Say It with Flowers
An assembly from the Culham St Gabriel archive
Suitable for Whole School (Pri) - Church Schools
Aims
To reflect on the messages that we can send by giving flowers.
Preparation and materials
You will need a simple bouquet of flowers and four children. Each child should hold a card with one word from the following sentence written on it: 'Say it with flowers'.
You will need reflective music and the means to play this at the start and end of the assembly.
Assembly
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As the music plays, the four children should move quietly to stand at the front. The leader should, without speaking, hold up the bouquet of flowers. Following this, the four children should reveal the words on their cards to spell out the sentence, 'Say it with flowers'.
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Ask the children to think about occasions when flowers are given and received.
Listen to a range of responses.
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Point out that, although flowers cannot actually speak, they can say a number of things. Ask the children what flowers could say. Answers could include, 'thank you', 'sorry', 'happy birthday' and 'I love you'. Many occasions when flowers are given are happy occasions. However, flowers can also be given at sad times, such as when someone dies.
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Of course, flowers are not only given as a gift. They are seen in people’s gardens, in the countryside, in flower pots in town centres and out in the fields. These flowers may not have been given as a gift to say something specific, but they are still conveying a message. The message is that spring and summer have arrived. This can make people feel happy, excited and hopeful about the future!
Time for reflection
Ask the children how they feel when they see flowers appearing. Explain that there is a passage in the Bible that speaks about the end of winter and the feeling of happiness as summer arrives.
Read the passage in the Bible from Song of Solomon 2:11-12.
See, the winter is past,
The rains are over and gone,
Flowers appear on the earth,
The season of singing has come,
The cooing of doves is heard in our land.
Ask the children if seeing the flowers in the fields makes them want to sing!
Explain that, after the prayer and song, you would like one child from each class to come forward to take a flower from the bouquet. They should place this flower at the front of their classroom. In this way, the children will be able to look at the flower during the day and be reminded of the beautiful world in which we live.
Prayer
Dear God,
Thank you for all the different seasons of the year.
Thank you that, as we move into the seasons of spring and summer, we see the beautiful designs of the flowers.
Please help our hearts to be glad.
Please help us to feel like singing!
Amen.
Song/music
'Think of a world without any flowers' (Come and Praise, 17)
