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Caring for the Earth

An assembly from the Culham St Gabriel archive

Suitable for Whole School (Sec) - Church Schools

Aims

To consider the wonder of the Earth.

Preparation and materials

  • Have available the following images and the means to display them during the assembly:

    - a kite, available at: https://tinyurl.com/k8oxgrx
    - the Earth as seen from space, available at: https://tinyurl.com/lrd6rv2

  • You will also need the words MAKING, ENJOYING, SHARING and IMPROVING displayed.

  • You will need three readers for the Bible verses: Genesis 1.31a, Genesis 2.2 and Genesis 2.4-7.

Assembly

  1. Show the image of a kite.

    Andrew enjoyed making kites. He would spend hours designing them, carefully cutting out the fabric and the struts, assembling them and then trying them out. He thoroughly enjoyed his successes, but he also enjoyed the failures because they presented him with further interesting challenges. Often, he would give the kites away to the children of his family and friends, explaining to them how to get the best from his designs and taking further delight in seeing them enjoying the stunts.

    Then, one day, Andrew joined in with them, sharing the fun and exhilaration. He found that there was even more pleasure to be had from flying kites with them, listening to them and their ideas and incorporating these into his own designs.

  2. Show the image of the Earth as seen from space, and the words MAKING, ENJOYING, SHARING and IMPROVING.

    Invite the readers to read the verses from Genesis.

    Reader 1: God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. (Genesis 1.31a)

    Reader 2: By the seventh day, God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day, he rested from all his work. (Genesis 2.2)

    Reader 3: This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created, when the Lord God made the earth and the heavens. Now no shrub had yet appeared on the earth and no plant had yet sprung up, for the Lord God had not sent rain on the earth and there was no one to work the ground, but streams came up from the earth and watered the whole surface of the ground. Then the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being. (Genesis 2.4-7)

  3. Think about the similarities between the story about Andrew and the readings from Genesis that we have just heard.

    It is helpful to picture God as the kite-maker. It is an idea that we can all grasp. Creation and its development is seen by the writer of Genesis as a joint achievement, something in which God involves the human beings of his world.

  4. If we think back through the history of the human race, we can see how, over thousands of years, human beings have made further and further advances in understanding and using the world. Not all of these have been for the best. We need to think carefully about how we use new discoveries, and how we find ways of applying those discoveries so that more and more people can benefit.

  1. People of faith believe that God made the Earth and everything in it. They believe that God made it for our enjoyment, but that we also have a responsibility to look after it.

Time for reflection

Ask the following questions.

- What are we doing to look after the Earth?

Pause to allow time for thought.

- Are we misusing the Earth’s resources?

Pause to allow time for thought.

- Are we caring for the planet so that further generations can enjoy it in the way that we do?

Pause to allow time for thought.

Prayer
Dear God,
We live in a world of endless potential.
For this, we thank you.
We live in a world of beauty.
For this, we thank you.
Help us always to remember to think and act responsibly.
Help us to protect the Earth for future generations to enjoy.
Amen.

Publication date: July 2020   (Vol.22 No.7)    Published by SPCK, London, UK.
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