Pause for Thought: What Is God Like: Part 4
God is with us
by Janice Ross
Suitable for Key Stage 2 - Church Schools
Aims
To help us to understand that God is with us all the time.
Preparation and materials
- Have available the YouTube video ‘Laura’s Star - Kids Books Read Aloud’ and the means to show it during the assembly. It is 5.53 minutes long and is available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=60T5VPMbQxs
Alternatively, you may have the book available to read yourself. - You will need a display board with the following quotations from Laura’s Star written on it (preferably one sentence per page):
- ‘I wish I had a special friend, someone to share all my secrets with, somebody to tell everything to.’
- ‘The star was gone. Laura felt cold and empty as if all the light had drained out of her.’
- ‘You must have been there all the time and I just didn’t see you.’
- ‘I am not sad any more. I know that you are somewhere out there, listening.’
Assembly
- Show the YouTube video ‘Laura’s Star - Kids Books Read Aloud’.
- Retell the main points of the story by asking the following questions.
- What did Laura wish she had? Why?
Listen to a range of responses, and then display the first quotation on the display board: ‘I wish I had a special friend, someone to share all my secrets with, somebody to tell everything to.’
- Laura finds the star, takes it to her bedroom, patches it up and then tells it all her secrets. What might she have shared with the star? How did she feel?
Listen to a range of responses.
- In the morning, the star was gone! How did Laura feel?
Listen to a range of responses, and then display the second quotation on the display board: ‘The star was gone. Laura felt cold and empty as if all the light had drained out of her.’
- When Laura went to bed that night, the star was back. Laura realized that stars only come out at night.
Display the third quotation on the display board: ‘You must have been there all the time and I just didn’t see you.’
- Laura realized that she had to let the star go back to where it belonged. How did she feel about letting it go?
Listen to a range of responses, and then display the last quotation on the display board: ‘I am not sad any more. I know that you are somewhere out there, listening.’
- Reread the four quotations from the display board:
- ‘I wish I had a special friend, someone to share all my secrets with, somebody to tell everything to.’
- ‘The star was gone. Laura felt cold and empty as if all the light had drained out of her.’
- ‘You must have been there all the time and I just didn’t see you.’
- ‘I am not sad any more. I know that you are somewhere out there, listening.’
- Ask the children whether they have ever felt like Laura. Have they ever wished that they had a special friend with whom to share all their thoughts and secrets?
Identify that most people feel like this at some point. We are very fortunate in life if we have a friend with whom we can share all our thoughts. Explain that Christians believe that God wants to be a very special friend. They believe that we can talk to him about everything and that he understands.
Just as we can’t see the stars in the daytime, we can’t see God either. However, he wants us to know that he is really there. Christians believe that God sent his son, Jesus, to earth to show how much he loves us.
Time for reflection
Tell the Bible story about the little children who got to speak to Jesus (Mark 10.13-16):
People were bringing little children to Jesus for him to place his hands on them, but the disciples rebuked them. When Jesus saw this, he was indignant. He said to them, ‘Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.’ And he took the children in his arms, placed his hands on them and blessed them.
Identify that Jesus thought that the children were precious.
Optional: you may wish to close with the following prayer, which is a special blessing found in the Bible (Numbers 6.24-26).
Prayer
The Lord bless you and keep you.
The Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you.
The Lord lift up his countenance upon you
And give you peace.
Song/music
‘The UK Blessing’, available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PUtll3mNj5U (6.46 minutes long)
Extension activities
- There are probably many people in our lives with whom we share things. Younger children may like to complete the following sentences and add a drawing:
- I can talk to my family about . . .
- I can talk to my teacher about . . .
- I can talk to my friend about . . .
- I can talk to the doctor about . . .
Alternatively, they could complete the following sentences:
- I can talk to . . . when I am scared.
- I can talk to . . . when I am worried.
- I can talk to . . . when I am unhappy. - Here are some descriptions of things that we can’t see, but we know they’re there. Can the children work them out from the clues?
- Something that comes on when I press a switch. (Answer: electricity)
- Something I breathe. (Answer: air)
- Something I would find in seawater. (Answer: salt)
- Something that turns turbines. (Answer: wind)
- Something that makes me feel warm and safe. (Answer: love)
- Something that keeps my feet on the ground. (Answer: gravity)
Ask the children whether they can think up their own clues for other people to guess.
