It was a sunny but cold day in Brixworth this morning, and after the first Hymn in church we headed over to the Community Centre for Junior Church.

We warmed up with some physical exercises, with running across the room, jumping, and touching toes all in evidence! Even the adults joined in.

Then it was onto the mat. There have been a few birthday’s since we last met and so we sang Happy Birthday to Richard, Emma and Edward.

Then, it was time for some thinking. Today at Junior Church we looked at the Parable of the Talents

The Parable of the Talents (also the Parable of the Minas), is one of the parables of Jesus, it appears in Matthew 25:14-25:30 & Luke 19:12-19:27

The “Parable of the Talents”, in Matthew 25:14–30 tells of a master who was leaving his house to travel, and, before leaving, entrusted his property to his servants. According to the abilities of each man, one servant received five talents, the second servant received two talents, and the third servant received one talent. The property entrusted to the three servants was worth 8 talents, where a talent was a significant amount of money. Upon returning home, after a long absence, the master asks his three servants for an account of the talents he entrusted to them. The first and the second servants explain that they each put their talents to work, and have doubled the value of the property with which they were entrusted; each servant was rewarded:

His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’

—Matthew 25:23, New English TranslationThe third servant, however, had merely hidden his talent, had buried it in the ground, and was punished by his master:

“Then the one who had received the one talent came and said, ‘Sir, I knew that you were a hard man, harvesting where you did not sow, and gathering where you did not scatter seed, so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. See, you have what is yours.’ But his master answered, ‘Evil and lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I didn’t sow and gather where I didn’t scatter? Then you should have deposited my money with the bankers, and on my return I would have received my money back with interest! Therefore take the talent from him and give it to the one who has ten. For the one who has will be given more, and he will have more than enough. But the one who does not have, even what he has will be taken from him. And throw that worthless slave into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’”

—Matthew 25:24–30, New English TranslationWe looked at what this might mean.

Traditionally, the parable of the talents has been seen as an exhortation to Jesus’ disciples to use their God-given gifts in the service of God, and to take risks.

We then looked at what talents we all had.  Some of us were good with Computers, some were good with Gymnastics, and Edward said his talent was that he gave his mum the best cuddles ever! We decided that it was always important to use what talents you had, and appreciate others who had talents that we might not.

Then, it was Crafting Time. This month, we started on Christmas Decorations for the Junior Church Christmas Tree which will be at the Christmas Market in the Church on the 2nd December.

Out came pipe cleaners, glue, cardboard and a truck load of glitter. In particular we think Jack did some awesome colouring:

Then, it was back into Church for the final Hymn and to show what we had been up to, before biscuits and juice.

We’re really looking forward to seeing the Tree at the Festival!