Its my turn coming up again to work with the kids at church anyone have a thought on a routine for Gods love is forgiving ? the following verse is the verse for that weekend

Luke 19:1-10New International Version (NIV)

Zacchaeus the Tax Collector
19 Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. 2 A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy. 3 He wanted to see who Jesus was, but because he was short he could not see over the crowd. 4 So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way.

5 When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.” 6 So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly.

7 All the people saw this and began to mutter, “He has gone to be the guest of a sinner.”

8 But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.”

9 Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. 10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”

I used to do a "forgiveness" themed Comedy Card in Balloon. I used a blue balloon, a red balloon (the one the card would appear in) and a yellow balloon. You can come up with a fitting story line, but obviously the red balloon represents the blood of Christ.

(1) I use a torn and restored heart

Each time you sin pull off a piece and say we do it sometimes sin carelessly and other times worry about what the build up of sin is doing to our life

When asked God for forgiveness, ourcsin is removed and the heart is restored

(2) Laflin has an effect using the magic colouring book effect, for around $15 that has three phases - all of the sins leading to deaths, sins cancelled by Jesus, and finally blank pages for we start again

NB - for young children / outreach I talk about the LOVE of Christ, for older children I use the term BLOOD

I've made a color Book effect -when you first flip through - all kinds of sins are printed(with charcole smeered & Dirty) after running a red silk through it -then flipped the pages- ALL BRIGHT WHITE - if you can make a color changing silk that goes from Red(or black) to WHITE - also can make the compus arrow effect that you can open (so the square is actully doubled and folded in half) after saying all the ways we can sin - open the effect and it says "FORGIVEN" -it can also be made to look like a GIFT with the Bow and Ribbon pointed like the Arrow -when opened -"A GREAT GIFT, FORGIVENES"- any help? Ralph (russo)Rousseau - p.s. go to 'search' and enter russo, many effects (plus a few simipersonal messages)

Soft soap

Agree with Bill...soft soap is ideal. I've recently been looking into purchasing Dary'ls Acrobatic Knot because it seems conducive to a routine involving forgiveness (Jesus taking on our sin burden.) Haven't flushed it out yet but hit me one night as I was viewing a demo vid of the product.

Steve

I've had that thought as well.

My new prop purchases take much much longer these days.

Some wonderful idea thank you so much such a giving group and your help makes working with these kids so much fun its one year now that I have been a regular performer at the this particular church its been a blessing and a great learning experience

Harris, if you're ever interested in collaborating on a routine I'd enjoy the fellowship.

I am not at home to check the name, but I have another. The one with tear apart bag and the little clothes line and wooden clothes pins. Easier to use. Anyone remember the name?

I'd search for my favorite verbal illustrations or stories that communicate God's forgiveness. That's the focus and once you have that, picking a routine to illustrate that presentation should be easy. If you find an analogy you like, post it here and we can all dig into our magic toolbox to find a trick to go with it. You may decide you don't need a trick at all.

The other trick I was referring to above is " Scrub-A-Dub. Great trick. I have had great reactions with it.

Put some black clothes on action figures and use pressure trick to show bondage. Break free from balloon and wash white with water from cup that stays full.

Scrub-A-Dub is a great effect. I like Greg Phillips version. His comes with the tear-apart bag that has a cross on it to end the routine.

You can contact him here:
http://gregphillipsmagic.com

Why did she laugh.

.....fast forward. ...
And the called their son Isaac.

Humor can be wonderful.

As a vent I use the following after Nigel goes over the top ( using the old Bill Boley Ring Announcer / Echo Voice.

Nigel- Forgiveness is divine, sayeth The Lord

Harris - Spare the rod and hate the puppet!

Sometimes I don't restore the rope or as above the heart.

I use the line I can't

He can

I will let Him (God )
Help me with forgiveness issues

I used the Cross Bag / Scru-A-Dub routine this past weekend as well as at a large outreach 2 weekends ago. It went over great!

The premise is similar to a soft-soap routine with a few embellishments.

I've found that the most effective routines to illustrate forgiveness is when something is ruined or destroyed and then made whole or brand new again - or - when "SIN" is removed. So a soft-soap premise, cut and restored or torn and restored... or something that represents sin and is impossible to remove is somehow, removed.

I just came across a pen thru dollar routine (not the magnetic one) that I am enlarging so I can use large pieces of paper and a large spike or even a large knife - in that way I can have anything that can be printed (message or picture) on the paper.

Without exposing the secret: you fold a dollar in half and fold another piece of paper over it. You shove a pencil or knife thru both pieces of paper - it clearly looks like the pencil or knife is going thru both pieces (it fooled me when I saw it). You remove the pencil/knife and the dollar is unharmed - but the paper has a hole in it.

I plan on using it to illustrate the devastating affects of sin and yet, Christ took the punishment upon Himself - thus giving us the opportunity to be whole and forgiven.

Using the Magic Compass aka High Sign

One could talk about forgiving 70 times 7
And as you have the area go left to right talk about as far as the East is from the West as
He stretched out his arms.
The up and down arrows could be used as well

If you are into sound at the end drop 3 very large nails/spikes.
The ones I use are about 1 foot long

Depending on where you are, you might want to be aware of wood floors etc.

Love and prayers
Brother Harris

Hi - as Harris suggested you can use the Magic Compus - though I made mine 12 x 24(or 14 X28 -etc-etc) so you can fold it in half -outsides as regular compus - inside has the words FORGIVNESS _ arrows up/down/sideways- nowmatter where/how-- God Forgives - Also you can make the outside(Arrow sides)decor as a gift with ribbons & Bow where the arrow point is - befor opening you could say "the greatest gift is!!!---" 'FORGIVNESS' Ralph(russo)Rousseau