Puppets: Why Worry?

Mooster:  Hey everybody! How are you today? (Wait for replies) Hey…what’s that noise? Do you hear that? Sounds like moaning! I wonder if Moe is hurt? Hey Moe, Moe! Moe, buddy – are you hurt??

Monkey Moe: (Sad moans while Mooster has been speaking..slowly moaning louder and louder: Oh me, oh my, oh worry, worry, worry, oh me oh my, what will happen now??) Yes Mooster, it’s me…I’m not hurt…but I sure am worried…oh, oh…

Mooster: Well, Moe, what in bananas is wrong with you?

Moe: (pokes head through) I’m Sooooooo worried!!!!!!! How can you be here tonight all calm and everything? You’re going to give a Bible story and you are not worried?  

Mooster: Moe, what should I be worried about?

Moe: What? Are you KIDDING me? Don’t you know what’s going on in our country? Our economy is bad, people are losing their jobs and their homes! Our government is trillions of dollars in debt and there’s no end in sight! Food costs are rising. People are going broke just paying for gas to get from one place to another. Families are having to live two and three to a home. There’s violence in the schools and bullying and it isn’t even safe to cross the street! It’s awful! It’s terrible! ……….. (Yells in an exasperated manner:) Don’t you read the newspaper??????

Mooster: Yes, I read the paper. I watch the news, too. You are right about all of those things. Times ARE pretty bad for a lot of people.  I am concerned about the direction this country is heading. We’ve even talked about the possibility of moving if we ever needed to, but I don’t think --

Moe: Moving! Yes! That’s it! I’ll get started packing right now. Let’s see, I need my banana pajamas and my stress ball and my jungle jumprope and my yellow hat and Oh – should I bring a couple hundred pounds of bananas? They might come in handy if we get hungry. Think I can get them all in your backpack?

Mooster: MY backpack?  

Moe: Well you don’t think little old me can carry a couple hundred pounds of bananas, do you? It makes more sense if you carry all the bananas. You’re a moose. You can carry a LOT.

Mooster: Are you saying I’m fat?

Moe: No, no, no – just….um…well suited for burdensome labor.

Mooster: I’ll try to ignore that comment. Anyway, as I was saying….

Moe: What if we can’t find a place to move to? What it there’s no jobs there? What if we can’t get clean water? What if there’s no….oh what a terrifying thought…….what if there’s no….no….no…. B A N A N A S ???     Oh, I’ll just die without them!

Mooster:  Moe – you are worrying!

Moe: Well of COURSE I’m worrying!!!  What else would I be doing? Why aren’t you worrying?

Mooster: Because I know Who holds tomorrow, Moe.

Moe: You mean the president?

Mooster:  No, Moe, the president doesn’t hold tomorrow.

Moe: You mean the Senate? I know they make all kinds of laws and rules and give themselves big fat pay raises and --

Mooster: No, Moe. I don’t mean the Senate. The Senate doesn’t hold tomorrow.

Moe: The House of Representatives?

Mooster: No.

Moe: Oh, I know, I know – the Supreme Court!! They have all kinds of important decisions to make and they make the final ruling over lots of things and they get appointed by the president and voted on by the Congress, so they must control tomorrow.

Mooster: Wrong again, Moe.

Moe: Santa Claus?

Mooster: MOE! Don’t be ridiculous!

Moe: Well, there isn’t anyone left, Mooster!

Mooster: Oh, you are forgetting the most important person of all, Moe. God is the One Who holds tomorrow. Jeremiah 10:12 says, “He hath made the earth by his power, he hath established the world by his wisdom, and hath stretched out the heavens by his discretion.” Who made the world, Moe? Did the president make the world?

Moe: No. God made the world.

Mooster: Who is the One Who had the wisdom to design everything on the earth? Was it the Supreme Court?

Moe: No. It’s God who is smart enough to design everything.

Mooster: Who stretched out the skies and the stars? Did a man do that?

Moe: No. It was God. The Bible says in Genesis 1:16  And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also.

Mooster: Now we are getting somewhere! What does worrying profit you, Moe? What are you getting from all your worrying over tomorrow?

Moe: Well, so far, I’ve gotten a bruised knee from walking into the coffeetable while I was texting my mom about who won the election, and I dropped my piggy bank on my big toe when I was trying to break it open in case I needed the money and I have a terrible pain in my stomach which my dad says is probably ulcers and I keep getting these terrible headaches every time I read the newspaper and I even felt like throwing up today!

Mooster: Because you were worried about the country?

Moe: Well, no, the throwing up part was because I had a monkey world history test today at school and I didn’t study for it so I was afraid I was going to fail it….

Mooster: Oh brother! Moe – all your worrying about stuff is just making you sick and miserable!

Moe: Oh – it sure is!

Mooster: I have a good song for us to learn. It’s called, “Why Worry When You Can Pray?” I think we can get the preacher up here to help us!

(Sing song a couple times.)

Why worry when you can pray

Trust Jesus He’ll be your stay

Don’t be a doubting Thomas

Rest wholly on His promise

Why worry, worry, worry, worry

When you can pray!

Moe: Oh…that was a great song! So…what you’re saying is, that I should be leaving my future to God and just trust Him and pray?

Mooster: That’s right, Moe. Our memory verse today is Psalm 56:3, “What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee.”   When we get worried about tomorrow and what might happen, we need to pray and tell Jesus about it. He already knows what’s going to happen. It isn’t going to surprise Him. He knows and He will take care of you.

Moe: Is there a chorus for that too? Songs help me remember stuff about God.

Mooster: Songs help all of us! Here’s a chorus to help you. 

God will take care of you

Through every day

O’er all the way

He will take care of you

God will take care of you!

Mooster:  Do you feel better now, Moe?

Moe: Yeah, I do feel better. Thanks, Mooster!

Mooster: Kids, you can hear all the grown ups around you talking and worrying about the future and about what may happen in our country. It’s a good thing to talk about that stuff and vote and all that, but you need to remember that God is ALWAYS in control. Even when we don’t understand or can’t see what’s going to happen next, God knows, and we can always trust Him!

Moe: Thanks, Mooster. I’ll try to stop all my silly worrying. Maybe I’ll even be able to study for my next history test! Bye-Bye boys and girls!

Mooster: Bye, everyone!