A 10 minute assembly to look at the story of Jesus with Zacchaeus to explore the meaning of the word ‘sorry’.
THEMES: Relationships, forgiveness, stories about Jesus.
Introduce yourself, the team and the theme of the assembly.
Need: 3 balloons. In the balloons, insert a piece of paper. On each slip, write an ‘unseen’ sin: e.g. telling lies, being greedy, being selfish.
Invite a volunteer to join you at the front. Ask them if they are good at spotting things. Explain that they are going to have to spot something – but first it needs to be hidden. Ask them to wait outside until they are called in.
Invite three volunteers to the front who think they are good at finding hiding places. Give them each a balloon and explain the challenge: to hide the balloon somewhere on their person. When they have done this, invite the ‘spotter’ back in. Can they spot the balloons?
Burst the balloons to see what’s inside. Explain that these are things many of us do that are easy to hide from other people. The problem is, it’s not so easy to hide the effects of it! The things we do in secret might make us look better but they still hurt other people. Lying might cause other people to get into trouble. Being greedy means other people might miss out.