Story Book

At the very start there was nothing at all. No sky, no sea, no morning. Then God spoke, and there was light — and he looked at it and said it was good.

He made the sky, and the dry land, and the sea. He made grass and trees and fruit with seeds inside so more could grow. He hung the sun and the moon, and he filled the water with fish and the air with birds.

Then he made animals for the land: the big ones and the small ones and the ones that creep along. And last of all he made people, and he said they were very good.

Everything you can see out of your window started as an idea God had. What do you think he liked making most?

A man had a hundred sheep. One evening he counted them — and got to ninety-nine.

He could have said, well, ninety-nine is nearly all of them. Instead he left the ninety-nine on the hill and went out to look for the one.

He looked until he found her. And when he did, he did not scold her. He put her on his shoulders, carried her the whole way home, and called his friends to come and be glad with him.

Jesus told that story about himself. If you were the one, he would come. How far do you think he would go?

God asked Jonah to go to a city called Nineveh. Jonah did not want to. So he went down to the sea and got on a boat going the other way.

A great wind came, and the sailors were frightened. Jonah told them it was his fault, and they put him into the water — and a very big fish came and swallowed him whole.

Inside the fish, in the dark, Jonah prayed. He said sorry. And after three days the fish put him safely on the shore, and off he went to Nineveh after all.

You cannot run away from someone who loves you that much. Where would you have gone?

There was a soldier so tall that the whole army was afraid of him. Every morning he shouted at them, and every morning nobody would go out.

A shepherd boy called David had come to bring his brothers their lunch. He heard the shouting and said: I will go.

They tried to put armour on him and it was far too big, so he took it off. He picked five smooth stones out of the stream, and he went out with his sling and the name of God, and that was enough.

David was not the biggest. He was the one who was not afraid. What do you think made the difference?

Thousands of people had followed Jesus out to a quiet place to listen, and by evening everyone was hungry and there were no shops anywhere.

One boy had brought his lunch: five little loaves and two fish. It was not nearly enough — but he gave it anyway.

Jesus took the bread, thanked God for it, and began to break it. And it did not run out. Everybody there ate until they were full, and afterwards they picked up twelve baskets of leftovers.

It started with one boy who handed over his lunch. What small thing could you give?

A man was walking down a long road when robbers hurt him and left him lying there.

A priest came along, saw him, and walked by on the other side. Then another important man came, saw him, and did the same.

Then a traveller from Samaria came — somebody the hurt man would not even have spoken to. He stopped. He bandaged him, lifted him onto his own donkey, took him to an inn, and paid for him to be looked after.

Jesus told that story and then asked: which of the three was a neighbour? Who could you stop for this week?