Brentwood Hills Church of Christ

Puppet Script for Children’s Worship Training

Lesson #9 – “Jesus in the Temple”

Characters needed:

Old Man	(old man is played by a woman trying to make the voice of an old man, or a man who sounds like a woman trying to make the voice of an old man, hee hee!)
Lion	(either man or woman, but some kind of original voice)
Boy	(man talking like a boy, in a high-pitched voice)
Clucky	(the chicken - anyone comedic)
Dog	(sits there the whole time but says something at the end)

Dog:	(comes out, pants, moves around, then just sits there)
Clucky:	(pops up, lost, seems sad, trying to find old man) “Brock, brock! Brock-a-brock…” (pops down before old man comes up)
Old Man:	(pops up, seems sad, trying to find Clucky) “Clucky! Clucky! Here Clucky, clucky! Where are you Clucky?” (pops down before Clucky comes up)
Clucky:	(pops up, still lost and sad) “Brock! Brock, brock!” (pops down before old man pops up)
Old Man:	(pops up, still trying to find Clucky) “Clucky! Clucky! Oh, I know you’re around here somewhere! I wish I could find you! Where are ya, Clucky?” (pops down)
Clucky:	(pops up, still trying to find old man, this time sounds really sad) “Brock, brock… Brock!” (stays on stage)
Old Man:	(pops up, right next to Clucky) “A hah! I found you!”
Clucky:	(rejoices) “Brock, brock-ahhhhh!”
Old Man:	“Oh, I’m so glad I found you, dear, sweet Clucky! Now why’d ya go off and get lost again? Why do you keep doin’ that to me, eh?”
Boy:	(pops up, seeing the situation) “So you found your Clucky again, eh, old man? Why does he keep getting lost?”
Old Man:	(laughing) Hah, hah, hah, if I knew why he kept gettin’ lost I’d gladly tell ya, but nobody knows that except the Cluckster. Not sure this chicken has all his WIRIN’ straight, if ya know what I mean! Ohhhhh, but I love him anyway, he’s so sweet and good, and…”
Lion:	(pops up and interrupts) “Hey, old man…you found Clucky again I see!”
Old Man:	“Yep, I found him. And what a relief too! I just can’t BEAR it when my Clucky’s missin’.”
Lion:	(laughs) Ahhhhhh, don’t worry, old man. You know, even the best of people get lost sometimes. It even happened to Jesus.”
Boy:	“No way! You mean Jesus got lost? Isn’t he perfect? And if he’s perfect, then how could he get lost?”
Lion:	“Well, actually, HE wasn’t lost. He was right where he was supposed to be, in a spiritual sense. But his PARENTS thought he was lost, because he wasn’t with them.”
Boy:	(confused) “Huh?”
Lion:	(laughing at the boy’s confusion) “Haa haa haa…let me tell you the whole story, so you’ll know what I’m talking about. (pause) Jesus and his family were on a trip, ya see, when Jesus was, oh, about 12 years old, and there were lots and lots of people on this trip, and Jesus was in the temple worshiping and teaching when his group decided to go home. WELLLLLLL, no one knew that Jesus was in the temple, and they all started to go home. They traveled for a WHOLE DAY before they noticed that Jesus wasn’t with them.”
Boy:	“A WHOLE DAY? Wow, I bet Jesus was really scared if he didn’t know where his parents were for a whole day!”
Lion:	“Well, actually, he wasn’t scared because he was in his father’s house.”
Boy:	“Wait a minute! I thought you just said that he was in the TEMPLE, not his FATHER’S HOUSE.”
Lion:	“Ahhhhh, you’re very observant. Think about who Jesus is. He is the son of God, right?”
Boy:	“Right.”
Lion:	“And his father is….”
Boy:	“Oh, I know…Joseph!”
Lion:	“Yes, Joseph was his EARTHLY father…but…his real father is GOD, and he was in GOD’S HOUSE…the TEMPLE.”
Boy:	(understands) “Oh, I get it! So I bet his PARENTS were really scared that they couldn’t find HIM.”
Lion:	“That’s right. They went all the way back to get him and looked all over for him, and when they finally found him in the temple they asked him, ‘Why have you done this to us?’ cause they were pretty upset, and do you know what he said?”
Boy:	“Uhhhhh…I disobeyed you and I’m sorry?”
Lion:	“No…Jesus didn’t disobey his parents. He was just looking at things with spiritual eyes. He knew that God his father was more important than anything on this earth.”
Boy:	“Yeah, my mom keeps telling me that I should love God more than her and daddy, but that’s hard to do sometimes because I can’t really see God, you know.”
Lion:	“We can see God in the way he works in our life, and, YES, we should love him EVEN MORE than our parents, because God is perfect, and our parents, as wonderful as they are, are NOT perfect.”
Boy:	(thinking, then gets an idea) “Hmmmmm…so does that mean that I don’t have to obey my parents any more?”
Lion:	(laughs) No, no, no…by obeying our parents, we are obeying God. In fact, the Bible even says that after this little episode where Jesus got lost, he went with his parents and was obedient to them, and grew in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man.”
Boy:	“Huh? What does that mean?”
Lion:	“It means that he obeyed his parents, and that he grew up big and strong into a man, and that he learned a lot of things and was really smart, and that he had a lot of friends, and that God was his friend too.”
Boy:	“Wow! I wanna be like that! He sounds PERFECT!”
Lion:	(laughs loudly) “My boy, he IS perfect! He’s God, remember?”
Boy:	“Oh, yeah!”
Old Man:	“Well, I know Clucky here will never be perfect, but I love him anyway! He’s a good boy, and he tries hard, even if he still gets lost a lot.”
Lion:	(to old man) “And I bet your parents loved you too when you got lost or didn’t do everything perfectly.”
Old Man:	“Yeah, they loved me alright. I’m pretty darn LOVABLE, don’t cha think? Hee hee hee, see ya later everyone!” (Old Man and Clucky exit)
Dog:	“Obedient and good, and woof, lovable and kind, and, woof, JUST LIKE JESUS! Woof, woof!”
Lion:	(to boy) “Now go on home to your mama, and try to be GOOD and OBEDIENT just like Jesus! And think about spiritual things!”
Boy:	“OK, I will! Bye-bye everyone, see you later!” (lion and boy exit)