Water

To look at why water is so important and to use it as an image of God.

by Oliver Harrison

Suitable for Whole School (Pri)

Aims

To look at why water is so important and to use it as an image of God.

Preparation and materials

• You will need the following: cooked pasta, dried pasta, a flower and a vase of water, some seeds, water wings/swimming costume, two clear bottles or glasses, one containing dirty water and one with clean water, a hot-water bottle, an ice-cube tray, a sponge.
• This assembly could easily be adapted as a class assembly by having different groups of children present the different aspects of water, saying a few words about each.

Assembly

1. Ask if anyone has been baptized/christened. Why is water used in the service? Why do we think that water is so special? Value all responses and then run through some of the ways that water plays a part in our lives.
   
   
2. Explain that each one of us is about three-quarters water! Talk about water in drinking and cooking - imagine pasta or tea without water. Produce the dried inedible pasta and cooked pasta by contrast.
   
   Talk about washing, and ask for two or three volunteers. You could ham it up by pretending to examine their state of cleanliness, then take the sponge, wet it and flick water over the volunteers.
   
   Talk about crops and animals - show the seeds and say that they need water to turn them into flowers. Put the flower in the vase of water.
   
   Mention water's uses in warming us up (hot-water bottle) and cooling us down (ice-cube tray).
   
   Talk about dirty and clean water - how important clean water is, and that dirty water can carry disease.
   
   Water can be both fun and dangerous. Talk about water's role in fun and how we have to be careful if fun is not to turn into danger - take out swimming costume or water wings.
   
   
3. Finish up by saying that too much water produces floods (global warming), too little means droughts.
   
   
4. Ask, who made water? Talk briefly about God the creator and how water is a great gift to all of us - it's one of the very special things about our planet. Say that God is a bit like water: God gives life, refreshes us, cleans us up, fills us up. God is good but he has to be respected! If God is a bit like water then we are like people sitting in a bath, drinking a glass of water: God is all around us and within us.
   
   
5. Return to where you started - has this given the children a few ideas as to why water is so important and why it is used in baptism services?
   
   
6. (Optional) Read about the baptism of Jesus in Luke 3.21-22 (Good News Bible version below).
   
   After all the people had been baptized, Jesus also was baptized. While he was praying, heaven was opened, and the Holy Spirit came down upon him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, 'You are my own dear Son. I am pleased with you.'

Time for reflection

Dear God,
Thank you for water,
for the life that it brings,
water for drinking and playing and fun,
water for health, for plants and for growth.
Thank you for water.
Thank you for life.
Amen.

Song/music

'Water of life' (Come and Praise, 2)

Acknowledgements

Scriptures quoted from the Good News Bible published by The Bible Societies/HarperCollins Publishers Ltd UK © American Bible Society, 1966, 1971, 1976, 1992.