James: The tongue is the smallest mightiest muscle

Gospel Puppet Show

September 16, 2012

Kathyrn as the emcee; and James

Kathryn: Welcome boys and girls to Sunday School Puppet Theatre.  Today I am going to interview a famous man.  He wrote a letter and this letter became a part of the Bible.  Let’s give a big applause to our guest today.  Welcome James.  Thank you for being with us today.

James:  I’m happy to be here today but I thought that I was going to be talking to old people; but I’m looking at these people and they are not old people, they are beautiful young children.  Hi, Kids, how are you doing?  Thank you for coming today.

Kathryn: James, you wrote a very famous letter?  What was the name of your letter.

James: It doesn’t have a difficult name; it’s call the letter of James.  It could be called a letter from me, James to the church.

Kathryn:  What happened to your letter that it became so famous?

James:  Well, I was writing to give some advice about how to live a good life by learning from Jesus Christ.  I sent this letter to one person and he shared with other people and they shared it with others and like the most famous chain letter, it soon was shared with lots of people.

Kathryn:  Well, it must have been very popular.  It must have had some very good advice.

James:  Well, I hope so.  I just want people to be successful in living good lives and so I am happy to share this letter with everyone.

Kathryn:  Well, it was shared with so many people and so many people read it that it became a part of the Bible.  And now people have been reading your letter for 2000 years.  But today, you want to share something from your letter that you wrote.

James: I want to share with you a riddle.

Kathryn:  Okay, what’s your riddle?

James:  What is one of the smallest but most powerful muscles in the human body?

Kathryn:  What do you think kids?  What is the smallest most powerful muscles in the body?  Is it your biceps?  Your triceps?  Your thigh muscles?  Your calf muscles?  Those are strong muscles but they are also big muscles.

Okay, we give up James.  What is the smallest, most powerful muscle in the body?

James:  The smallest but most powerful muscle in the body is the human tongue.

Kathryn: Now that’s a surprise.  The tongue cannot lift a heavy weight.  The tongue cannot run a long race.  The tongue cannot jump.  The tongue cannot throw a football.  How is the tongue the strongest muscle?

James:  The tongue is the smallest and strongest muscles because what can we do with the tongue?

Kathryn:  Well, I use my tongue to lick an ice cream cone.  I think the children are very good at that too.  But does your tongue have to be strong to lick an ice cream cone or to eat?

James:  Well, no but what else do you use the tongue for?

Kathryn:  We use our tongues for talking.  But does that make our tongue strong?

James:  Yes, talking and speaking with our tongue makes our tongues the strongest muscle in our bodies.

Kathryn:  How does talking with our tongue make us strong?

James:  When a general speaks an order to all of the soldiers can he make them go to battle?

Kathryn: Yes, he can.

James: So talking can start a army to go to battle.  Can a tongue heal a person and make them better?

Kathryn:  Well, yes it can.  When I am sick and someone tells me that they love me and they are praying for me, I feel much better.

James:  A tongue is so strong that it can hurt people too.

Kathryn:  Yes, when people say mean things to us and when they hurt our feelings, it can make us feel very bad.  And now I understand your riddle.  A tongue is a very strong muscle.

James:  Yes, it is very strong and so we have to use our tongue in the right way.  We have to use it to speak words of love and kindness.  We have to use it to teach others.  We have to use it to encourage each other and help each.

Kathryn:  Yes, and we have to use it to lick ice cream cones too.

James:  Yes, a tongue is good for licking ice cream too.

Kathryn:  Mr. James, thank you for sharing your riddle with us today.

James:  You’re very welcome.  And children can you remember how great your tongues are?  If your tongues are very strong muscles, can you use them today to help to say words of love and encouragement?  If you can do this then your tongues will be a very powerful force of love in our word.

Kathryn:  Children, repeat after me:  I will use my tongue to speak powerful words of love and kindness.

James:  Amen.