Bible base:
Luke 1:26-38
Teaching objectives:
To show that Christians believe God can have surprising things to say to anyone, not just important people.
You will need:
• Twenty-one cards with the following options written on them: Mary, Bob, Joseph; In her teens, In her twenties, In her thirties; In Jerusalem, in London, In a tiny village; The king, An angel, A ghost; God, The king, Another angel; You will be a famous singer, You will marry the king, You will have a baby, The baby would be God’s Son Jesus, The baby would be a great leader, The baby would be King forever.
Introductory activity:
Run the following multiple-choice quiz either with the whole assembly or with a few volunteers at the front. (The correct answer is in capitals.)
1. How long did the 100 years war last?
a) 100 years
b) 200 years
c) 116 YEARS
2. What is a camelhair brush made of?
a) Human hair
b) Camel hair
c) SQUIRREL FUR
3. What creature are the Canary Islands named after?
a) DOGS (from Latin)
b) Canaries
c) Goldfish
4. What was King George VI’s first name?
a) Gerald
b) ALBERT
c) George
5. Where are Chinese gooseberries from?
a) China
b) NEW ZEALAND
c) Malaysia
Find out how highly the pupils have scored. There were a lot of surprises in that quiz. Today’s story involves quite a few surprises too.
Include the following paragraph if you are doing this assembly following on from ‘A message for Zechariah’:
Do you remember what Zechariah and Elizabeth, the old couple in the last assembly, were praying for? They really wanted a child, and God eventually answered their prayers when an angel came to tell them that they would have a very special son, who would prepare the way for God’s Son. The young girl in today’s story was definitely not praying for a child! She was surprised by what God chose to say to her.
We are going to build up a picture of what this person was like and then together work out the story of what happened to her.
Choose three volunteers to come to the front and help you to hold up cards that will tell the story.
Firstly, we need to find out what this mystery person’s name was.
Give each of the three pupils one of the following three names to hold up: Mary, Bob, Joseph.
Pupils should vote for which one they think the right answer is. Explain that you have already given them a clue! (i.e. you referred to ‘her’)
Tell them the correct answer and display the name ‘Mary’ at the front of the assembly hall.
Follow a similar pattern for the following facts. The correct answer is underlined in each case:
What age was she? In her teens; in her twenties; in her thirties
Where did she live? In Jerusalem; in London; in a tiny village
Mary was not an important person – probably no one outside her village even knew she existed! So, you can imagine her surprise when someone quite unexpected appeared to her one day! Who do you think it was?
Give them the following three choices: the king; an angel; a ghost
When they have guessed, tell them the correct answer and display it at the front.
What a surprise! Mary was very worried when an angel appeared before her! But the angel reassured Mary and told her not to be afraid. He said that someone more important and amazing than him was very pleased with her and wanted to give her a message. Who do you think this was?
Give them the following three choices: God, the king, another angel
When they have guessed, tell them the correct answer and display it at the front.
Mary was not expecting a message from God! She probably didn’t think that a young girl like her living in a little village was important enough for God to speak to. But God knew all about her and had a special job that only she could do.
So, what was the message? It seems quite ordinary at first, but actually it might be the most amazing message that anyone has ever received. Can you guess – or do you know – what that message was?
Give them the following three choices:
- You will be a famous singer
- You will marry the king
- You will have a baby
When they have guessed, tell them the correct answer and display it at the front.
Mary was going to have a baby! But this would be no ordinary baby – He was someone very special indeed. You may have guessed already who it was:
Give them the following three choices:
The baby would be God’s Son, Jesus
The baby would be a great leader
The baby would be king forever.
This was a trick – all three are right! Mary’s baby was Jesus, God’s own son. But the angel also said that because Jesus was God’s son, he would lead the people and would be king forever.
Mary was just an ordinary young girl when God asked her to do a very important task for him. Mary said yes because she trusted God and wanted to do what he said.
The Bible says that no one is too ordinary or unimportant for God to be interested in them. Christians believe he has things that he wants to tell each person and things that he wants only them do.
Optional prayer time:
Say thank you that God knows everything about each person’s life. He is interested in them, no matter how unimportant they feel.
