Topic
Scriptures – the Bible
Aim
To show pupils that rules are useful and important. For Christians, the most important rules are God’s rules which are found in the Bible.
Things you’ll need
- The rules for the drawing game cut up, so they can be given to different pupils.
- 2 green pens, 2 blue pens and 1 red pen
- A large sheet of paper which everyone can see (eg a flip-chart)
- A watch with a second hand (or a stop watch)
Bible base
Exodus 15:22-26
Content
1 Ask for five volunteers (from Year 5 or above). Explain to everyone that the volunteers are going to play a drawing game. Give each volunteer one of the rules for the drawing game and the appropriate pen. Tell them to read their rule and to make sure no-one else sees it. Explain that each person has been told to draw something. The one who draws the most will be the winner. Any things which happen to get crossed out, don’t count. Tell the contestants that they will take it in turns to draw on the sheet of paper on display. They must draw according to the rule you have given them. They will have only ten seconds each.
2 Play three rounds of the game and then count up and see if you have a winner. Discuss with the volunteers what made their tasks difficult. Bring out that it was because they were working against each other. They were all following different rules and that made a mess of things.
3 Tell the pupils that the Bible says that rules are really important, and the most important rules are from God. Many years ago (nearly 4000) the Bible says that God gave his people, the Israelites some special rules. He did this when they were in the desert and very thirsty and the only water was so nasty no one could drink it. God gave their leader, Moses, a command. He told him to throw some wood into the water. Moses obeyed and the water was good enough to drink. God then gave his people lots of rules to show them how to live in a way that was right and good. God expected them to obey the rules, just like Moses obeyed when God told him to throw the wood into the water.
4 Go on to explain that one of the important things about rules is that we need to know them, if we are going to follow them. Ask the pupils how they find out about rules: at home, at school or for when they’re out in the street. We need people to tell us what the rules are. But where do the people who tell us the rules find out what the rules are? Who finds out the rules to start with?
Application
A Christian viewpoint
Christians believe that God has given us rules which show us how to live. Rules which teach us how we should treat people, rules about what is right and wrong. These rules are in the Bible which is why the Bible is so important to Christians. They believe it is God’s word telling people how to live.
For everyone
All of us need rules to live by. We need to know what is right and what is wrong. We need to have rules that we all agree about, otherwise life ends up in a mess like the game at the start. If we all had different rules about what was right and wrong, then school, home and the world would be in chaos. But it’s not enough just to have the rules. The challenge for all of us is to obey them.
Response
Use this prayer as you encourage the pupils to think about their own rules and how they know right from wrong.
Dear Lord, thank you for the rules we have which keep us safe. Help us to know what is right and wrong, and to be people who obey the rules. Amen.
Rules for the drawing game
You must draw lots of red triangles. Cross out any circles.
You must draw lots of green circles. Cross out anything blue.
You must draw lots of blue stars. Cross out any triangles.
You must draw lots of blue squares. Cross out anything green.
You must draw lots of green triangles. Cross out any squares.
