This is a copy of the last assembly I wrote and submitted to "Assemblies.org"

I thought you might enjoy reading it!

Aim

To explain the difference between Wisdom and Cleverness

Preparation and materials

Bible – Proverbs ch 1 v 2&3 and ch 19 v 20 – either highlighted to read out or written out on a board/powerpoint

Optional dressing up: Hard Hats x2, Hi vis jackets x 2

Assembly

Find an example of when you did something wise – eg. Put Sunscreen on before you went out, gritted your garden path before the frost, put an umbrella in your car – just in case.

Explain how that was a “Wise” thing to do and the positive consequence of that action.

Say: There are lots of wise sayings around, things like “Look before you Leap”, which means to check out where you are going to land before you jump down off a wall. But it also means that you should think about the consequences of what you are doing before you do it. If you borrow a friend’s ball, will they get upset with you?

There are lots of those saying, a simple saying that explains something wise, they are called Proverbs and there are loads of them found in the Bible. I will read a bit out for you “Proverbs ch1 vs 2&3”

Wow – something to help us be Honest, Just and Fair. That sounds like a good idea! That is what being wise is all about. But it isn’t about being Clever – there isn’t a mention of clever in that bit was there?

I am going to tell you a story, but I will need some help (Chose 2 children to wear the outfit if you have it – if not get 2 children to come to the front)

One of you is called “Jack” and whenever I say “Jack” – this half of the room has to cheer. Let’s practice – “Jack” (the children should cheer, sometimes they aren’t very loud so you can joke they need to do better than that!!)

The other half of the room is on this team – this is “Joe” so you have to cheer when I say “Joe” (they should cheer!)

There are some other actions needed too:

when I say “Build” – you need to put your fists on top of each other

When I say “House” – Make a House shape with your hands and say “ta-da”

When I say “Rain” – make a rain pattering noise

When I say “wind” – move your hands around

When I say “Foundations” – tap on the floor

(you may have to pause and remind them of an action as the story goes on!)

“So the story goes like this….

There were 2 men called Jack and Joe.

Jack was very clever. Joe…… wasn’t!

Jack passed every exam with top marks and was good at everything

Joe …… wasn’t!

Jack had loads of money! Joe …… didn’t.

They both decided to build a house. Jack was so clever he thought he knew everything there was to know so he went off and got to work straight away

Joe ……. didn’t! He realised he didn’t know very much at all about building a house, so he went off and asked some of his friends who were builder what he needed to do. Once he had found out lots of things, he started building

The both worked hard for a long time and eventually they finished their houses.

However, It was winter and there was a huge storm, the rain fell and the wind blew and both houses got a bashing. Now both houses were make from good materials and they were both about the same size but only one fell down

Jack’s fell down! Why? Because he had built it on a swamp by mistake! He hadn’t looked at the land and he hadn’t built any foundations.

Joe’s house didn’t fall down because Joe had checked with other people and he learnt all about foundations and had asked for help to get his house right.

So you see being clever doesn’t make you wise and you need to make sure your foundations are strong first”

Well that was a fun story wasn’t it? We have finished now so you don’t need to continue with the actions. That bit about the foundations at the end was interesting – what are you building your lives on? Are you being a good friend? Are you helping other people?

There is another Proverb I want to think about before we go – “All that glitters is not gold”

Sometimes you get a toy and the packaging makes it look amazing but when you open it - it isn’t very good at all. This means we need to look inside things to see if they are good or not. Not just with toys but with other people too. It doesn’t matter what they look like – are they kind and patient? Are they loving and joyful or do they make you look down on yourself or other people?

Shall we just spend a moment thinking about that?

And just before I go – the bible also says this : “If you listen to advice and are willing to learn, one day you will be wise” Proverbs 19 v 20

Are you going to listen and learn?