Precious gift: An Easter assembly

To think about what Easter is all about.

by Susan MacLean

Suitable for Whole School (Pri)

Aims

To think about what Easter is all about.

Preparation and materials

• Bronze, silver and gold badges from someone who donates blood.

Assembly

1. Tell the children about how often you (or the person you got the badges from) give blood. Explain why you go (so that other people will live), what happens, how long it takes, your cup of tea and chocolate biscuit at the end, etc.
2. Has anyone here ever been given an award for anything? Let them tell, and say ‘Well done!’ Show the badges that you have. You get these badges when you give blood. Who can guess how many times you have to give blood to get these badges? Bronze = 10, silver = 25, gold = 50.
   
   You can only give blood three times a year and you have to be fit and healthy each time, so it is a great achievement to get any of these badges. Blood is critical for life – if we lose too much at one time, we die, but we can give away lots and lots in small doses, and our bodies can quickly make up the difference.
3. The Bible tells us that Jesus came to show us what God is like, and how much God loves us. At Easter time we think of Jesus dying on the cross and how God brought him back from the dead three days later. Jesus’ life is like God’s gift to the world.
4. Ask the children to put their hands in the air – you could also put your own hands in the air to prove the point. Put one hand down if you have never told a lie, put one hand down if you have never had a fight with your brother or sister or mum or dad, put one hand down if you have always done everything that you have been told to do, put one hand down if you have never been in a bad mood.
   
   I think that we should all still have at least two hands up. This means that we all say or do things that are not what we know we should be doing.
5. It took 10, 25 or 50 donations of blood to be awarded these badges, but Jesus only had to come once so that we can see what God is really like.
6. Our blood is precious, and when we are old enough, we can give our blood so that other people can live. Jesus’ life was even more precious.

Time for reflection

When we are older we can give blood so that other people can live. At Easter-time, we remember Jesus coming to show us what God is like. What could we do today to share God’s love with other people?

Prayer
Thank you, God, that we can do something like giving blood
so that other people can live.
As we eat our Easter eggs, help us to remember that
Jesus came so that we can live with Him for ever.
Amen.

Song/music

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