Puppets: Oh Be Careful Little Tongue What You Say

Oh Be Careful Little Tongue What You Say

Mooster:  Hey everybody! How are you today? You doing good?  Great!  Hey Moe!

Moe: Hi Mooster!  Wow - there sure are a lot of kids at the park today – can you see them all from here?

Mooster: Yep, there sure are a lot of kids!  And yes, I can see them all. We have a good view of the playground from up here in this treehouse.

Moe:  Hey, look at that little kid with the big black-rimmed glasses. I just heard a great joke at school today! It’s about this four-eyed kid, see, and –

Mooster:  Monkey Moe! You don’t call people 4-eyes! Just because someone wears glasses doesn’t mean you make fun of them.

Moe: Oh. Sorry, Mooster. ….So…uh.. you don’t want to hear the joke?

Mooster: NO!

Moe: Okay, okay. {pause} Oh – look at that kid over there! He’s only got one leg! Hey – I wonder if his friends nicknamed him peg-leg!

Mooster: Moe! What is wrong with you? Do you think that name sounds nice?

Moe: I don’t know…I guess I didn’t think about it.

Mooster: Well think about it: Would you want someone calling you “peg-leg” if you only had one leg? What if he was in a bad car accident and that’s how he lost it? Or what if he had a terrible illness?

Moe: Oh…I wasn’t thinking about WHY he had only one leg, I guess.

Mooster:  Would you like it if I called you Banana Brain?

Moe: No, I wouldn’t. Let’s change the subject. I was at the mall yesterday, and there was this older man in a wheelchair and I was watching him as his wife was pushing him around the mall and –

Mooster: You were staring at the man??

Moe: Well…yeah…I was waiting to see if he was going to drop his dentures when he bit into his sandwich!

Mooster: MOE! That’s terrible. Don’t you know it’s rude to stare at people! Don’t you have any manners at all?

Moe: (In a pouty voice) That’s what my mom said, too. Nevermind about the guy at the mall. (Gets excited again) Hey - Did you hear what Jungle Johnny said about Teacher Smith? He was busy comparing Mr. Smith’s teeth to bananas, you know, because they are long and yellow and then he said …

Mooster: Wait just a minute! Now you’re gossiping.

Moe: What’s “gossiping” mean?

Mooster: Talking about other people behind their back.

Moe: Well he’s not even here – how can I know where his back is?

Mooster: Location is not the point, Moe! You are about to say something unkind about someone else. Aren’t you?

Moe: Well….I don’t know. I was just going to say what Johnny said. But…I guess it probably wasn’t very nice.

Mooster: So why are you repeating it?

Moe: I don’t know – it gives me something to talk about?

Mooster: You can come up with better topics. Mr. Smith is a very fine teacher and the dental condition of his bicuspids is unimportant to your education.

Moe: Oh…yeah…. I guess you’re right.  And his teeth have nothing to do with my schoolwork, either. So…what’s our Bible verse for today?

Mooster: Apparently, it’s very appropriate. Proverbs 17:20 says, “He that hath a froward heart findeth no good: and he that hath a perverse tongue falleth into mischief.” Do you realize that what you say is very important? You can be as the hands of Jesus, lifting someone up by your words of kindness, or you can be the tool of the devil, tearing someone down and destroying them!

Moe: Oh! I never thought about that! I don’t want to be a tool of Satan.

Mooster: I know you don’t, Moe. Being kind is something that adults and children often have a hard time doing because they simply don’t think about their actions. They don’t even realize when they are not being kind. But being kind is something we should practice doing all the time.

Moe: Hey kids, Mooster is right. I need to be more careful about what I say. Can any of you children give me an example of saying kind words to someone?

(Wait for responses)

Mooster:  Those are great answers, kids! There are lots of ways to show kindness to people through what we say. Plus, there are many things we should NOT do. For instance, we should not call people names, like 4-eyes or Peg-leg or Banana Brain.  And, we can do things for people to help them. Jesus always spoke kindly to those He loved and cared for.  Did you know that Jesus even washed the feet of His disciples? That was an act of kindness and humility.

Moe: ewwww! I wouldn’t want to wash anyone’s feet. Yuck. What if they had banana mush between their toes? Ga-rossssss!

Mooster: Well, Moe, Jesus did a lot of things for us that we probably wouldn’t want to do. But I doubt the disciples had banana mush between their toes.

Moe: But Jesus HAD to do nice things, didn’t he? I mean, God the Father made Him come to earth for us, right?

Mooster:  No, Moe, God didn’t MAKE Jesus come to earth. That was an act of kindness and love and mercy on the part of God the Father and God the Son, Jesus Christ. God was kind in making a way for us to be saved and Jesus was kind in being willing to come to earth and be our way to heaven. God separated a part of Himself to sacrifice as payment for our sins. He loves us that much!

Moe: Ohhhhhh. So Jesus volunteered to come to earth and die for us.

Mooster: That’s right, Moe. Jesus is kind and loving to us. So we should be kind and loving in return.  Mr. Songleader, can we sing John 3:16?

Songleader leads everyone in singing John 3:16

Moe: Mooster….making fun of people that are different from us or calling someone names isn’t kind and loving, is it?

Mooster: It certainly isn’t.

Moe: I’m sorry I said all that other stuff before. I wouldn’t want someone calling me 4 eyes or fatso or peg-leg or banana brain or anything else.

Mooster: So what could you do instead?

Moe: I know! I could go talk to those kids and be their friend! That would be kind, wouldn’t it?

Mooster: Yes, that would be kind.

Moe: And, maybe we could help each other! Maybe the little boy with only one leg is really good in math and he could help me. I stink at math. But I’m really good at history! Maybe we could study together and help each other!

Mooster:  I think that’s a great idea!

Moe: OH Oh Oh! Annnnnd – I could invite him to come to listen to our Bible story next week!

Mooster: Moe, that’s a great idea, too. Then he could also hear about Jesus and how to be saved! That would be the greatest kindness of all.

Moe: Annnnnddd… I suppose I need to learn to not listen when other people are saying mean or unkind things about others. What did you call that again?

Mooster: It’s called gossip. When you talk badly about someone else, you are gossiping.

Moe: Yeah. I hadn’t thought about it before, but gossiping is mean, too. I’ll try not to do that anymore, either!  Hey – those are all things we can all do this week, boys and girls! We can all invite our friends to come with us next week to listen to the Bible story. You know, anyone is welcome to come. We can all practice not being mean and not repeating mean things.

Mooster: That’s exactly right, Monkey Moe. Everyone is welcome. How about it kids? Can you show someone kindness this week? See if you can help someone. Be nice. Play fair. Don’t call anyone names. And invite someone to come to church with you. Then they can hear about Jesus and how He loved us so much that He came to earth and paid for our sins so we can go to heaven. That’s the greatest act of kindness and love that this world has ever known.

Moe: I’m going to the playground to go make some new friends – bye!

Mooster: Bye Moe! Bye kids!!!