Golden Rules

2. BE POLITE AND HELPFUL

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

The last rule and this one overlap considerably, so you may be able to use suggestions from that section here. Being polite and helpful also involves ideas like generosity, hospitality and unselfishness. These virtues have to do with not making it hard for others to be themselves - respecting them and giving them space. Helpfulness also implies reliability and faithfulness.

1. God is...

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.

God is... polite and helpful.

An important Christian belief is that God has given us freedom. He doesn't make us obey him. Like the Father in the story of the Prodigal son, he waits for us to come to him. However we also believe that God is always longing to help us. He is a God who welcomes us and offers hospitality. The image of the great feast occurs throughout the Bible, with God as the welcoming host. 'You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.' (Psalm 23) Psalm 65 speaks of God speaks "crowning the year with your bounty" and describes the land overflowing with crops and herds. The Psalmists also talk of God as our help and strength. They describe him as a rock and a fortress, a protector in times of trouble.

2. Stories

3. Words for reflection

You might need to paraphrase a little. I have only used words from the Bible, but you could use other proverbs or poems in the same way. To avoid making assumptions about the children's own beliefs, it would be wise to explain that these were the words of Jewish or Christian people, expressing the way they understood things, e.g. “someone wrote these words in the Bible a long time ago. I wonder whether you agree with them / what you think about them / how they make you feel/ what you think he might have felt or meant by them."

  • God is our help and our shield.'Psalm 33: 20
  • God set me safely on a rock and made me secure.Psalm 40: 2
  • God is our shelter and our strength, always ready to help in times of trouble. Ps.46: 1
  • Verses from Psalm 121 (see above)
  • Verses from Psalm 65: 9-13
  • Welcome one another, just as Christ has welcomed you.Romans 15:7
  • Help to carry one another's burdens, and in this way you will obey the law of
  • Christ.'Galatians 6: 2

    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