Tag Archives: remembrance day

A time to remember – Remembrance Day

Bible base

1 Corinthians 11:23–26

Aim

To help students reflect on how memories are an important part of our lives.

Things you’ll need:

  • A song about remembering or memory, eg ‘Everything I do, I do it for you’ by Bryan Adams; ‘Memory’ from the musical Cats
  • PowerPoint equipment (optional) for presentation.
  • Objects, photos etc that you plan to use as examples in the assembly.
  • Remembrance Day poppies.

Preparation

  • Find the pictures or objects you plan to use in the assembly.
  • Find out some facts about wars by doing a web search.
  • If using PowerPoint or OHP for presentation of pictures (see below), prepare material as appropriate.
  • Wear a poppy.

Presentation

Start by talking about the different ways in which we remember things, pointing out that we have good memories and sad memories. Show some examples, beginning with some personal ones. You could show some of your ‘picture’ memories using PowerPoint or OHP and also some actual objects, holding them up for your audience to see. Choose things which you think this age group will enjoy. Examples might include:

Good memories

  • Photographs (eg a funny one of you on holiday as a child)
  • Your teddy bear
  • Your diary – includes important dates (eg your birthday, pay day, holidays, trip to the cinema)

Sad memories

  • Possessions (eg your grandma’s wedding ring)
  • Photographs (eg a picture of a relative who fought/died in a war)

2 Now comment that some students are wearing poppies (if they are). Show and talk about your ‘Remembrance Day’ poppy. Ask if anyone can tell you why we wear these at this time of year. Then talk about what the poppy is meant to help us remember. Include some facts about wars, for example:

First World War: On the first day of the Battle of the Somme, there were nearly 60,000 casualties, a third of whom were killed.

Some facts about a more recent war, eg the war in Iraq.

Talk about the fact that the people who were killed or injured were real people – someone’s father, brother, husband, and son. In the First World War, some of those fighting were very young – as young as 14.

3 Ask: Why is it important to remember?

  • Talk about a time you forgot something (eg your Mum’s birthday!). How did that make the person feel?
  • Talk about the importance of remembering friends and relatives who have died, including some personal examples. If we don’t remember people it’s as if we’re saying they weren’t important or that we don’t care about the contribution they’ve made to our lives.

In the same way, it’s important to remember the people who have died in wars, fighting for things that are important. How we live today is partly a result of their sacrifice. Remembrance Day is a time to remember.

Reflection

1 Say that remembering is important, because what happened in the past affects our lives now. It’s important because others (those we don’t know, like soldiers, and those we do know, like family) have done things for us which have an affect on our lives today and we need to remember them with thankfulness.

2 Now show the cross (an object, or picture on OHP or PowerPoint). Talk about, how for Christians it’s important to remember how Jesus died and in doing so took all the suffering and wrongs of the world. When we see a cross it reminds us of Jesus giving up his life for us, and challenges us about how we live for God and others now.

Response

1 Ask the young people to think about:

  • the soldiers who gave their lives for this country in wars;
  • their own good memories of people and what they mean to them;
  • Jesus giving up his life on the cross and why he did that.

Give a few moments of silence and encourage students to take the time to say thank you to God for what these memories mean and to think about what difference they might make to their lives now.

2 Show the prepared PowerPoint presentation (optional) with images of memories (family photos, war pictures), ending with one showing the cross, whilst listening to the song you have selected on the theme of remembering.

If PowerPoint isn’t available, use two or three OHP acetates with images and display these whilst the students are listening to the song.

3 End with a few moments silence, leaving the image of the cross on display.

 

 

Learning from the past – Remembrance Day

Topic:

Remembrance Day

Aim

To help children understand that it is important to learn from others in history.

Things you’ll need

A variety of objects on a tray covered with a tea towel for Kim’s Game.

Bible base

Daniel 5

Content

1 Ask for two volunteers to play Kim’s Game. Allow the volunteers thirty seconds to look at the objects on the tray, then cover the tray with the tea towel. Ask the volunteers to take turns to name one object at a time. See who can keep going the longest.

2 Now tell the story of Belshazzar’s feast from Daniel 5. Explain that God expected Belshazzar to learn from his grandfather, Nebuchadnezzar. Nebuchadnezzar had learnt that he was not more powerful or important than God. God expected Belshazzar to remember and learn that lesson.

The story:

King Belshazzar was a rich, powerful, proud ruler who thought he was more important than God and could do whatever he liked.

One night he gave a huge party and invited hundreds of his wealthy, important friends. There was a lot to drink and they drank too much. They didn’t care what God thought. They even drank wine from special ceremonial cups they had stolen from God’s Temple.

Suddenly, something amazing and terrifying happened. A hand appeared all by itself and began to write strange words on the wall. King Belshazzar went white. His knees knocked together. The great king was shaking with fear!

King Belshazzar sent for Daniel – who did care about what God thought, and had a special gift for understanding things like this.

Daniel told the king that he should have learnt from his grandfather, King Nebuchadnezzar. He had been a proud man who thought he was more important than God and did all sorts of evil things. God punished him. He lost his throne and became an outcast. But he had come to his senses and realised that he wasn’t as important as he had thought and he began to do things right. Then God let him become king once again.

King Belshazzar hadn’t remembered and learnt this lesson from history. He had carried on doing what he wanted, not what was right. Daniel explained to the king that the strange words written on the wall meant that God was going to punish him for all the evil things he kept on doing. The message said that his life and his kingship were over. He should have remembered what had happened to his grandfather.

That very night King Belshazzar was killed.

Application

A Christian viewpoint

God expects Christians to look back at what he as done in the past and to learn from that. Usually that means looking at the Bible, but also it means looking at what God has done in the lives of people since the Bible was written and learning from them.

For everyone

Remembrance Day is a time for us not to be like Belshazzar, but to look back and learn. We can look back and see how people hated others because of their religion or nationality. We can learn from that and decide that we will respect and be friends with those who are different from us, not hate them.

Response

Finish with this, or a similar, prayer:

Dear God, thank you for people who stand up for what is right. Thank you for people who have learnt from what others have done. Help each of us to learn from others and from what we know happened in the past. Amen.