Friday, March 13, 2009

The Magic Purse

So, shameless sell-promotion is okay when you're not selling anything, right? I mean, what's a blog for?

I wrote a short story a while back called The Magic Purse. It's a little fable about scarcity and abundance. Over the years a number of people have downloaded it from a collection of stewardship resources hosted by Luther Seminary and told me that it was helpful to them in their congregations. Cool!

For the last couple of weeks I've been having some more fun with it at my current church. I've used it as the basis for a contest for kids, inviting them to write alternate endings and to create illustrations. It's been fun to see their work! I've created a little website in support of that where you can read the story and the alternate endings and see the illustrations. So if that's intriguing to you, or you're looking for a stewardship resource to use in a creative way, check it out. I think you'll like it.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I am curious if there is a particular scripture was your inspiration for "The Magic Purse"? I am drawn back to John 6:41-71 as I read it. As a faith-building story it helps me turn away from worries of the 2nd great depression back to living each day with the fullness and power of the source of life. Thanks.

Feral Pastor said...

Although there isn't a particular verse that inspired the story, I did use the subtitle "An Easter Fable" in the first version, so in a way the resurrection itself is the source story.

For me, the passages it resonates with most strongly on the abundance theme are these two:

From John 12 "I tell you for certain that a grain of wheat that falls on the ground will never be more than one grain unless it dies. But if it dies, it will produce lots of wheat. If you love your life, you will lose it. If you give it up in this world, you will be given eternal life."

And from John 4 "Jesus answered, "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.""

On the other major theme of Joy, I often return to this passage from John 15 "I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete."

Thanks for your comment!