What Are We Made For?
Being courageous
by Alexandra Palmer
Suitable for Whole School (Pri)
Aims
To consider the importance of being courageous and having the right attitude when faced with a challenge.
Preparation and materials
- You will need the PowerPoint slides that accompany this assembly (What Are We Made For?) and the means to display them.
- Have available the YouTube video ‘The fiery furnace’ and the means to show it during the assembly. It is 3.47 minutes long and is available at: https://youtu.be/f7cCV-IELLY
- Optional: you may also wish to use the extension activity (What Are We Made For? - Extension Activity) that accompanies this assembly.
Assembly
- Show Slide 1.
Ask the children, ‘Which sport is shown here? How do you know?’
Pause to allow time for discussion and then listen to a range of responses. - Show Slide 2.
The answer is, of course, football! The clues that the children might have noticed include what the players are wearing (football kit, including socks, shirt, shorts and boots), what they’re doing (jumping up to head the ball) and the football goal in the background. - Show Slide 3.
Tell the children that the three people on the slide are all famous footballers.
- Marcus Rashford plays for Manchester United and the England football team.
- Mary Earps is a goalkeeper for Manchester United and the England football team. She won the Golden Glove award at the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup.
- Lionel Messi captained the Argentinian football team to World Cup success in 2022 and scored goals in the final against France. - Ask the children, ‘How would you describe these footballers?’
Pause to allow time for discussion and then listen to a range of responses.
Show Slide 4.
Go through some possible answers. You may wish to add some of the children’s suggestions to the slide. - Show Slide 5.
Ask the children, ‘Why might we use the words “worshipped” and “idolized” when describing professional footballers?’
Pause to allow time for discussion and then listen to a range of responses.
Explain that football is an important part of our culture, here in the UK and around the world. Many people get behind a team and support it whether it is doing well or not. Supporting a football team makes people feel part of a community.
Sometimes, when footballers help their team to succeed, children and adults want to be like them. This might make us imitate their behaviour on the pitch, wear a football shirt with our favourite footballer’s name and number on it and regard them as sporting heroes. Some people idolize footballers. - Explain that there is a story about idolizing in the Old Testament part of the Bible. Three men called Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego are asked to worship and idolize a golden statue.
Show the YouTube video ‘The fiery furnace’ (3.47 minutes long). - Tell the children that you are going to ask them some questions about the video that they have just watched. Explain that you would like them to discuss their answers in small groups or with a partner. After each question, listen to a range of responses before asking the next one.
- Why do you think King Nebuchadnezzar had his statue built? (Answer: to show off his wealth and power, and have people obey his commands.)
- Who had to bow and worship the statue? (Answer: people of all races, nations and languages - everyone.)
- When did people have to worship the statue? (Answer: when the musical instruments were played.)
- What was the punishment for not worshipping the statue? (Answer: people who refused to worship the statue would be thrown into the fiery furnace.)
- Why did Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego refuse to bow and worship the statue? (Answer: they would only bow to and worship God.)
- Who did Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego trust? (Answer: they put their trust in God. Even if God didn’t save them, they would still refuse to bow down and worship the golden statue.)
- Who was the fourth person in the fiery furnace? (Answer: God.)
- Why did King Nebuchadnezzar worship God at the end of the story? (Answer: even though the furnace was incredibly hot, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego came out of the furnace unscathed. King Nebuchadnezzar realized that their God was far more powerful than he was.) - Show Slide 6.
The story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego helps us to understand how we can face a challenge and what we are made for.
For example, we are made to think and make decisions. When the three men found out about the king’s statue and what he wanted everyone to do, they would have considered how they were going to respond.
When we are faced with a challenge, no matter how big or small, the first thing we must do is to stop and think. To solve the problem, we need to think about what we’re going to do and how we will go about it. - Show Slide 7.
We are also made to know the difference between having the right attitude and the wrong one. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego knew that they shouldn’t bow down and worship the king’s statue because they only worshipped God. However, this went against what everyone else was doing.
Every day, we are faced with a series of choices: what to wear, what to eat, who to play with, what words we say and how we approach our schoolwork, even when we don’t like what we’re doing. If we don’t have the right attitude, it will affect how we think, how we behave and how we treat others. - Show Slide 8.
We are made to act too. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego didn’t change their opinion; they stuck to their action even when the king gave them one more chance to change their mind.
If we’ve thought about what we’re doing and have the right attitude, it will help us to act in the right way. When we’re faced with a challenge, the problem won’t go away until we do something about it. However, we must tackle it in the right way because if we don’t, the problem might get worse rather than better. - Ask the children, ‘What qualities did Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego have?’
Pause to allow time for discussion and then listen to a range of responses.
Suggestions might include determination, confidence, bravery, trust and courage. - Show Slide 9.
We are also made to be courageous. If we aren’t courageous in how we think, in our attitude and in how we act, we’ll find it difficult to achieve our ambitions, solve problems and learn new things. We may not realize it, but we probably face situations every day where we need to be courageous.
Time for reflection
In the story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, the fourth person in the fire was God. This story helps to explain why Christians believe that God is with them when they experience tough times, and where they get their courage from.
Let’s listen to two quotations that help us understand what it means to be courageous.
Show Slide 10.
The first quotation is from Sir Winston Churchill, who was Prime Minister of the UK during the Second World War.
Read the first part of the quotation: ‘Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak . . .’
Explain that during the Second World War, Sir Winston Churchill often had to stand up and rally UK soldiers and citizens through his speeches.
For us, there may be times when we don’t want to answer questions during lessons, or stand up and speak in front of others, or say that we’re experiencing a problem like bullying. We need to rely on our courage to do this.
Read the second part of the quotation: ‘Courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen.’
Ask the children, ‘Why do we need courage to sit down and listen?’
Pause to allow time for discussion and then listen to a range of responses.
Explain that when we’re trying to solve a problem, we need courage to sit down and listen to a different point of view. We need courage to be respectful of other people’s opinions, even when we don’t agree with them.
Show Slide 11.
The second quotation is from Mary Anne Radbacher, an American author and speaker.
Read the quotation: ‘Courage doesn’t always roar. Sometimes, courage is the little voice at the end of the day that says “I’ll try again tomorrow.”’
Ask the children, ‘What does the quotation mean?’
Pause to allow time for discussion and then listen to a range of responses.
Explain that having the loudest voice or being confident isn’t always courage. Rather, courage is trying things and being willing to go back and have another go at something when we feel frightened, upset, scared or like we can’t do it.
Prayer
Dear God,
Thank you for our ability to stop and think how to solve a problem.
Please help us to learn the difference between having the right attitude and the wrong one.
Thank you that we can all act and work our way through a problem.
Please help us to have the courage to do things that we find difficult.
Amen.
Song/music
‘Our God is a great big God’, available at: https://youtu.be/eaXPXWBcE3I (3 minutes long)
Extension activity
Give each child a copy of the sheet that accompanies this assembly (What Are We Made For? - Extension Activity). Ask them to reflect on the different ways in which they can be courageous, and draw or write down their ideas.
