Trusting Jesus - calming the storm

Martyn Payne

Introduction

This assembly idea is about trust and tells the story of Jesus calming the storm on the Sea of Galilee.
Further possible links are:

• why people thought Jesus was special
• how Jesus showed his power over nature
• discussion about fear, disasters and prayer

Preparation

You will need:
a large double bedsheet in a dark colour;
single white sheet
some cushions
a recording of the shipping forecast from the radio
the names of some of the sea areas around the UK on A4 card

Development

1. Set the children a puzzle by displaying on a screen the names of the shipping areas.
What do these mean? e.g. Dogger Bank, German Bite, Forties, Faroes, Rockall, etc.
Any ideas what these might be?
Play the radio recording and spot the different areas that are mentioned.
Why are such broadcasts so important and for whom?

2. Seas and large lakes are often subject to sudden storms. Ask if anyone has been anywhere by boat or ship and experienced bad weather.
Get everyone into sailing mood by practising the following:
Rocking from side to side more and more violently
Battling with high winds and sea spray
Being sick overboard!
Lying on a bed in a cabin groaning!
Rowing hard.

3. Jesus and his disciples were once caught in a storm. Give some classes special sound effects and invite some children to come up to be the visual effects team. One for the sea; one for the sail; one for the snoring and startled crew.

• For the sea, use the large dark or blue sheet like a parachute held between agroup. First it is calm and then slowly it begins to be more choppy and eventually becomes a violent storm with sound effects.
• For the sail, a group should hold up the white sheet vertically. This could involve some of the group standing on chairs (take care!) to reach high. This also moves gently at first and then begins to flap more violently with sound effects
• For the crew, some will be lying on the cushions asleep (with sound effects!) and some will be rowing. Practise a startled waking-up and shouting for help, as the storm develops.

Choose one other person to be the one who shouts loudly "be quiet" at a given signal.
Practise these different elements.

4. Tell the story from Mark 4 verses 35-41. Add in the sound effects of sail, sea, snores, startled cries and then the sudden cry of peace.

5. Prompt the group to think more about the story with the following questions and leave these up during a period of reflective silence:

• I wonder what the disciples thought about Jesus when they saw he just went on sleeping and didn't help?
• I wonder if they thought they were going to drown and what would happen if they died?
• I wonder who they are blamed for getting into this mess in the first place?
• I wonder what I would have done if I'd been in the boat?
• I wonder what this story really means?