Not a Puppet!
We have choices to make
by the Revd Ruth Hind (revised, originally published in 2013)
Suitable for Whole School (Pri)
Aims
To consider that God gave us all free will.
Preparation and materials
- You will need a puppet or, if one is not available, you could make a simple one out of a paper bag, or ask some of the children to mime being a puppet.
Assembly
- Show the puppet to the children.
Introduce them to the puppet and explain that you can make the puppet do whatever you want.
Ask the children to suggest movements for the puppet. Make it clear that the puppet can only act because you are making it act. - Ask the children what they think might be fun about being a puppet and what might be unpleasant. Would they like to be a puppet?
Listen to a range of responses. - Explain that Christians believe that God made the world and the people in it. When God made people, he had a choice. He could have made people who were a bit like this puppet, unable to think or act on their own. He could have made puppet people who did whatever he wanted. Nothing bad would ever have happened in the world, but people would have done what God wanted without thought or choice.
Instead, God chose not to make people like puppets. He gave us what is called ‘free will’ – the ability to make choices. - Much of what is wrong with the world is a result of people making bad choices. People can choose to be unkind to each other, or be cruel or selfish. They can choose to think only about themselves. These sorts of choices make the world a hard place in which to live.
- People can also make good choices, though. Choices such as being kind, looking after others, trying to be fair and treating other people as we would like them to treat us. Choices like these make the world a better place.
Time for reflection
Today, we will face lots of choices – choices about what to say, how to act, who to spend time with or how hard to work.
Ask the children to think about choices that they have already made today.
Some choices might have included:
- what to have for breakfast
- whether to be kind to someone
- whether to leave someone out of a game
- how to behave in class
- whether to try hard in lessons
Ask the children to reflect on the choices that they have made today. Now that they have had time to think, would they do anything differently?
Pause to allow time for thought.
Encourage the children to think about the rest of the day ahead. What choices are they going to make?
Pause to allow time for thought.
Remind the children that the good and bad choices that we make also affect the people around us. We are responsible for other people as well as ourselves.
Prayer
Dear God,
Thank you that we are people, not puppets.
Thank you that we can make choices in our lives.
Help us to choose wisely and make the world a better place.
Amen.
Song/music
‘Do you want to build a snowman?’ from the film Frozen, available at: https://youtu.be/TeQ_TTyLGMs (3.21 minutes long)
