It Wasn’t Me!

An assembly in the ‘Hello, Scruff!’ series

by Revd Sylvia Burgoyne

Suitable for Reception / Key Stage 1 - Church Schools

Aims

To consider the idea of taking the blame for someone else.

Preparation and materials

• You will need a glove puppet or sock puppet of a donkey, called Scruff.

• As the assembly begins, ensure that you already have Scruff the puppet on your hand.

• This is the third in a series of ‘Hello, Scruff!’ assemblies about the life of Joseph. The first assembly in the series, ‘He Makes Me Mad!’, is available at: http://www.assemblies.org.uk/pri/2705/he-makes-me-mad
  The second assembly in the series, ‘A Bad Choice!’, is available at:
  http://www.assemblies.org.uk/pri/2899/a-bad-choice

Assembly

1. Scruff waves to the children. Encourage them to say, ‘Hello, Scruff!’
   
   If this is the first time the children have met Scruff, you will need to use the following introduction.

   Scruff lives on a farm with Lucy Jane, her mum, Mrs B, her dad, Farmer Brown, and her baby brother, Tom. Lucy Jane loves Scruff. She looks after him. She plays with him and she talks to him – when she’s happy and when she’s sad. Scruff is her best friend!

2. Lucy Jane was crying when she came into the stable after school.
   
   Ask the children if they can think of a reason why Lucy Jane would be crying.
   
   ‘Oh, Scruff,’ she whispered. ‘My teacher said I could finish writing my story on the computer during playtime. Sarah stayed in, too, but she wanted me to hurry up so that she could play a game on the computer, even though she knows that we’re not allowed to do that unless we’ve asked permission. She started to push me off the stool and when I pushed her back, she fell over and spilt her packet of crisps all over the computer desk.
   
   ‘“Now look what you’ve made me do,” she shouted really loudly, and she ran out of the classroom. And worse than that, before I could clean up the mess, the teacher came back in and thought it was me who had made the mess.
   
   ‘“I’m disappointed in you, Lucy Jane,” she said, looking cross. “You know you’re not allowed to eat when you’re using the computer. I just hope you haven’t damaged it.”’
   
   Lucy Jane flung her arms around Scruff’s neck. He could feel her wet tears.
   
   ‘Now I’m not allowed to use the computer for the rest of the week!’ she sobbed.
   
   ‘Hee haw! Hee haw!’ Scruff neighed quietly, trying to make Lucy Jane feel better.

3. Ask the following questions.
    
   - Why do you think Lucy Jane didn’t tell the teacher that it was all Sarah’s fault?
   - Do you think Sarah will go to the teacher and tell her the truth?

   Take off Scruff.

4. Have you ever been blamed for something you didn’t do?

   Listen to a range of responses.

5. You may wish to recap the story of Joseph in the first and second assemblies in this series about the life of Joseph.
   
   Let’s continue with the story from the Bible about the boy called Joseph.

6. Joseph’s brothers had handed him over to a group of people travelling to Egypt. It was a long journey, but when the travellers arrived in Egypt, they went to the market and sold their spices. Then, they sold Joseph, too! Joseph was young and strong, so when an army officer called Potiphar saw him, Potiphar was prepared to pay a good price to have him as a servant. Potiphar worked for the ruler of Egypt, called the pharaoh.

   Joseph worked hard and Potiphar rewarded him by putting him in charge of all the other servants in the household. It was an important job, and it showed that Joseph could be trusted, especially when his master was away serving with the army.

   Potiphar’s wife thought Joseph was a very good-looking young man, and she started to follow him around the house when he was working. Joseph knew that he was only a servant, and that his master would be angry if he was seen talking with the mistress of the house. One day, when Joseph saw Potiphar’s wife coming towards him, he quickly ran out of the room. She was furious that Joseph was ignoring her.
   
   When Potiphar arrived home, his wife wanted to punish Joseph, so she said that Joseph had attacked her. Potiphar was so cross with Joseph that he had him thrown into prison straightaway.

   Poor Joseph! His brothers hadn’t liked him and had sent him away. He had been sold as a slave. He had worked hard, but now he was being punished for something he hadn’t done. His life seemed like one, long nightmare!

Time for reflection

Ask the following questions.

- Have you ever been blamed for something you didn’t do?
- How did it make you feel?
- Did it make you feel sad or angry?
- Have you ever blamed someone else for something that you did wrong?
- How did that make you feel?
- How do you think it made the other person feel?

Prayer
Dear God,
Sometimes, someone else does a wrong thing, and we get the blame.
It seems so unfair! Help us to speak the truth.
Sometimes, we do something wrong and it is hard to admit it.
Please help us to have the courage to tell the truth.
Amen.

Song/music

‘Count your blessings’ (Songs for Every Assembly, Out of the Ark Music)