Collective Worship
Title: The Ten Lepers
Theme: Saying thank you
School: Primary
Term: All terms
Summary
Jesus’ story of the 10 lepers who were healed and only one returned to say thank you. Luke 17. Children could compose their own thank you prayers. Children could research leprosy or raise money for a leprosy charity such as TLM (The Leprosy Mission) or LEPRA.
Teachers’ Notes
Recommended Hymn / Song: Thank You for the Music - Abba
Thank You Lord for this New Day – Come and Praise 32
Occasion: World Leprosy Day: End of January each year
Instructions:
The pictures should be shown on PowerPoint as the story is told. The ( ) shows when the slide should be changed.
The Main Text
Begin by taking every opportunity to say thank you to children individually, as classes and as a school. For example: Thank you for being ready to listen first Adam. Thank you for coming in sensibly, Class 2, and thank you for waiting patiently everyone.
Now what a nice and polite way to start our time together here. Who can guess what we are going to be thinking about today? It’s the importance of saying thank you. If we remember to say thank you for the little things that happen, then hopefully we won’t forget to say thank you for the big things that happen to us as the story you are going to hear about today shows.
Before we start our story I want to ask you a question. Does anyone here know what leprosy is?
(Picture 1)
It’s a nasty disease that affects the nerves in the body. These are the pathways that take messages to our brain. So for instance if I trapped my fingers the nerves in my fingers take the message “OUCH!” at a supersonic speed to my brain. My brain tells me to take my fingers out quickly before they get damaged! With this disease the end of these nerves die so messages can’t get through. People with this disease have to be very careful they don’t injure themselves because they can’t feel the pain when they hurt themselves.
(Picture 2)
Nowadays there are drugs to cure this disease so we have lots to be thankful for. But, there are many poor people especially in parts of India and Africa who still have the disease.
In the time when Jesus lived on earth, people didn’t really understand illnesses in the way that we do now and they didn’t have many of the cures that we do; so, they were frightened of leprosy. If someone discovered that they had the disease they were made to live away from healthy people in a separate place. If they were out and about they had to warn healthy people that they were coming so they wouldn’t pass on the disease.
(Picture 3)
One day, Jesus was his way back to the city of Jerusalem. His journey took him through a small village. He was on the outskirts of the village when he noticed a small band of ten men shouting and waving at him. They didn’t come any closer but kept yelling at him at the top of their voices, “Jesus, Master have mercy on us!”
“Lepers,” thought Jesus quietly in his heart and he understood why they couldn’t come any closer. He stood still for a long while looking straight at them. He felt sorry for them, and decided to help them. He kept his distance, and said, “Go and show yourselves to the priest!”
Well, we here might be wondering why Jesus said such an odd thing, but the lepers knew exactly what it meant. According to their law if someone had a contagious disease and got better, they had to go to the local priest. He would confirm that it had indeed completely cleared up. This would mean that they could then go back to their families and live a normal life again.
(Picture 4)
So these men didn’t have to be told twice! Off they went, as fast as they could! On the way, the leprosy that had so badly inflicted their bodies left them. Their feet and hands became normal again so that by the time they got to the priest they were all completely healed.
(Picture 5)
This was absolutely brilliant news for them and they were so happy! They wanted to get back to their families and tell them the good news. But, one of the men thought first – he knew he had one small but important thing to do before he could go to his family. Can you guess what it was? Yes, it was to say thank you to Jesus, the person who had healed him and his friends.
(Picture 6)
Jesus heard him coming before he saw him, as the man was shouting his gratitude and glorifying God at the top of his voice. When he eventually got to Jesus, he knelt at his feet and said two little words from the bottom of his heart, “Thank you.”
Now are you wondering where the other nine men had gone? Are you thinking ….why was it that only one returned? Well so am I and so did Jesus.
I wonder if it was because they had forgotten about saying thank you in all their excitement? I wonder if they were lying in their beds that night remembering the man who had healed them – the man who had completely changed their lives for the better? Were they kicking themselves because they had lost the chance to say thank you properly? I wonder if they went back to the village to find him. In the Bible nothing is heard about them again. What a shame that we remember them all these years later for not saying thank you! I wonder what people will remember us for in many years time? For being polite, and remembering to say thank you, or for the opposite?
(Picture 7)
Now let’s close our eyes and sit quietly.
Let’s think for a moment about the many things in our lives that we should be grateful for - our Mums and Dads, our friends, our food, our clothes, our homes and our good health.
Now let’s say a silent thank you in our hearts.
Dear God,
Thank you for all the good things that we have in our lives. Thank you for the people who look after us and for those who love us, Thank you for our homes, our food and clothes and our friends. Sometimes we take all these for granted. Help us to remember to say thank you.Help us also to remember those who are not as fortunate as we are. We think particularly about those people in the world who still have the awful disease of leprosy and we thank you for groups like Lepra and the Leprosy Mission who work to bring health to them. We ask these and all our prayers in the name of your son, Jesus Christ. Amen.