Change Is Possible

An assembly from the Culham St Gabriel archive

Suitable for Whole School (Pri)

Aims

To consider that change is always possible with the help of God and others.

Preparation and materials

• Have available a selection of gardening tools, such as pruning shears, secateurs and a small axe. Alternatively, have available some images of them and the means to display them during the assembly. For example:
  
  - pruning shears, available at: https://tinyurl.com/3xvw49vv
  - secateurs, available at: https://tinyurl.com/y9gakdlm
  - a small axe, available at: https://tinyurl.com/y755k5cb
• Note: if the actual items are brought into the assembly, make sure that suitable health-and-safety precautions are in place.

Assembly

1. Show the selection of gardening tools.
   
   Discuss with the children how each tool is used. Explain that each of the tools helps the gardener with a specific job. Each one is a sort of ‘strength’ that adds to our own.
   
   
2. Discuss how sometimes, a gardener has to be ruthless about pruning branches and plants that are not helping the garden to stay healthy and well-kept.
   
   
3. In the Bible, Jesus is sometimes referred to as a type of tree. John 15.1-2 describes Jesus as the ‘vine’ and his followers as the ‘branches’. This passage tells us that Jesus wants to get rid of the bad things about us and help us improve all the great things about us. This leads Christians to believe that if, for example, we are struggling to stop lying, we can ask God for help and he will help us. Alternatively, if we want to stop being unkind, we can ask God to help us with that, too, and so on.
   
   
4. Sometimes, we get in trouble without meaning to! Christians believe that God can help us to change, but there are other people who can also help us a great deal. If we have a problem, it is good to speak to a family member, a teacher or a friend. We don’t need to feel bad about ourselves or worried: there are always people who want to help.

Time for reflection

Are we struggling with anything at the moment?

Do we wish we could change something in our lives? Who are we going to speak to about it?

Maybe some of us would want to pray and ask God for help?

Prayer
Dear God,
Thank you that you are always there to listen to us at any time.
Please help us when we are sad or feel worried about something.
Please help us to speak to someone about our problems.
Please help us to know that change is always possible.
Amen.

Song/music

‘The building song’ (Come and Praise, 61)