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Description

When someone does something not very nice towards you, it can sometimes be really difficult to forgive them for what they have done. What is forgiveness, why is it important and what does the Bible have to say about it?

Resources

What you'll need
Bucket
Cups of water

Leader Preparation
A leader will need to source a bucket (or similar) and prepare a number of cups of water that can be used for the activity.

Instructions

Getting into the activity
1)Start by sitting the group in a circle. In the centre of the circle place an empty bucket. Ask some of the children to come and lift the bucket. How easy or difficult was it? Was it light or heavy? Point out that this bucket is empty and therefore light and really easy to lift.
2) Now explain to the group that you want them to imagine that this bucket is a bucket that collects their feelings, particularly their negative feelings. Can the group list any ‘negative’ feelings? (i.e. anger, hurt, sadness, upset etc.) Thankfully at the moment, this bucket is empty. We have no negative feelings inside it.
3) However, sometimes we can start to collect negative feelings when people do unkind things towards us and then we hold onto those feelings.
4) Ask the group for some examples of unkind things that people can do towards us? (i.e. say mean words, leave you out of things, lie about you, not share with you.) After each example, that child should add a large cup of water into the bucket. As they do so, ask them what negative feeling that would feel if that thing happened to them (i.e. sadness, anger, upset etc). Keep going until the bucket is mostly filled.
5) Now ask for some of the children to come and carefully lift the bucket. Can they do it now? Is the bucket a lot heavier?
Could the group image what it would be like to carry this heavy bucket around with them all day? It would be impossible and it would make your day a lot harder. At the end of the day you’d be really tired and fed up!
6) This heavy bucket of negative feelings can remind us that if we never forgive people when they do unkind things, we’ll end up holding onto lots of negative feelings that can weigh us down, as we hold onto them and get even sadder, upset and angry.
7) Instead, Jesus teaches us that rather than holding onto those feelings of anger and upset, we should instead forgive people when they say sorry. This means not being angry at them any more, but instead moving on and letting go of that anger or upset. The more we do this (start pouring the water out of the bucket), the better we will feel for it. After time, our bucket becomes light again and we no longer have this heavy weight to carry around.
8) Forgiving other people can be really hard to do, but we’re reminded in the Bible that forgiving others in an important part of living our lives in a way that Jesus showed us.

“Do not be angry with each other, but forgive each other. If someone does wrong to you, then forgive him. Forgive each other because the Lord forgave you.” Colossians 3:13


Keeping everyone safe
Please take care when encouraging children to lift the heavy bucket, ensuring no child tries to lift something that is beyond their capability.

Tags

• Forgivness

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