Sharing Our Good Things
The importance of sharing
by Revd Sophie Jelley (revised, originally published in 2008)
Suitable for Whole School (Pri)
Aims
To help us to think about all the good things in our lives and how we can share them.
Preparation and materials
- You will need an opaque storage box labelled ‘ingredients’, which should contain items such as baked beans, cereal, orange juice, bananas and coffee, plus some more bizarre ones like washing powder and cat food. You should also include a jar of sweet spread such as honey, jam or chocolate spread, but this should be stored out of sight until needed.
- You will also need a blindfold, an adult’s apron and a child’s apron, a mixing bowl, a wooden spoon and a teaspoon.
- You will also need a volunteer adult, who should be made aware of what will happen prior to the assembly.
Assembly
- Ask the children whether any of them like cooking. Explain that you love cooking, so you thought it would be fun to do some cooking in assembly today.
Ask the volunteer adult to come to the front. Ask them how good a cook they think you are.
Show the ingredients such as the baked beans, washing powder and so on.
Ask the volunteer whether they are feeling at all nervous. - Tie the blindfold on the volunteer.
Ask the volunteer if they trust you.
Next, choose a child to come and be your stirrer.
Put one apron on yourself and the other on the child and get out the kitchen equipment.
Add a little of each ingredient into a bowl while the child stirs. Show the mixture to the children when it is complete – it should be a revolting coloured paste.
Explain that you think it needs a bit more mixing and because it could get messy, you’ll place the bowl inside the box. - Carefully place the mixing bowl into the storage box and pretend to mix vigorously. Then, take a spoon so that the children think that the volunteer adult is going to taste the mixture. Instead, however, give the volunteer a taste of the sweet spread from the jar hidden in the box.
Ask the volunteer how it tastes; it should be delicious. Applaud both of your volunteers and ask them to return to their places. - Ask the children which of them think that the volunteer really ate the mixture. Next, show them the jar of sweet spread and explain that you would never do anything to hurt anybody. Instead, you gave the volunteer something good – something that you already knew they liked!
- Briefly tell the story found in Luke 11.9–13 where Jesus teaches about prayer, saying that when someone prays to God for something, God wants to give them only good things. Highlight that fish and eggs are the kind of food that people need to live and grow, whereas snakes and scorpions can harm and hurt.
Time for reflection
Christians believe that God is good and wants people to have good things in their lives: food, clothes, education, friends and so on. Explain that we know that not all children in the world have the good things that they need. Encourage the children to think about ways in which they could share what they have with others in the world.
Remind the children that we don’t just have physical things to share, such as food and clothes. We can all share out our time to help other people and share our friendship and love.
Ask the children to think about all the good things that they have and spend a moment being thankful.
Ask the following questions.
- What could we do to help spread good things to everyone?
Pause to allow time for thought.
- What could we do for someone we know?
Pause to allow time for thought.
- What could we do for people across the world who do not have all the good things that we have?
Pause to allow time for thought.
Prayer
Dear God,
Thank you that you are good.
You want good things for us.
Help us to be thankful for all that we have.
Help us to share.
Help us to care.
Help us to love.
Amen.
