Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego and the amazing band

To encourage the children to be brave and stand up to those who try to bully them into saying things that they don’t agree with.

by Ronni Lamont

Suitable for Whole School (Pri)

Aims

To encourage the children to be brave and stand up to those who try to bully them into saying things that they don’t agree with.

Preparation and materials

• The key words in the telling of the story need to be spoken by different groups in the assembly. You will need to use your initiative as to how you allocate the words, perhaps to classes or to groups sitting together. This is an important part of the assembly, building concentration, co-operation and anticipation and may take quite a while to sort out and rehearse.
• You also need to put the two lists below on an OHP sheet or similar, so that when you get to that stage in the story, you can conduct the responses. The first lists administrative posts in ancient Babylon, the second lists musical instruments.
  
  Satraps
  Prefects
  Governors
  Counsellors
  Treasurers
  Justices
  Magistrates
  All the officials (could be said by everyone)
  
  Horn
  Pipe
  Lyre
  Flute
  Drum
  The Whole Band (could be said by everyone)

Assembly

1. Explain how the story will work. You are going to tell the story, but when you get to certain parts, you will bring in the children whose words form a chorus within the story. Make sure that they know when to come in – it’s when you point to their word on the OHP. Have at least one practice! It needs to run along as if one person were saying all the words. Could be quite a challenge!
2. So, with the OHP in place, this is the story (from Daniel chapter 3).
   
   King Nebuchadnezzar was the king of Babylon, and the whole world, as he knew it. He was so important that he began to wonder if he might be a god. So, he had a golden statue made. It was huge! It was so big that there wasn’t room to put it up in the city; he had to have it put up on the plains outside the city. All the people who lived in Babylon could see it, and so could all the people who farmed outside the city walls.
   
   King Nebuchadnezzar called together all the people who helped him to rule Babylon. He called the
   
   Satraps
   Prefects
   Governors
   Counsellors
   Treasurers
   Justices
   Magistrates
   and
   All the officials
   
   and said to them: ‘Tell the people this: when you hear the sound of the
   
   Horn
   Pipe
   Lyre
   Flute
   Drum
   and
   The Whole Band
   
   everyone must bow down and worship my huge golden statue.’
   So, the
   
   Satraps
   Prefects
   Governors
   Counsellors
   Treasurers
   Justices
   Magistrates
   and
   All the officials
   
   told the people: ‘This is what the king says: when you hear the sound of the
   
   Horn
   Pipe
   Lyre
   Flute
   Drum
   and
   The Whole Band
   
   playing, you must bow down and worship the huge golden statue of King Nebuchadnezzar.’
   The next day, there came the sound of the
   
   Horn
   Pipe
   Lyre
   Flute
   Drum
   and
   The Whole Band
   
   and all the people bowed down and worshipped the statue.
   
   Except for three men. They knew that Nebuchadnezzar wasn’t a god. They knew that there was only one God, who made the heavens and the earth, and they worshipped him. So they couldn’t bow down and worship the huge golden statue that King Nebuchadnezzar had made. They knew that they would get into awful trouble with the king, but even when they were dragged off to the court, they didn’t change their minds. They knew it was wrong to worship a huge golden statue of the king, and they weren’t going to do it.
3. To be continued…
   
   Explain that the story doesn’t end there and you’ll be telling the rest of the story next time.

Time for reflection

Reflection

Ask the children to sit quietly and think about the story that they have just heard.

What would they have done if they were one of the men who didn’t want to worship the statue?

Are there times in their lives when they have to stand up to things that they think are wrong?

Prayer

Dear God,

Help us to stand up for what we believe is right and good.

Amen.

Song/music

‘Give me oil in my lamp’ (Come and Praise, 43)