Finding Kindness

Kindness in the Nativity story

by Alexandra Palmer

Suitable for Whole School (Pri)

Aims

To consider the kindness in the Christmas story and the importance of kindness today.

Preparation and materials

• You will need the PowerPoint slides that accompany this assembly (Finding Kindness) and the means to display them.
• You will need eight children who have each prepared a sentence that describes a random act of kindness that they could carry out. Examples could include:
  
  - tidying their bedroom without being asked
  - making a surprise breakfast for their family
  - walking somebody’s dog if the owner is poorly
  - helping somebody to get something off the shelf in a shop

Assembly

1. Show Slide 1.
   
   Introduce the assembly and ask the children for some examples of kindness.
   
   Listen to a range of responses.
   
   
2. Invite the eight children to read out their pre-written sentences about random acts of kindness that they could carry out.
   
   Explain that the Christmas story contains many examples of random kindness.
   
   Show Slide 2.
   
   Mary experienced God’s kindness early on in life. She received a visit from an angel who told her that she was going to have God’s son. At first, she was worried by the news, but as she came to realize what it meant, she ended up praising and worshipping God.
   
   
3. Show Slide 3.
   
   After Mary discovered that she was going to have God’s son, she went to visit her cousin, Elizabeth, who was much older than her. Elizabeth and her husband, Zechariah, had really wanted children of their own, but hadn’t been able to have any. However, Elizabeth came to experience God’s kindness and learned that she was going to have a baby.
   
   When Elizabeth’s baby was born, he was called John. Jesus and John were cousins and probably played together often. When John grew up, he became known as John the Baptist; he even ended up baptizing Jesus.
   
   
4. Show Slide 4.
   
   In the Bible, people experience God’s kindness in different ways. For example, when Joseph discovered that Mary was going to have a baby, he was so upset that he didn’t want to continue with his engagement to her. Then, one night, he dreamt that an angel told him who the baby was and that they should call him Jesus. This led Joseph to understand the responsibility that God had given him, so he decided to marry Mary after all.
   
   
5. Show Slide 5.
   
   When Mary was pregnant, the Romans decided to carry out a census, to find out how many people there were in their empire. Mary and Joseph had to travel to Bethlehem, which was where Joseph’s family were from. It was a long way and when they arrived, all of the inns were full. However, an innkeeper showed kindness to Mary and Joseph, and allowed them to stay in a stable.
   
   Show Slide 6.
   
   This is where Mary gave birth to Jesus.
   
   
6. Show Slide 7.
   
   Some shepherds who were tending to their flocks on a hillside experienced God’s kindness when they saw a host of angels who announced Jesus’ birth. In the Bible, seeing an angel means that you are highly favoured by God.
   
   If you go to Bethlehem today, you can still see the shepherds’ fields. You just have to imagine the landscape in the picture on the slide without the houses.
   
   
7. Show Slide 8.
   
   In Jesus’ time, shepherds were not considered to be important. People didn’t like them because they thought that shepherds were dirty and smelly. However, the shepherds received kindness from God because they were the first people to visit baby Jesus. This showed that Jesus was here for everyone including the poor, the lonely and the sick, not just for the rich.
   
   
8. Show Slide 9.
   
   The photographs show a place called Petra, which is in Jordan. This is where the three wise men are thought to have travelled from. They had to travel a long way, but God gave them a star to follow to help them.
   
   
9. Show Slide 10.
   
   The wise men gave gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh to baby Jesus. 
   
   - Gold was a sign of Jesus being a king.
   - Frankincense was used in worship, so it showed that Jesus was going to be worshipped all over the world.
   - Myrrh was a perfume that was used when people died. This meant that Jesus was going to have a special death.
   
   
10. Show Slide 11.
    
    At the time of Jesus’ birth, King Herod ruled over Bethlehem. He wanted to hurt Jesus, but Mary, Joseph and Jesus were protected by God, who urged them to escape to Egypt. They stayed in Egypt until Joseph was told in a dream to return home to Nazareth because King Herod had died.

Time for reflection

Ask the children to think about different ways in which they could be kind over Christmas. For example, how could they be kind to their parents, brothers and sisters, and cousins and friends? If there is time, listen to some examples.

Show Slide 12.

We can see God’s care, kindness and protection in many parts of the Christmas story. Christians believe that everyone can experience God’s kindness because, 33 years after Jesus was born, he died on the cross so that we could be forgiven.

Prayer
Dear God,
Thank you for the kindness that you show to each of us.
Thank you for the kindness that we experience every day from our friends and family.
Please help each of us to look for ways in which we can be kind to other people.
This Christmas, may we remember your special gift of Jesus to the world.
Amen.

Song/music

‘Away in a manger’, available at: https://youtu.be/AnwO_0DrpCk (1.59 minutes long)