Richer than you think!
AGE: KS3
TIME: 15 minutes
AIM: To take a fresh look at all the blessings in our lives and give thanks to God for them.
THEMES: God, harvest, thanksgiving
FORMAT:
· Sketch / Game
· Illustration
· Talk
· Reflection
1. The Wish List
Resources: The Wish List sketch
Start the assembly with the ‘Wish List’ sketch (see additional materials). If running with younger children, you may wish to use the memory game instead.
(1a. Memory game)
Resources: As preparation, collect about 15 different items. For younger children, you may wish to make them ‘harvest’ themed, i.e. bread, vegetables, cans of food. For older children, you may wish to make them ‘typical’ items that your average tweenager will own, e.g. a mobile phone, a hairdryer, DVD, etc.
Present the items to the assembly. Hide them away again and see how many of the items the young people can remember. Link this into the talk: we have so much, we can barely keep track of it all!
2. Illustration
Resources: Life size cardboard cut-out of a person (or a mannequin!); big marker pens.
Invite a couple of student volunteers. Introduce your ‘friend’ (i.e. the cardboard cut-out). Explain that – embarrassingly – he’s short of clothes. Look to the students to help:
Ask if any have a spare jumper / pair of jeans / pair of socks, etc with them that they could dress him with? If so, dress him there and then. If not, ask for a show of hands to see if any have any of these items at home that they never wear any more. Invite the volunteers to draw these onto the cardboard cutout. Congratulate the students on dressing him nicely.
Invite the students to check their pockets. Do they have any money in their pockets? Do any have 10p on them right now? What about 20p?
Explain that your friend is struggling to get by, despite having a regular job and working really hard. He grows cocoa beans, but doesn’t get a good wage for it. All he would need to change that would be people who were willing to spend an extra 10p or 20p to buy fairly traded chocolate to change his situation. Who would be willing to give their 10p up for his good?
3. Talk
Sometimes we need to choose to see the world a little differently – particularly when it comes to what we’ve got. Often, we get caught up in this constant desire of wanting more: a new phone, new clothes, a different hair colour. We may even think that we’re a little bit hard done by. But the truth is, we have so much to be grateful for – if only we would choose to notice it.
Harvest is traditionally a time to stop and reflect on all the things that we have. When the crops were in, there was celebration and thanksgiving for the fact that God had once again provided for his people. Christians believe that everything we have has come from Him: our food, our clothes, our homes, our friends and family. But too often we take these things for granted. The truth is, we are incredibly rich. We actually have more than enough and we don’t even realise it!
In this respect, we have the opportunity to help others who could do with a helping hand. Recycling clothes at clothes banks, often found at the local supermarket, will help to clothe people both here and abroad. Spending a little bit of extra money on ethically traded goods will not make a lot of difference to us, but will change life dramatically for the people who made them!
4. Reflection
Take a moment to stop and reflect on the many good things that you have.
§ How can we live a life that says thank you for what we have?
§ How can we look to share what we have with people who are not as fortunate as we are?