Primary Current Assemblies
YOUR OWN FINGERPRINT
By
Guy Donegan-Cross
Suitable for Key Stage 2
Aim
To encourage children to enjoy their unique identity.
Preparation and materials
Assembly
- Show the big picture of a fingerprint. You may like to reveal it slowly and ask children what they think it is.
- Share these facts about fingerprints:
Your fingerprints are formed long before you are born, when you are only a few weeks old in the womb.
They don’t change as you grow older.
If you scratch your fingers your fingerprints grow back exactly the same.
Identical twins have different fingerprints.
Nobody in the world has the same fingerprints as you.
You are unique.
God has a special plan for you that is different from anybody else’s. The Bible says that before you were born, God knew you. (‘You saw me before I was born’: Psalm 139.16.) You don’t have to be like anyone else.
- Tell this story:
There was once a stonecutter who was dissatisfied with himself and with his position in life. One day, he passed a wealthy merchant’s house and through the open gateway saw many fine possessions and important visitors.
‘How powerful that merchant must be!’ thought the stonecutter. He became very envious, and wished that he could be like the merchant. Then he would no longer have to live the life of a mere stonecutter.
Then, to his great surprise, his wish came true. Suddenly he became the merchant, enjoying more luxuries and power than he had ever dreamed of, envied and detested by those less wealthy than himself.
A short time later he was out walking when an important official passed by, carried in a sedan chair, accompanied by attendants, and escorted by soldiers beating gongs. Everyone, no matter how wealthy, had to bow low before the procession.
‘How powerful that official is!’ he thought. ‘I wish that I could be an important official!’
Then suddenly his wish came true again. He became an important official, carried along in his embroidered sedan chair. He saw that he was both feared and hated by the people around him, all of whom had to bow down as he passed.
It was a hot summer’s day and the man felt very uncomfortable in the sticky sedan chair. He looked up at the sun. It shone proudly in the sky, unaffected by his presence.
‘How powerful the sun is!’ he thought. ‘I wish that I could be the sun!’
And suddenly he became the sun, shining fiercely down on everyone, scorching the fields, cursed by the farmers and labourers.
But then a huge black cloud moved between him and the earth, so that his light could no longer shine on everything below.
‘How powerful that storm cloud is!’ he thought. ‘I wish that I could be a cloud!’
And then he was the cloud, sending torrents of rain down, flooding the fields and villages. Again he was cursed by everyone down below.
But soon he found that he was being pushed away by some great force, and realized that it was the wind.
‘How powerful it is!’ he thought. ‘I wish that I could be the wind!’
Then he became the wind, blowing so strongly that tiles came off roofs, trees were uprooted, and he was hated and feared by everyone below him.
After a while, however, he ran up against something that would not move, no matter how forcefully he blew against it – a huge, towering rock.
‘How powerful that rock is!’ he thought. ‘I wish that I could be a rock!’
Then he became the rock, more powerful than anything else on earth.
But as he stood there, he heard the sound of a hammer pounding a chisel into the solid rock and felt himself being changed.
‘What could be more powerful than I, the rock?’ he thought. He looked down and saw far below him the figure of a stonecutter.
Time for reflection
Ask the children, what should the stonecutter have done at the beginning?
You have your own fingerprints, different from anyone else’s in the world. God doesn’t want you to be like other people. He wants you to be YOU.
Prayer
Dear God,
Thank you that you love me as I am.
Thank you that no one else is like me.
Thank you that you have a plan, just for me.
Amen.
Song
‘Somebody greater’ (Come and Praise, 5)
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