The power of words to pierce or to heal

Ask children to squeeze out some toothpaste onto a kitchen towel. Ask them to put it back in. They can't!

It is the same with words.
Once they have been said, they cannot be put back.

Words are really important.
There is the old saying, 'Sticks and stones can break my bones but words they cannot hurt me'.
Who thinks that is true?

As someone said, a scar on your heart hurts more than a scar on your wrist.

Or, in the words of Proverbs 12.18, 'Reckless words pierce like a sword, but the tongue of the wise brings healing'.

So we need to be careful with words, particularly if we are good or quick with words.



It is very easy
- to make a joke about someone
- to call them a name
- to spread a rumour about somebody
- to bad mouth, threaten, humiliate

It is as if the other person is this, and we do this:
hold a piece of paper, and then in silence tear it up into shreds

Touch your tongue! James in the bible tells us that the tongue is like a spark. It is very small, but it can set a forest on fire.

Reckless words pierce like a sword, but the tongue of the wise brings healing 

To bring healing, we need to learn to 'speak the truth in love'.
That doesn't mean we cannot challenge. Sometimes if we love someone, and if we want to build them up, we need to challenge them: to say 'you could do better'. I'm sure it is what many of your teachers say to you!
But it is so important to speak words that build up rather than tear down: like thank you, you're good at that, well done, I like the way you did that, you are a star!

Be careful with your words.
My granny gave me two pieces of advice.
1. If you haven't got anything good to say about someone, don't say anything.
2. Count to 10 before you speak, especially if you are angry or hurting.
And that is just as true before you post something on facebook, instagram or upload a video to youtube.

Because once it is out, you cannot put it back in.
Once words are said, they can only be forgiven.

Lifting people up

Lifting people up from mdrogers

Bring a child out to the front and push them down to the ground (agree this with them before the assembly!)

It is very easy to push someone down, especially if you are bigger and stronger than them.
It makes us feel big.
And when people are down we can ignore them, or laugh at them.

The image that we see comes from Ravenna in North Italy. It is a mosaic, one of the earliest known illustrations of the life of Jesus, probably about 1600 years old. This image tells the story of a woman who was crushed because she was sick. It was one of those sicknesses which made everyone avoid her. She was also poor, because she had spent all her money on doctors who had said they would heal her, but did nothing. And she was like dirt. Perhaps people didn't even see her. The man in orange on the right is urging Jesus (he is the one with the halo) to move on, to ignore this woman.

But Jesus stops. He bends down to pick up the woman. He talks with her. He tells her that she is healed and that she is a precious daughter of God (You can read the story in Luke 8.40-48). He lifts her up.

That is what he came to do. It is what we remember at this Christmas time. He came down from heaven, became one of us, was even crucified, in order to lift us up so that we can become sons and daughters of God.
(You could have another child step down off a chair and lift up the child you pushed to the ground earlier)

So perhaps we need to be in the business of lifting people up
Slide 2: ballet dancers
Slide 3: Rugby players

We can lift people up by noticing them when they are crushed, by saying something encouraging, by letting them go first, by giving.

Slide 4: shows another of these mosaics from Ravenna. It is of another woman, but this time standing tall. And she is giving. Perhaps it is the same woman. She has been lifted up and so now she is able to lift up others.

We have seen some pretty awful things recently done in the name of God, but the bible says that true religion is about caring for orphans and widows in their need (slide 5). It is not about pushing people down so that we can make ourselves bigger. It is about lifting people up.

Going against the flow - being different

(Key stage 2 and 3)
Christmas Fayre. Everyone is going one way. You are going other way. It is hard.


Dinghy at beach. The tide is going out. You paddle hard. If not, the air sea rescue ambulance will come and you will look a bit of an idiot. You went with the tide.

Sometimes we need to make a stand and go against the flow.

You go to the cinema with friends and your mother said you must be back at seven but the film ends and your friends say let's go round to someone's house. You have a decision to make. Do you go with the flow or do you say, "sorry. I've got to go home".

There is a story in the Bible about the King called Nebuchadnezzar. King Nebuchadnezzar was ruler of the Babylonian Empire. Story of Shadrach, Meshack, and Abednego (my shack, your shack and the bungalow).

It's very hard to be different, especially if you're going to be fried alive if you are different.

But God was so important for shaped rack, Meshack and Abednego that they were going to make a stand – even if it meant they were thrown into the fiery furnace.

Story of Father Kyrill: We met Father Kyrill in the theological college in St Petersburg, when my wife and I were living there for two years. He was the spiritual father of the seminary. He had been battered and smashed by life. He had been sentenced to 10 years of hard labour (on three different occasions) in Soviet labour camps, simply for responding to the love of God in a society which said that God did not exist. He could have become so hard and bitter. But he wasn’t. Despite the suffering, he had begun to love, to forgive and to give, and his face was literally radiant.

Dead fish float with the current; living fish swim against it.

Harvest assembly

An assembly that can be used for KS1,2 and 3, with adaptation

You will need the letters HARVEST written on different cards.

At the beginning of the assembly, invite 7 children to the front to hold the cards (jumbled up), and ask the other children to tell you what word they can make from it.

As you speak, ask the children with the letters to spell the words, and for those whose letters are not being used, to stand to one side.

God has given us a beautiful and abundant EARTH.
There is actually enough food for everyone to EAT
God provides for us in many ways. He gives us the products to make clothes (ask what items of clothing can be made from the word HARVEST: HAT or VEST)

But something is wrong. While we HAVE so much; indeed we have so much that a great deal ends up as TRASH, VAST numbers of people in the REST of the world STARVE.

(You may wish to add some statistics: eg. one third of the world is overfed, one third underfed, and one third seriously malnourished)

God gave us a good EARTH, with enough for all people, if the resources were used wisely
God also gave us a HEART, to love him - who has given us the earth - and to love other people.

But we don't. We put ourselves first.

So here is a simple test. Imagine you found a £10 note in the street. There is nobody around. There is no point taking it to the police station. What would you do with it? Be honest.

Who would keep it?
Who would keep it and possibly invite some friends to Shake-away or Macdonalds?
Who would give most of it away, when they heard of someone in need?

We did nothing to deserve that £10. It was pure chance. But most of us would keep it for ourselves.

That is the same situation that we find ourselves in. We did nothing to be born into a relatively wealthy society. We might give away a little, but most of the time we keep our resources for ourselves.

So how do we change?
We will not change by simply having someone like me telling you that you have to change.

It begins when there are real TEARS - when we realise just how selfish we are.
We recognise that we need someone to SAVE us - because we cannot change ourselves
We need someone who loves us and who can give us a new HEART - so that we begin to love.
Because it is when we love that we will freely choose to SHARE

Getting the balance right

KS 3/4

Equipment: Game of Jenga (preferably outdoor Jenga)

(at the beginning, have two children silently playing a game of Jenga. They must not make it fall until you ask them to do so at the very end)

Story of Ruth Lawrence. At age 11 she entered Oxford university and at age 13 she graduated with a starred first class degree (a sort of level 562 at SATS. Problem was that she had lived, breathed, eaten maths.

Since then Oxford have a minimum age of admission, however brainy someone might be.

Why? Because they recognise the need to have balance in your life. Someone who does maths every minute of every day until they are 13 is not going to be a very rounded person.

We need balance:

eg. dieting/eating; talking/listening; watching tv, playing on the Wii/going outside; fitness/rest; spending/saving/giving; sport/studies; being on our own/being with other people; work/play; acting/praying

Big in-phrase at the moment: the work/life balance.

We need balance between body/mind

Having said that, if you wish to become really good at something you need to give it more time and more commitment then you would give to something else: music, football, ballet dancer, gymnast, academic (but perhaps just for a few years).

It is really difficult knowing when to get the balance, how to get the balance, and keep the balance.

Life really can be a bit like a game of Jenga - we need wisdom to know what to do next.

We need wisdom for living

Christians believe that the bible helps:

Psalm 119:9, "How can those who are young keep their way pure? By living according to your word"

Psalm 111:10, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; all who follow his precepts have good understanding"

And Jesus says that he is the cornerstone on which we should build our lives.

(talk with children playing Jenga and ask them which is the cornerstone)

If I trust in Jesus,

• I pray to him and he does guide me and does give wisdom
• I read his book and it does give great guidance
• If the thing I really want to happen doesn't happen (I don't become a professional footballer; I don't become a chief executive), it is not the end of the world
• If it all crashes around you (Jenga tower falls) - it doesn't matter: you can still rebuild on the cornerstone.

Unconditional love

KS 3/4
Based on John 3:16
No props, although could use song 'For God so loved the world' by John Hardwick
http://www.johnhardwick.org.uk/media/sheetmusic/For%20God%20So%20Loved%20The%20World.pdf
Also useful to have text of John 3:16

It is exam time. I wonder what motivates you?

Some of your parents may have said to you: 'We'll give you £100 if you get an A star!'
It is a conditional gift. If you are good enough, we'll reward you.

That may be right for you, but I have to say that I am grateful that God is not like that.

God does not say to us, 'If you are a good person then I will give you eternal life'.
We may try our hardest - but we just end up putting pressure on ourselves and making the lives of others unbearable. We either think we have succeeded or become proud; or we think we have failed, and feel condemned

Fortunately God is not like that. God offers an unconditional gift.

John 3:16 - "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son,
that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."

We don't need to prove ourselves worthy. We simply need to receive.

How much are you worth?

Key stage 3/4

How much are you worth?

In 1980, a couple from New Jersy tried to exchange their baby son for a second-hand car worth $8800. The car dealer was tempted because he had lost his son in a fire. He said, 'My first impression was to swap the car for the kid. I knew moments later that it would be wrong - not so much wrong for me or the expense of it, but what would this baby do when he's not a baby anymore? How could this boy cope with life knowing he was traded for a car?' (Quoted by Timothy Radcliffe, Why go to Church?, Continuum p127)

Ask children if they had a price tag, how much do they think they might be worth? 

What about a teacher? What about the headteacher?

We used to put prices on people (to sell them as slaves)

We put prices on footballers to sell them to other clubs

We think that a person is more valuable the better they are. 

Actually you cannot put a price on a person. Each person is unique. 

Psalm 49:7-8 

⁷ No one can redeem the life of another
       or give to God a sufficient ransom—
⁸ the ransom for a life is costly,
       no payment is ever enough—

But if you could put a price on someone...

Let's look at it another way round.

Imagine this:

A judge wishes to catch a  criminal. He offers 100 for the criminal. You could say that the criminal is worth 100

But imagine the criminal is much worse. The judge offers a reward of 10000 for the criminal. You could say the criminal is worth 10000

Now imagine the criminal is a terrorist who kills many innocent people. The judges offers a reward of 100000 for the criminal. You could say the criminal is worth 100000

But what if the judge says that he will give everything that he has for this person? What if he says that he will give his life for this person? What does that tell us about the value of the person?

Well I hope that you are not going to be a criminal, and get in trouble with the law

I certainly hope that you are not going to become a terrorist

But the bible tells us that Jesus Christ, the one who God made judge and lord of this world, gave his life for us, for you. And he could do that because he is the Son of God.

And that tells us two things.

1. It tells us that - however bad you are and however much you have messed up, and as you grow older we begin to realise that we are far worse than we thought we were - he chose to die for you. Not to capture you and punish you, but to change you and give you life - to make you the person he meant you to be. 

2. It means that - however insignificant and small you think that you are, or other people say that you are, however well you have done in SATS or however badly - you are far far more precious and valuable to God than you can possibly imagine. He died for you. Because he loves you.