Submitted by
S. Daly

Age Group
8-14

Aim
To learn who our neighbours are
To learn about helping our neighbours
To hear about the good Samaritan

Faith Group
Christian

Other Details
The theme tune to the TV programme "Neighbours" could be played as children walk in to the hall
Children could mime the story of The Good Samaritan below

Script
1. Good morning.
Today we are going to think about ways in which we can all be good neighbours.

2. Jesus said that we should love our neighbours as ourselves. What does this mean?
Well - firstly - we have to find out who our neighbours are.
Are they just the people who live next door to us, or are they just our friends, or are our neighbours those people we meet every day, or are they all the people around us?

3. It would be very easy for us, if we only had to love our friends. But this is not what God wants. He wants us to love everybody, whether they are rich or poor, young or old, happy or sad. He wants us to be kind and helpful to everybody, no matter who they may be. Unfortunately, we hear many stories today about people who are ill or lonely, poor or hungry. These people have no good neighbours to look after them. Here is a story about this:

4. Old Mrs. Smithers lived alone in a small flat in London. She seldom had visitors, and, because she was quite old and was in poor health, she was not able to go out very much.When she became ill, it was three days before anybody realised. Mrs. Stevenson, her next door neighbour, said,

NEIGHBOUR: I did notice that I hadn't heard or seen her for a while, but my little boy had measles, so I was too busy to pop in to see her.

5. Bob the milkman said,

MILKMAN: I thought it was a bit funny that she hadn't picked up her milk, but I was late yesterday and just couldn't stop to see if she was all right.

6. Mr. Matthews, the clerk in the post office on the corner, said,

CLERK: I must say, she usually comes in for her pension on Tuesday, but when she didn't come I thought she'd decided to come on Wednesday instead. It never really occurred to me she might be ill.

7. Obviously, Mrs. Smithers had no good neighbours who were kind and ready to help.

8. Jesus told a story about a man who was a good neighbour.

JESUS: A Jew was travelling along the road from Jerusalem to Jericho. On the way, some robbers attacked him, stole his money and his clothes, and left him beside the road half dead.
A short time later, a priest came along the same road. He saw the man who was badly hurt, but he did not want to help him, so he crossed to the other side of the road and continued on his way.
Then a Levite came along. He did exactly as the priest had just done.
Finally, a Samaritan came along. People from Samaria and the Jews usually did not like each other. Was the Samaritan going to do the same as the priest and the Levite and pass by on the other side?
No. He took pity on the injured man. He bound his wounds and brought him to an inn. There he asked the innkeeper to look after the man until he recovered. He then paid for this with his own money.

9. So the Samaritan was the good neighbour. He stopped and took care of the injured man, even though he did not know him. This is what being a good neighbour means - helping those who need our help and being kind to everybody, no matter who they are.

10. Jesus himself helped many people. For example at the Last Supper, he washed the Apostles' feet . Then he said,

JESUS: I have given you an example. If I, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet.

10. This means we should put ourselves out to help others.

11. Let us now ask God to give us the strength to act unselfishly today. Show us how to make happy all those people we meet today, in school and outside. We now know that everybody is our neighbour. Amen.

12. Let us also ask Mary our mother, to pray for us today. Hail Mary...

We will now sing "When I needed a neighbour" by Sydney Carter (Celebration Hymnal for Everyone number 800)