INTRO
This assembly is about Jesus being the light. This is based on a talk given at St Leonard’s Church in Exeter. The credit for this idea must go to them.
Welcome
How many people used to be, or are afraid of the dark? There’s something a bit scary about the dark isn’t there. Have you ever been out in a forest at night? All of a sudden it becomes a little bit sinister. Maybe you’re not scared of the dark, but many people around you probably are.
Two volunteers
Ask for 2 volunteers to come to the front, preferably male and female (or someone from the left or right of the room). Assure them that they’re not going to be put into a dark cave or have to do anything bad! Tell the other students that they are to remain silent.
Once the volunteers come to the front, you need to get both of them to do something that takes a bit of a challenge. Both volunteers are going to do the same thing.
For example, you could have both volunteers wrap up a present each. This means you’ll need 2 ‘presents’ (say 2 boxes of Roses chocolates or similar), 2 bits of wrapping paper, 2 pairs of scissors and 2 rolls of sellotape or similar. It’d be useful for each volunteer to also have their own table which they stand behind.
Tell the volunteers that they are going to have to wrap up a present each. (If the volunteers are male and female, play up the fact that males and females both think they’re the best at wrapping presents. Say you’re going to find out who..)
Then, just as the volunteers start to wrap up the presents, stop them and say, ‘hang on, let’s make it a bit tougher. I’m going to blindfold each of you.’ Then, produce the first blindfold and blindfold one of the volunteers. Then, making sure they definitely can’t see anything, go to the other volunteer and pretend you’re going to blindfold them. Go through the motions, pretending to wrap the blindfold around them, asking whether they can see or not etc. Tell the other students to remain quiet and not to shout out.
Then set them going on wrapping up the presents.. Have a second blindfold with you.
The result will be quite funny as the blindfolded person makes a complete hash of it, and the other does a fairly good job. You will also need to give the un blindfolded volunteer help, but without the blindfolded volunteer knowing.
After a minute or two of wrapping, stop the volunteers. Tell them to leave their blindfolds on. Pretend to take off the un blindfolded person’s blindfold and lay down the spare blindfold on their table, then take off the other person’s blindfold and do the same.
Step back and ‘admire’ the handiwork of the two volunteers. Assess each present. Don’t be negative or critical of either of the wrapped presents, but be affirming only. Then tell the volunteers that one of them had a blindfold on, that they both did really well, give them a round of applause and then sit down.
NOTE – If the blindfolds fall off or students shout out, don’t worry. Put the blindfold back onto the one student and not the other again and tell them just to try their best at wrapping. You can still make the point below..
Point
When you walk into a dark room, you can’t see much. If you turn on a torch, you can see a little bit. If you turn on the light, you can see most things in the room. As a Christian, I believe that Jesus is like a great light.
It’s just like the 2 volunteers: one of them was blindfolded and found it very tricky to wrap up the present. The other volunteer could see, and had my help.
The Bible talks about Jesus in Matthew. The Bible says that, “the people living in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned.” Christians believe that Jesus was not just any old light, but a great and bright light. The Bible tells us that this word can be a dark and sinister place, but that Jesus came to bring light and life. Not only that, but if we believe in Jesus, he says that he will be with us and help us in this dark world.
Thanks for listening and think about that challenge.