Performed at Victoria Avenue Baptist Church on September 7, 2008
Inspired by Genesis 3:1-21
- Joey:
- Rules, rules, rules. I can’t believe this Martha. On the first day of school we were given 20 rules that we cannot break.
No hats!
No talking in class!
No headphones!
No note passing!
No MP3’s!
No running in the halls!
No cellphones!
No food or drinks!
No backpacks!
No rollerblades!
No skateboards!
No sunglasses!
No bandannas!
and No FORGETTING the RULES! - Martha:
- Yeah
- Joey:
- How am I ever going to remember all those rules? Don’t they know that they’re taking up all the room in my head with silly rules, instead of whatever it is we are supposed to learn in school?
- Martha:
- You mean reading and math?
- Joey:
- I don’t know! I already told you, they pushed the important things out of my brain with all these rules!
- Martha:
- Joey you’re over-reacting! The rules make sense. Anyways, you already don’t wear hats or skateboard indoors, or listen to your music in class, - you are already keeping all the rules.
- Joey:
- I guess you’re right. I just wish that they let me do whatever I wanted. I’d never thought of rollerblading in school before, that would probably save a lot of time! It’s like the rules are giving me great ideas and then not letting me do them! or maybe just one rule would be ok. That would be easier to keep.
- Martha:
- Well – not necessarily.
- Joey:
- What do you mean?
- Martha:
- Well, you know the first man and woman, Adam and Eve who lived in the Garden of Eden? They only had one rule to follow.
- Joey:
- Alright! That’s what I’m talking about! Anyone could remember to follow one rule.
- Martha:
- But they couldn’t! The only rule was that they couldn’t eat from this one tree - all the other trees were ok, but they ate the forbidden fruit anyway!
- Joey:
- They messed up with one rule?! What happened?
- Martha:
- God punished them and they were expelled from the Garden of Eden.
- Joey:
- That is like school! If you break too many rules they might expel you! That must be when God made the 10 commandments. We only had one rule, and Adam and Eve messed up and now we have tons!
- Martha:
- The commandments were centuries later. But Joey, don’t you know that when Jesus came he told us we only had 2 rules to keep?
- Thou shalt love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind and strength.
- And; Thou shalt love your neighbour as yourself.
- Joey:
- Does that mean that I have to love Mr. Jones who is always yelling at my dog?
- Martha:
- You got it.
- Joey:
- What!? That’s way harder than a HUNDRED rules at school!
- Martha:
- That’s what’s great about being a Christian. When you love God, he changes your heart and makes it easier to love others.
- Joey:
- You’re right Martha. With God’s help, I can love Mr. Jones.
- Martha:
- Jesus also said that loving your enemies is like heaping hot coals on their head.
- Joey:
- HOT COALS on their HEAD!? That is brutal. Maybe loving him won’t be so bad after all, heh heh heh…. It’s time to go to Sunday School. How many rules do you think that they have in Sunday School.
- Martha:
- Oh, just one Joey. Don’t sit in my chair!