking for us, he calls out our names, he searches high and low for us and you know something. When he finds us, when we give our lives to Jesus there is such a HUGE party in heaven!
To the world we might look a bit odd and a bit grubby like the penny but God looked at us and didn’t see the outside, he didn’t listen to what other people thought of us, he loved us and looked into our hearts.
He was prepared to pay the biggest price ever for us. More than £10, more than £50 more than £1000 more than a million pounds. Jesus thought we were so special that he gave his life so that we could be with him in heaven.
Now, you wouldn’t pay me £10 for my little penny, but when the offer is the otherway round you would pay a penny for £10.We like to get the very best and pay the least. But with God he pays the very very BEST for the least!
