Golden Rules

1. BE GENTLE AND KIND

How to use these suggestions

These are not ready made assemblies - you will need to do some preparatory work, however I hope these suggestions will give you starting points.
The suggestions fall into three groups.

Comments

Gentleness and kindness have to do with nurturing and protecting others, allowing them to grow and thrive. It is hard to grow when we are treated harshly or ridiculed. 'A gentle answer quietens anger, but a harsh one stirs it up. " Proverbs 15: 1. We could also speak of being merciful - not belittling others or being vindictive towards them. These are not necessarily soft virtues - true kindness doesn't let someone do things which will damage and hurt them. Anger is not necessarily the opposite of these virtues, though it can be if it is used to destroy rather than to create.

1. God is... gentle and kind

Christians believe that we are made in the image of God. Therefore our values reflect our ideas of God.They are not arbitrary, nor do they just apply to children. They are an expression of what we believe is at the heart of God.
Reflecting on this takes us beyond mere " oughtism" and dry morality, and counters the danger that this sort of assembly only touches social and moral dimensions of life and ignores the spiritual.

Loving-kindness is one of the primary attributes of God in the Bible. The Hebrew word is sometimes translated as mercy or love, and intriguingly has the same root as the Hebrew word for ‘womb’. In the minds of those who wrote the Old Testament it has strong similarities with the feelings of a mother towards her child - her strong connection to it, her investment of time and energy in it, her willingness to suffer and make sacrifices for it, her determination to help it to grow into all it can be. Loving-kindness is concerned with having a creative attitude towards others.

In the Old Testament we see God's love in his relationship with the people of Israel.
"The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercy never comes to an end. They are new every morning." Lamentations 3:22
"I drew [my people] to me with affection and love . I picked them up and held them to my cheek; I bent down to them and fed them."

Even when people do wrong he cannot hold onto his anger for long.
"How can I give you up, Israel? How can I abandon you? My heart will not let me do it. My love for you is too strong." Hosea 11:8

2. Stories

3. Words for reflection

You could,
  • write them on a large sheet of paper
  • unpack their meaning with the children
  • repeat them several times ( make up a tune and sing them) , then invite the children to say the words to themselves in their mind ( St. Benedict called it ruminating -like cows chewing the cud.
  • learn them by heart.
  • use them as a response during some prayers or reflection.
  • draw them, act them ...

You could also
  • Explore the opposite of each rule using stories that illustrate what happens when we are not gentle and kind etc.....
  • Explore the process of keeping a rule. I saw an assembly about taking care of things, in which children who had carefully made a model were asked how it felt when they were making it and how they felt about it now.
  • Explore the reasons why we find it hard to keep rules.
  • Explore what we do when we fail. Saying sorry, being forgiven and making things right again are important skills.

Links to other Golden Rules pages