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Bible Base
Deuteronomy 6:1–9
Aimed at
Key Stage 2
Equipment
Two sets of five rules that you might have in the classroom, each written on A2 or A3 paper; a long piece of blue cloth; a bottle of milk; a jar of honey; photos of people wearing ‘tefillin’ (look online) and the means to show them; the lyrics to and a recording of ‘Love the Lord’ from Bitesize Bible Songs (Scripture Union) or downloaded from the SU website scriptureunion.org. uk/25508
Opening activity
Ask the children for some of the rules that they have in their school (these could be written on a board). Explain that you need some help to sort some rules you have already. Ask for ten volunteers, and put those children into two groups and hand the groups the rules you’ve prepared. Ask one group of children to hold up and read out the rules they have been given. Then challenge each group to put the rules in order of how important they think they are. Ask the children to suggest why they have put the rules as they have, and why they made one rule more important than the other. Compare the two groups. Then ask why we have rules at all – what would the school be like if there were no rules? Try to draw out that rules help us all live together happily, being considerate of others and making all of our lives better.
Bible story
Explain that thousands of years ago, a man called Moses was telling his people, the Israelites, all about God and what he had done for them. Moses reminded them of the special rules that God had given them to help them all live together in unity. Show the children your Bible and say that your story comes from a book in the Bible called Deuteronomy. Read Deuteronomy 6:1–9 from a child-friendly Bible translation, such as the Contemporary English Version.
Once you have finished, show the children the long piece of blue cloth (you could even get some children to waft it about as if it were water). Explain that God’s people, the Israelites, were on one side of the River Jordan, waiting to enter the land that God had promised them. They had wandered around the desert for years and years, but now the time had almost arrived. God had promised to give them a country rich with milk and honey. You could ask some children to try the milk and honey you have brought (be aware of health and safety, and allergy issues) and tell you what it tastes like. Explain that saying that the country was full of milk and honey meant that it was going to be full of good things.
Before they could start living in that land, Moses had to remind the people about God’s Most important rule – the Bible calls it a ‘commandment’. Read verse five again. God’s most important commandment was about love. Christians believe that God loves us and wants us to love him back – he wants to be our friend! All through the Bible, God is described as being loving. In fact, one of Jesus’ friends, John, calls God ‘love’. Moses told the people to remember God’s laws, to talk about them and to tell their children about them. Ask the children if they talk about the school rules all the time. They probably don’t, but God’s people thought God’s way of living was so important that they started to wear them strapped to their head and arms. Show the children the pictures of people wearing tefillin and explain what they are. Remind the children that the most important commandment God gave was about loving him – he wanted to be the friend of his people.
Ask a leader
If appropriate, ask another leader what this most important commandment means to them. How do they love God with all their heart, soul and strength? They should reiterate the point that they believe that God loves them in return. They could go on to talk about John 3:16, saying that God loved us so much that he sent his son to live on earth, to help us to be friends with God once more.
Bitesize Bible song
If you have time, you could teach the children a song that will help them remember verse five. Explain that Christians learn parts of the Bible to help them remember God, who he is and what he’s done. It’s a way of following what God said about memorising his laws – you can mentally tie them to your head! Play the song and display the words for the children to see. Teach them the tune and then sing the song together.
Prayer
Ask the children to think about the school rules that they described at the beginning of the assembly. Which ones are about love? Finish with a simple prayer, asking God to help us remember the good things he wants us to do.
