The Real Dirt
 (Used as an introduction to Mark 7:1-23 and time of confession at an all-age worship service).
B=Bentley (dog puppet)   D=Don
D. Hi Bentley! What's been happening?
B. Well quite a lot really. I've been very busy with my "take-away bone business". "Marrows2Go".
 But right now you've just caught me after doing a bit of backyard "escavating".
D. Do you mean "excavating" or "escaping" ?
B. A bit of both really. But I've had to stop for now because I've hit some rock. I've put it on "paws" if you know what I mean. Now I'm covered in dirt. See ? (shaking vigorously).
D. Steady on. Yes I do see. Bentley you might be able to help us this morning.
B. Only to happy - "man's best friend" and all that.
D. You might be able to help us because we've started thinking about Jesus telling the Pharisees (religious teachers) that it's not the dirt on the outside that matters- how we look. It's the 'real dirt' on the inside that we need to be concerned about. What we think about and what we say.
B. (Looking at paws) Outside-dirt, dirty dirt. Inside-inside-inside. It's a bit hard for a puppet dog to get his mind around. I just think of 'bones & holes' and 'bones & holes' and "sit", "woof now"!
D. Well people think about other things, and sometimes we need Jesus to forgive us for thinking about things that aren't very nice or helpful to people.
B. Well I guess you should get Jesus to help you. Right now I've got to go and help my stressed friend Napoleon.
D. What's wrong?
B. Well Napoleon's a 'Boxer dog' and every time the front door bell rings he doesn't know which corner to go to.
D. O.K, I'll see you soon.
B. Woofya!
(c) Don Stott, http://eliab.com, 2007
 

Sin
Forgiveness
Pharisees
Jesus
clean-unclean