One More Step

To apply the meaning of this well known song

by Gordon and Ronni Lamont

Suitable for Whole School (Pri)

Aims

To apply the meaning of this well-known song.

Preparation and materials

• You will need a copy of the song, if possible with the words on an OHP.

Assembly

1. Read the words of the song backwards, starting from the last verse. Ask the children to put up their hands when they know which song it is.
   
   
2. Explain that it's a very popular song (that you often sing in school - if you do). Read the first verse and chorus. Say that you're going to think about it this morning, starting with the word 'step'. What is a step? Gather as many meanings as possible (pace, dance move, change from one state to another, part of a ladder or stair). Give examples of each one, perhaps asking children to demonstrate:
   
   Pace - different types: urgent, casual, running.
   Dance - ask children to demonstrate different dance steps.
   Change - ask children about 'steps' such as going from one class or year to another.
   Ladder or stair - ask them to think about different steps of this type around school.
   
   
3. Which type of step do they think the writer, Sydney Carter, was most concerned with in the song? Suggest that it's a song about change. Read the second verse to make this point.
   
   
4. Suggest that every new moment is like a step, a step into the unknown. No one knows what each moment, each hour, each day will bring. Read the third verse and suggest that although we don't know what will happen and sometimes we don't know what to do, the song encourages us to think about travelling 'the way I should'. That it is up to us how we react to the things that happen to us.
   
   
5. Read the next verse and draw out the qualities it suggests we need in life: courage, love, joyfulness and to keep moving forward.
   
   
6. Read the last verse. Who is it talking about? Explain that the writer, Sydney Carter (who died this year), believed that God is alongside us at each step and so the song is about his belief in God's constant help and support.
   
   End by singing the song all together.

Time for reflection

Read the verses of the song through, finishing with the chorus.

Song/music

'One more step' (Come and Praise, 47).