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The Power of Words 2

Meek-speak or pipsqueak?

by An assembly from the Culham St Gabriel archive

Suitable for Whole School (Sec)

Aims

To reflect on what the Bible says about the quality of meekness.

Preparation and materials

  • To perform this presentation, you'll need a number of students to speak. Also a group of ‘Meekies’ and a gang of ‘Toughies’. Some students could be planted in the audience to respond to questions.
  • As for props, you'll need a couple of dictionaries – a small one and a giant one.
  • You can find many websites which comment on the Beatitudes, including: members.tripod.com/~robertwells/Beatitudes.html; www.newadvent.org/cathen/02371a.htm.

Assembly

Speaker 1: Have you ever heard this before? ‘The meek shall inherit the earth.’ It comes from the Bible. It's one of the Beatitudes, which are eight statements Jesus made about how to be virtuous people.

Speaker 2: So what do we think about the meek inheriting the earth? Let's hear a range of views. Anyone?

Plant 1: Meek people don't get anything worth having.

Plant 2: It would be good if nice people were in charge of all parts of the earth, but I'm not sure it's going to happen.

Plant 3: It depends on exactly what you mean by meek.

Speaker 2: Good point. I've had a look in this dictionary for a definition. The dictionary definition of 'meek' goes something like this – (reading) 'humble, retiring, mild, submissive, with little courage’.

Plant 1: I was right. Anybody who is meek is going to get precisely zilch.

Speaker 2: Let's try it out and see if the ‘Meekies’ can get away with it.

The Meekies meekly approach a gang of Toughies who are toughly carousing and roistering in the centre of the stage.

Meekie 1: Excuse me – really sorry to bother you . . .

Toughie: What do you want, pipsqueak?

Meekie 1: Nothing.

Meekie 1 scurries to hide behind a friend. Meekie 2 is pushed forward to try again.

Meekie 2: Hello. We are the meek and we've come to claim our inheritance.

Meekie 3: If that's all right by you.

Toughie: What inheritance?

Meekie 3: The earth.

Meekie 2: Apparently we're supposed to inherit the earth.

The Toughies look at each other in astonishment and snigger.

Toughie: So you want the earth, do you?

Meekie 1: If it's not too much bother.

Toughie: BOOO!

The Meekies scatter, frightened, to all areas of the stage. The Toughies crack-up with laughter as the Speaker returns to the centre of the stage.

Speaker 1: That didn't get them very far. Yet the Bible absolutely definitely says the meek will inherit the earth – but no one seems to believe it's possible.

Speaker 2: So the Bible must be a pile of junk, then – or completely out of date – or something.

Plant 1: Plenty of people think that the Bible is rubbish. The meek shall inherit the earth – well – how likely is that?

Speaker 1: In a recent assembly we heard about the power of worms – sorry – words. Do you remember? That it's a good idea to be very careful about the way you use words.

Speaker 1 starts looking through a much bigger dictionary during the following speeches . . .

Speaker 2: And even more careful about how we interpret the words we hear from other people.

Speaker 1: Right. The Bible is a very ancient document put together by many people over a number of years. Added to this is the fact that we read the Bible in translated form, not in the original language.

Speaker 2: In fact, we read a translation of many other translations. It was first written down in Aramaic and then translated into Greek and then into Latin and eventually into modern languages – including English. So it's hardly surprising that it can take a bit of effort to figure out exactly what the Bible is going on about sometimes and this word 'meek' seems to put a lot of people off, doesn't it? So what does the bigger dictionary have to say about it?

Speaker 1 has been checking out the facts . . .

Speaker 1: This is starting to make sense. According to this, we might have got the word 'meek' from the ancient Greek word praus, which refers to strong domesticated animals such as horses that could be trained by a farmer to pull carts and ploughs. In other words, be useful. So 'meek' in that sense means to be strong and useful and willing to help in God's work.

Speaker 2: Aaaaah! That puts a completely different light on the matter. Let's try it again . . .

The Meekies – slightly less meekly – approach a gang of Toughies who are roistering in the centre of the stage.

Meekie 1: Excuse me – really sorry to bother you . . .

Toughie: What do you want, pipsqueak?

Meekie 1: We are the strong and useful who are willing to help in God's work and we've come to claim our inheritance.

Meekie 3: If that's all right by you.

Toughie: What inheritance?

Meekie 3: The earth.

Meekie 2: We're strong and useful to God so we're going to inherit the earth.

The Toughies look at each other in astonishment and snigger.

Toughie: So you want the earth, do you?

Meekie 1: If it's not too much bother.

Toughie: BOOO!

The Meekies scatter, frightened, to all areas of the stage. The Toughies crack up with laughter as the speaker returns to the centre of the stage.

Speaker 1: It looks like they've still got a long way to go before they get what they're after.

Speaker 2: But at least we now know that the word meek has a bit more to it than we first thought. So if someone says you're meek – you can take it as a compliment because they might be telling you you're strong and useful and doing God's work by trying to make the world a better place to live in.

Time for reflection

Speaker 2: Perhaps the final word should go to the meekies of this world . . .

The Meekies approach a gang of Toughies who are roistering in the centre of the stage.

Meekie 1: Excuse me - really sorry to bother you . . .

Toughie: What do you want, pipsqueak?

Meekie 1: When you hear people around you saying the Bible is rubbish or is too old to be of any relevance to your life – have a think about what we've been talking about here.

The Toughies look at each other in astonishment.

Meekie 2: And another thing!! . . . If someone tells you the Jewish Torah or the Islamic Koran or the Hindu scriptures are not to be respected – have a think about what we've been talking about here and remember that a little knowledge can be a dangerous thing.

Meekie 3: And if you know what's good for you!!! . . . Make sure you know exactly what you're criticizing before you start putting down anybody's beliefs. Not a very wise thing to do at all.

Meekies together: BOOO!!!!

The Toughies scatter, frightened, off the stage. The Meekies crack up with laughter as Speaker 1 turns to Speaker 2.

Speaker 1: Maybe those strong, useful meekies are getting somewhere at last.

Speaker 2: Could be.

They exit the stage.

(The Beatitudes are found in Matthew 5.3–12.)

Publication date: May 2015   (Vol.17 No.5)    Published by SPCK, London, UK.
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