Submitted by
S. Daly

Age Group
7-11

Aim
To learn not to lie
To learn to tell the truth
To learn not to fight

Faith Group
Christian

Other Details
Before the assembly the children should work out three very short plays, as described below.

Script
1. Good morning everyone.
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

2. Today we are going to show you three short plays.
Each one starts with two children bumping into each other accidentally.

3. First of all, here are (three children's names).

(PLAY - two children bump into each other accidentally. They start to fight. They then both complain to the teacher and blame the other child. The teacher puts them both in detention.)

4. (Two children's names) will now show us what could have happened.

(PLAY - two children bump into each other accidentally. They both say sorry. One asks the other to play football.)

5. Lastly, (two children's names).

(PLAY - two children bump into each other accidentally. They both say sorry. One helps the other up. They sit down and read a comic together.)

6. Incidents like these happen in school nearly every day.
A lot of people in a small space will eventually have accidents or get in each other's way. What is important is what we do next.

7. In the first play, the boys turned an accidental bump into a fight.
They then complained about each other to the teacher and also lied. Of course they were punished.
So this incident lasted a lot longer than it should have done.
It made nobody happy.

8. In the other two plays, the children accepted that the bump was an accident. They all said sorry and then played together nicely. The incident was soon over and everybody was happy.

9. God wants us to behave like the children in the last two plays.
There are lots of passages in the Bible where we are told how to behave.

10. Saint Paul said,
"Dear Friends, Help your teachers and don't make life difficult for them.
Don't fight each other.
Don't be lazy.
Help the people who are nervous.
Take care of the children who are not very well.
Be patient.
Don't try to get your own back
And think of what would be best for everyone."

11. He also said,
"Be ready to forgive as soon as an argument begins, because God has forgiven you."

12. Doing all of this is not easy, so we will not always get it right.
Luckily, God does not expect us to get it right on our own.
He will help us if we ask him.
We can ask him when we say a prayer like this:

13. Dear God, sometimes we find it hard to say we're sorry.
Jesus told us the kind of people he wants us to be, but we're not like that all the time.
Sometimes we're not pleasant to know.
God help us to be more like the people Jesus wants us to be. Amen.

14. If we pray like this, God will help us. He will calm us down, like Jesus calmed a storm in the Bible.

15. Jesus, you once calmed a storm out on the lake.
The wind blew, the waves grew big, but you said,

JESUS Peace, be still.

15. Please calm the storms in our lives, when we get angry or upset, when we want to fight or have a tantrum, when we feel like kicking and shouting and screaming.
Say to us,

JESUS Peace, be still.

15. And help us to see sense. Amen.

16. We will now pray for a while in silence.
You could say a prayer for yourself, maybe asking God to help you to settle an argument.
Or you could pray for somebody else, maybe somebody who is not very happy at the moment.

17. We will now say an Act of Contrition together:
O my God, because you are so good, I am very sorry that I have sinned against you and by the help of your grace I will not sin again.

18. We will now sing "Let there be love" by Dave Bilbrough. (Celebration Hymnal for Everyone number 358)