Sin and mud: an assembly for Lent

You will need a bucket with some soil in it, a bowl of clean warm water, a couple of towels and some soap. (It is a lot but it is worth it!)

Show the children the bucket of soil and add water to it to make mud.
Ask them who likes to get muddy.
Bring out one child, ask them their (name) and ask them to get their hands all muddy.

Say the problem about getting muddy is that we need to get clean again. Why does (name) need to get clean.
Among answers, there will hopefully be:
Because if they don't they'll make other people muddy, they'll get sick from germs, the mud will stick onto them.

Talk about how many Christians use Lent as a time to look at mud - not the mud on the outside, but the mud on the inside of our lives:
- unkind things
- unkind words
- we want people to be fair to us, but we are not always fair to them
- we sometimes don't do the right thing because we are frightened of what others will say
- we tell lies and then further lies to get ourselves out of the lies we have already told
- we don't say sorry, or we take people for granted
And we realise that we need to clean up.

The problem is that we can't clean ourselves up. We try to be good, to pull our socks up, but it never seems to work.

Give (name) a clean white towel and ask them to clean themselves up. They simply get more muddy and the towel gets muddy.
Ask a teacher, or get someone sensible to come to front, and help (name) wash their hands in the water and dry them with a clean towel.

As they are having their hands washed, say how Christians believe that we can't make ourselves clean on the inside, but that we need Jesus to make us clean. Jesus is the only person who can really clean us on the inside. He forgives us and he can start to get rid of the inner mud, if we ask him.

Finish with a prayer thanking God for his forgiveness because of Jesus, and asking him to make us clean on the inside

Emptying the rubbish: an assembly for lent

A primary assembly:
You will need some cleaning utensils and a hoover. 

Sun is shining - shows up all the dirt and cobwebs.
Time for a spring clean

It is a good time for a spring clean, so I've brought along the brush, dustpan and hoover. Who can give me a hand?

But often it is not just the house or the school that needs cleaning up. Sometimes we need cleaning up. If you've been involved in a mud fight, you come back from a football match, and you get home. mum picks you up and drops you in the bath. You are filthy and you need a good scrub.

But it is not just the house that needs cleaning; it is not just our bodies. What is inside also needs cleaning up!

We're a bit like hoovers.
The hoover cleans up rubbish. But where does the rubbish go?
And what happens if you don't empty the bag?
[loses suction - sucking power - and eventually clogs up]

And as we go through life we collect the rubbish. And there are times when we need to empty the bag:
So what is some of the sort of rubbish we need to empty
- owning up if we've done something wrong (not carrying the fear that we are going to be caught out)
- saying sorry (not carrying guilt)
- forgiving someone (not carrying the resentment)
- telling someone (parent, teacher) that we are hurting or frightened
- ask for help (not trying to do something all on our own)

Lent is that time of year when Christians have a bit of a spring clean.

Hoovers are not able to empty themselves. They need someone to do it.
And we can't empty ourselves.
That is why Christians come to Jesus and ask him to help us empty the bag of all the rubbish that is inside us.