Secondary: Current Assemblies

EASTER: FLUFFY BUNNIES ARE OPTIONAL
By Stuart Kerner


Suitable for Key Stage 3


Aim

To explain the concept of the atonement.

Preparation and materials

• Examples of ‘non-religious’ Easter cards.
• One large and some small Easter eggs (cream eggs are ideal).
• A willing helper who is prepared to be bellowed at and act the victim.

Assembly

1. Tell the audience that you recently went shopping for Easter cards. Unfortunately, all you found were ones with pictures of fluffy bunnies and cute yellow chicks, but very few with anything connected with Easter (show examples of cards).
2. Comment that for Christians all these sweet and cuddly images fail to reflect the true spirit of Easter, which involves scenes of absolute horror and torture on Good Friday when Jesus was crucified, and the story of the greatest event in human history when he rose again on Easter Day.
3. Say that at the heart of the season is Jesus completing his mission: to die for all our sins, and to then go one better and beat death completely through resurrection. Christians call this ‘the Atonement’ – when God and humanity resolved their differences and put all the previous sins committed behind them.
4. Tell the audience that you will demonstrate what it was that Jesus did when he bore our sins on the cross: Ask them to imagine that the whole assembly have done something unspeakably wrong; perhaps they all took part in a food fight in the canteen, or they all talked during a speech given by an important visitor.
5. Say that they all deserve to be punished, but you will take out your anger and frustration on just one ‘sacrificial lamb’. Look around the audience until you fix your eyes on your pre-prepared ‘victim’. Tell them in no uncertain terms to stand up, and then shout at them as loudly and as viciously as you can before sending them out of the hall.
6. Now say that because everyone else’s guilt has been taken away by the scapegoat, you can give the rest of them a treat. (Carefully) throw the small Easter eggs into the audience, and smile radiantly to show your approval.
7. Ask your victim to come back in and present them with the large Easter egg as a reward, before sending them back to their seat with a well-earned round of applause.
8. Comment that at Easter we should remember the essentials, namely that, like your assembly scapegoat, Jesus removed our sins through his crucifixion, before returning with the greater prize: victory over death and life-eternal. Fluffy bunnies are optional!

Time For Reflection

Reflection:

The following quotations could be used to put the life and importance of Christ in context:

All the armies that ever marched, and all the navies that ever were built, and all the parliaments that ever sat, and all the kings that ever reigned, put together, have not affected the life of man upon this earth as powerfully as has this one solitary life.

Malcolm Muggeridge (1903–90)

God has himself gone through the whole of human experience, from the trivial irritations of family life and the cramping restrictions of hard work and lack of money to the worst horrors of pain and humiliation, defeat, despair, and death.

Dorothy L. Sayers (1893–1957)

Alexander, Caesar, Charlemagne, and myself founded empires; but upon what did we rest the creations of our genius? Upon force. Jesus Christ alone founded his empire upon love, and at this hour millions of men would die for him.

Napoleon Bonaparte (1769–1821)

Prayer:

Lord Jesus,

When you opened your arms on the cross,

You embraced us all.

When you died on the cross,

You gave us all new life.

When you rose again,

You conquered death.

Let us give thanks this Eastertide

for your wonderful sacrifice.

Amen.

Song

‘Lord of the dance’ (Come and Praise, 22)