The Lord’s Prayer
What is prayer?
by Kirstine Davis
Suitable for Whole School (Pri)
Aims
To introduce the idea of prayer.
Preparation and materials
- You will need a bottle of bubble mixture, a crown (one made from cardboard is fine), a globe (or a ball with an explanation about the earth), a bread roll (or apple), a card with the word ‘Sorry’ written on it and some sweets.
- You will also need to be familiar with the explanations of the Lord’s Prayer given in the table below because these will form the basis of the assembly. You will need a copy of this table to refer to during the assembly.
Our Father in heaven |
Jesus is speaking to his dad |
Wave |
Hallowed be your name |
God is so ‘HOLY’ that even his name is important |
|
Your kingdom come |
God is the king in heaven |
Crown |
Your will be done, on earth as in heaven |
How does God want us to treat each other and the environment? |
Globe or ball |
Give us today our daily bread |
God provides the things that we need |
Bread roll or apple |
Forgive us our sins |
We need to say sorry to God and to other people |
‘Sorry’ card |
As we forgive those who sin against us |
We need to treat others like we want to be treated |
|
Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil |
Sometimes, we want things that we know are bad for us! |
Sweets |
For the kingdom, the power and the glory are yours. Now and for ever |
God is in control, but sometimes, we don’t realize it |
Pick up the crown again and put it on |
Amen |
This just means ‘I agree’ |
Roll up the prayer and throw it to God |
- Optional: you may wish to use a musical version of the Lord’s Prayer during the ‘Time for reflection’ part of the assembly, in which case you will also need the means to do so:
- ‘The Lord’s Prayer – Hillsong Worship’ is 5.56 minutes long and is available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nCxqjEz5hJ4
- ‘Our Father – Hillsong Worship’ is 4.49 minutes long and is available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QzTxvOWpr7M
Assembly
- Use the bubble mixture to blow some bubbles.
Invite the children to come to the front to pop the bubbles. You may wish to let the children blow some bubbles themselves and see who can blow the largest one. - When the bubbles have been popped, ask the children, ‘Where have the bubbles gone?’
Listen to a range of responses.
Follow up the responses with questions such as:
- but where have they really gone?
- were they really here then or did I just imagine them?
- is it magic?
- did they disappear? - Suggest that praying can sometimes be a bit like this. We pray, we say ‘Amen’ and the prayers have gone!
- Ask the children, ‘What is prayer?’
Listen to a range of responses. - Explain that prayer is simply a special word that we use to describe us talking to God. Christians believe that God is always looking out for us and he loves us to speak to him. They believe that we can talk to God in any way we like, but in the Bible, Jesus told his disciples a special prayer called the Lord’s Prayer.
- If the children are familiar with the Lord’s Prayer, you may wish to ask them to say it together. Otherwise, say the prayer for them to hear before explaining it by using the table.
Go through each line of the prayer, explaining the meaning and using the actions or items that you have available.
Our Father in heaven |
Jesus is speaking to his dad |
Wave |
Hallowed be your name |
God is so ‘HOLY’ that even his name is important |
|
Your kingdom come |
God is the king in heaven |
Crown |
Your will be done, on earth as in heaven |
How does God want us to treat each other and the environment? |
Globe or ball |
Give us today our daily bread |
God provides the things that we need |
Bread roll or apple |
Forgive us our sins |
We need to say sorry to God and to other people |
‘Sorry’ card |
As we forgive those who sin against us |
We need to treat others like we want to be treated |
|
Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil |
Sometimes, we want things that we know are bad for us! |
Sweets |
For the kingdom, the power and the glory are yours. Now and for ever |
God is in control, but sometimes, we don’t realize it |
Pick up the crown again and put it on |
Amen |
This just means ‘I agree’ |
Roll up the prayer and throw it to God |
At the end, you may wish to teach the children the action of rolling your arms (like in the nursery rhyme ‘Wind the bobbin up’) and then throwing them up into the air to say ‘Amen’.
Time for reflection
Ask the children to consider the following questions in the light of what they have just heard in the Lord’s Prayer.
- Do we use God’s name in an unpleasant way?
Pause to allow time for thought.
- Can we do things here on earth to help God?
Pause to allow time for thought.
- Do we need to say sorry to someone?
Pause to allow time for thought.
- Do we sometimes do things that we know are wrong?
Pause to allow time for thought.
- Shall we say ‘thank you’ to God who is in control of it all?
Pause to allow time for thought.
Remind the children about the bubbles at the beginning of the assembly. They have disappeared, but we all know that they were here. That is like prayer: we can’t see it and we sometimes don’t know whether it has worked, but God hears it.
Prayer
Contemporary
Our Father in heaven,
Hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come,
Your will be done,
On earth as in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our sins,
As we forgive those who sin against us.
Lead us not into temptation,
But deliver us from evil.
For the kingdom,
The power and the glory are yours.
Now and for ever.
Amen.
Traditional
Our Father, who art in heaven,
Hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come,
Thy will be done,
On earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread,
And forgive us our trespasses,
As we forgive those who trespass against us.
Lead us not into temptation,
But deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom,
The power and the glory,
For ever and ever.
Amen.
Song/music
‘The Lord’s Prayer – Hillsong Worship’, available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nCxqjEz5hJ4 (5.56 minutes long)
‘Our Father – Hillsong Worship’, available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QzTxvOWpr7M (4.49 minutes long)