Aim: to explain the giving nature of friendship
and the friendship of Jesus.
Equipment: Blank acetate with a rectangle drawn in the
middle; acetate with Jesus written in the middle (to fit in the rectangle); CD of
song “What a friend I’ve found” by Delirious; lyrics of the song (aatached);
acetate pen.
Done
at three Swindon schools
1.
Ask Why do we need friends? What do
friends do? What are friends like?
Write
one word answers on OHP around rectangle.
2. Say: I’m going to tell you a story about
friendship. (You can act this story out
as you tell it) Tell the story of two
friends who worked on a farm collecting grain.
Each night they would take their sacks of grain and put them in their
stores. One friend was single and lived
on his own. The other had a large
family. One
night the friend with the large family thought, "This is not fair. My friend lives all on his own and does not
enjoy the life of a family. I will help
him. I will secretly take one bag of
grain and put it in his store at night."
So that night he got one bag out of his store and crept over to his
friend's house in the dead of night. He
placed the bag in his friend’s store and tiptoed home. The same night the single friend thought to himself,
"This is not fair. Here am I with
only one mouth to feed. My friend, on
the other hand, has many children. I
think I will take one bag of my grain and secretly put it in his
store." So he took one bag from
his store, tiptoed over to his friend's house and placed it in his friend’s
store.
Every night for months the friends
would take a bag of grain to each other's stores. But they both became very puzzled, because even though they were
giving away their grain the amount they had never seemed to diminish.
One night they were both out
carrying sacks of grain to each other's houses. Suddenly they bumped into each other. They looked at each other, saw the bags of grain on their shoulders
and suddenly realised what had been happening.
They laughed out loud and gave each other a big hug.
Point out that this story shows
that true friends give to each other, but also receive.
3.
Turn the OHP back on. Say that
you have a friend who is... Use the
words that the children suggested earlier e.g. “I have a friend who is kind,
who helps me etc. etc.” Place the
acetate with the name "Jesus" on top of the first acetate.
4.
Say you would like to play them a song which talks about how close this
friend is to you. Say that as they
listen, they might want to make it their own prayer. Play "What a friend I've found" and put the lyrics up
on the OHP.
5.
Pray: Dear God, thank you that you are our friend. Help us to be friends to each other. Amen.
What
a friend I've found
What
a friend I've found
closer
than a brother
I
have felt your touch
More
intimate than lovers
Jesus,
Jesus,
Jesus,
friend forever
What
a hope I've found
More
faithful than a mother
It
would break my heart
To
ever lose each other.
Jesus,
Jesus,
Jesus,
friend forever
Martin
Smith
copyright:
1998 Curious? Music UK