Addoli ar y Cyd - Collective Worship



Collective Worship

Title: Good Friends

Theme: Friendship

School: Primary

Term: All terms

Summary

A retelling of the healing of the paralytic from Mark 2.1-12, emphasising the value of true friends.

Teachers’ Notes

Recommended Hymn / Song:

Help from Our Friends -Wet, Wet, Wet or the Beatles song Thank you God for all Our Friends (Come and Praise 27)

Recommended Reading: You may like to read the original story in Mark’s Gospel, chapter 2, vss. 1-12

Instructions:

The pictures should be shown on PowerPoint as the story is told. The ( ) shows when the slide should be changed. To attract the pupils’ attention, we recommend the first slide is already on display as they enter.

The Main Text

(Picture 1)

Let’s start today by having a good look round at the children sitting around us. I expect everyone is smiling as they look at their friends. Hands up if you can see one person in this room who is your friend. Friends are very important to everyone, including adults as well as children.

I am going to tell you a story about the importance of friendship. It’s a story that is over two thousand years old but it still shows the power of real friendship.

Once there lived a man – let’s call him Ben - who was a paraplegic. Does anyone know what that means? Well, it means he was paralysed from the neck down.

(Picture 2)

Unfortunately, in those days wheelchairs hadn’t been invented so if Ben needed to go somewhere he would have to be wheeled on a cart of some sort, or be carried by his family or friends. As a child, that wasn’t too much of a problem because he was small and light. But, as he grew up, he grew bigger and things were more difficult.

(Picture 3)

By the time our story begins, he needed four men to carry him on a specially made bed that was a bit like a stretcher. There would be one at each corner. Imagine how much organisation and effort it would take so that Ben could be taken to the market or to the synagogue in the little village of Capernaum where he lived. Luckily for Ben he had four good friends who were willing to help him.

(Picture 4)

One sunny day, his friends turned up at his house at the same time and they were all very red-faced and breathless. It looked like they had been running!

They were all talking at once whilst getting Ben’s stretcher ready. Poor Ben didn’t know what on earth was going on. It was a day when they should all be at work - why were they there? What was the emergency?

“Ben, you’ll never guess who’s in the house around the corner!” exclaimed Adam excitedly.

“It’s Jesus!” interrupted John. “You know - he’s that man who’s been telling everyone about God’s love AND healing people!”

“Yes, and we believe he can heal you and make you walk! So, we’ve come to get you. No arguing! Let’s hurry,” said Joseph.

(Picture 5)

And with that, the four friends lifted him up and out of his house.

(Picture 6)

They started off at a walking pace, but as they got nearer they burst into a run. Ben felt happy, but he also felt nervous. His head was full of ‘what ifs’….. what if Jesus isn’t there, what if Jesus doesn’t heal him…?

(Picture 7)

When they arrived at the house, they knew it was the right place because crowds were all around the outside and everyone was trying to get inside. Ben felt a wave of despair sweep over him: a small child might have been able to squeeze in, but there was no chance for a man being carried on a stretcher. His friends, however, were determined.

(Picture 8)

They weren’t going to give up that easily so they took him around the side of the house where there were steps.

“Wh….a..t …a..r..e…you ..doi…ng?” stammered Ben as they bumped and jostled him up the steps.

“We believe that Jesus will heal you but he’s got to meet you first, so here goes!” Joe answered. He motioned to the others to put Ben’s stretcher down. Ben wondered what the next part of their plan was.

They began to pull at the clay and straw that were covering the roof and were determined to make a large hole.

(Picture 9)

Eventually, parts of the roof began to fall into the room below. Everyone looked up in amazement as they saw a man being lowered down slowly over their heads in front of Jesus.

Jesus looked straight at the four friends and smiled. The men were watching Jesus carefully and expecting him to do something special for their friend, Ben. Jesus could see how strongly they believed that he could help their friend and that’s exactly what he did. There in that small house in Capernaum, in a room full of people and earth and dust and straw, Jesus said to Ben,

“You are healed. pick up your stretcher and go home!”

(Picture 10)

Ben did not wait a moment longer and jumped to his feet to the sound of clapping and cheering and crying. He could walk! He looked at Jesus and said a silent “Thank you” in his heart.

“YES!” cheered the four men from the roof top. People were praising God at the tops of their voices - including Ben!

With a joy beyond words, Ben pushed his way out, searching for his four friends. He knew that it was because of their faith that he had been healed .They had come to get him; they had taken him to Jesus; they had broken through the roof and lowered him down. Wow! What brilliant, faithful friends. They had been looking out for him for as long as he could remember. He had to get to them!

(Picture 11)

Then he saw them: they were huddled together in a group, crying and laughing at the same time. Ben quietly joined them and whispered a grateful ‘thank you’ through his tears, because for the first time in his life he was able to stand together with them.

Now close your eyes and sit quietly.

Think about your friends. Think of a time in particular when someone was a really good friend to you. Remember what they did and how they made you feel. What did they say or do to you that helped you? Remember their kindness.

Now think about when you have been a good friend to someone too and remember what you did. Remember how it felt to help someone and to look after them.

These good feelings are the rewards of unselfish friendship.

Dear God,

Thank you for friendship and for our friends. Thank you especially for …..Let them put the names of their friends here…Thank you for the example of the four faithful friends in the story. Help us to behave more like them so that we can be kind and think of others. Help us all to be better friends so that we can all be there for each other in our school, as Ben’s friends were there for him. Amen.

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