Changes
To reflect on changes in the natural world and encourage students to consider their response to changes in their own lives.
by Helen Redfern
Suitable for Key Stage 3/4
Aims
To reflect on changes in the natural world and encourage students to consider their response to changes in their own lives.
Preparation and materials
- One leader and two readers. Reader 2 to be dressed up as an old person.
- Two storybooks.
Assembly
- Leader Welcome to this assembly. Today we’re going to be tackling an issue that affects all of us – change.
Things are changing all the time all over the world – but are they changing for the better or the worse? All of us, from the youngest to the oldest, encounter change in our own lives.
Reader 1 I hated the change from primary/junior school to secondary school. Everyone seemed so big and I kept getting lost because the corridors were so confusing.
But then I moved house last month and that was a great change, a great improvement. I’ve a cool bedroom, and the garden’s massive, and the people next door seem really nice.
Some change is almost unbearable, though. I know that. Sophie’s mum and dad have just split up and she’s really miserable and can’t cope with that change at all.
Reader 2 The world has changed so much since I was a child like you. You wouldn’t believe it. We didn’t have computers or mobile phones. The world was a safer place. We didn’t have all these murders or rapes or all this worry about global warming.
Some of the change is good, though. Nowadays, they’re finding cures for all sorts of diseases.
I can’t keep up with it all, though. My grandson was telling me he was raising money for a CAT scanner the other day and I said, ‘I don’t have a cat and if I did I wouldn’t want it scanned!’ Ridiculous! - Leader It’s true, isn’t it? Everything is changing so fast and we are all noticing it. But what can we learn about change today?
We all love to hear of fairytale changes . . .
Reader 1 (reading from a fairy story) ‘And the beautiful princess went slowly up to the ugly frog, leaned forward, kissed it gently and ZAP! The frog changed into the most handsome prince you have ever seen . . . and they lived happily ever after.’ - Leader We all want to believe that everything will turn into something beautiful eventually . . .
Reader 2 (reading from a storybook) ‘One day, the poor ugly duckling woke up and set off on its lonely journey down to the lake. It looked down at its reflection in the water. But what did it see? A beautiful swan, the most beautiful bird it had ever seen. And it was the very same duckling who had felt so ugly – until this moment. - Leader In nature, we see the most amazing transformations all the time.
– The tadpole swimming around in the murky pond changes into a frog jumping joyously from lily pad to lily pad.
– The caterpillar munching through leaf after leaf becomes a glorious butterfly free to fly wherever it chooses.
– The bare branches of the tree in winter become decorated with bouquets of soft pink springtime blossom.
But then, of course, we also see the most horrific transformations in the world around us. – The vast oceans and swirling seas are becoming increasingly polluted with industrial waste and oil slicks.
– Immense rainforests are being chopped down to provide land for agricultural development.
– Animals are being hunted and chased out of their natural habitat.
– People are being killed for their religion, the colour of their skin and their nationality.
– Others are starving because of the greed of others. - Leader How do we respond to the amazing transformations in the world around us?
Do we take them for granted? Do we even notice? Or do we celebrate these changes?
And how do we respond to the horrific transformations in the world around us?
Do we ignore them and hope they will go away? Or do we do all that we can to highlight and campaign against these changes?
Time for reflection
Leader Our two speakers today highlighted changes in their own lives. Let us take time to reflect now on how we respond to change in our own lives. Change can sometimes be a painful process.
Reader 1 An ugly lump of rock can only become a beautiful masterpiece after hours and hours of painstaking chiselling.
Reader 2 When I make a cake, I first have to break the eggs and mix all the ingredients into a sloppy mess. Then the mixture goes into the hot oven, and out comes a beautiful sponge cake.
Reader 1 A handful of clay can only become a beautiful vase after it has been shaped and moulded and destroyed and shaped and moulded and destroyed and shaped and moulded again in the hands of the potter.
Reader 2 Change in our lives can be painful.
It can be messy.
It can be ugly.
It can be lonely.
It can be confusing.
It can feel like we’re being broken.
But change can refine.
Change can create something beautiful.
Change is necessary.
Change is inevitable.
Change simply is.
Prayer
Leader Let us conclude with a short prayer. You may make these words your own, if you wish.
Dear God,
we thank you for the amazing changes that go on in the world around us.
May we notice them and celebrate them.
We remember the horrific changes that go on in the world around us.
May we take notice of them and act to make a difference.
We thank you for the positive changes in our own lives.
May we appreciate them and embrace them.
We remember the difficult changes in our own lives.
May we face them with courage and wisdom and grow through them.
Change can refine.
May we be refined by change.
Change can create something beautiful.
May we become more beautiful as we change.
Amen.
Hymn
‘Father, I place into your hands’ (Hymns Old and New (Kevin Mayhew), 121)
