AGE:
Secondary |
THEME:
St Stephen: Paying the price for belief |
AIM: |
| To explore the ways in which not only individuals but also families pay the price of their belief that good may sometimes only be achieved by suffering. |
PREPARATION: |
- If possible, photocopy or make OHTs of pictures of some who have suffered for their beliefs, e.g. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Nelson Mandela, Desmond Tutu etc.. Photographs can be found on websites using a search engine with the name of the person. The pictures could be held up during the act of worship.
- Five readers and some other voices.
- Some chains that, when shaken, make a suitable imprisoned 'clank'.
- A lighted candle in barbed wire (the Amnesty International symbol) displayed prominently.
- A recording of the tune of 'Good King Wenceslas', or someone to play it.
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INTRODUCTION: |
Play the tune 'Good King Wenceslas'.
| READER 1: |
Stephen was chosen to be a deacon in the first years of the life of the Christian church. This meant that he distributed food, clothing and other needed items to the poor of the community. He also spoke about why he did it and about the goodness of God. What he had to say challenged people's ideas and so enraged them that...
'They cried out with a loud voice and stopped their ears and rushed together upon him. Then they cast him out of the city and stoned him to death.'
Jesus said, 'Greater love has no man than this, than that a man lay down his life for his friend.'
Jesus and Stephen were both killed because they spoke up for the weak and powerless. They challenged accepted ideas. They were a threat and so they were silenced.
There are always consequences. After Stephen's death, his friends were hunted down and persecuted - some also to death. It is not always the person making a stand who is targeted. Those who followed the teachings of Jesus were hunted down and killed. The same has been true for the followers of other religious leaders like the Prophet Mohammed (Blessed be he) and Guru Nanak.
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| READER 2: |
Centuries later King Wenceslas of Poland, imitated Stephen's concern for the poor and needy. On Stephen's Feast Day, he took food, drink and warmth to a poor man who lived rough and in the open. But first he went out of his way to discover where the man lived. Today we are likely to avoid such down-and-outs.
As far as we know, Wenceslas did not suffer because of what he had done - but then he was the king!
When we sing the carol, do we think to do as he did, to look for those in need and do what we can to meet that need? There has always been in all religions a strong concern for the oppressed and those who have no-one to speak for them.
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Chains are shaken as loudly as possible, perhaps amplified.
| ALL VOICES: |
All over the world people are imprisoned by
Debt...
Hunger...
Unsympathetic governments...
Lack of education...
Lack of someone to speak up for them.
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| READER 3: |
Jesus said, 'He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives.'
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| VOICES: |
We are the captives. Who will set us free?
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| VOICES: |
(from a different place) We will, send us.
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| READER 4: |
There have always been those who would stand up and fight for the rights of the oppressed.
In the Second World War, Dietrich Bonhoeffer in Germany took a courageous stand against the Nazi regime. He was imprisoned in a concentration camp, his family was threatened. He had turned down the chance to escape to America before the war began. He was executed a few days before the American forces liberated the camp he was in.
In the 1980s in South Africa, Desmond Tutu took a courageous stand against apartheid and injustice. His life was threatened and his family threatened and put at risk.
Amnesty International, whose symbol is the lighted candle inside the barbed wire, is constantly fighting for justice for the oppressed.
There are men and women of courage who stand up and declare themselves against the oppressors and demand justice for the oppressed.
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| READER 5: |
What can we do?
We can do everything.
All big changes begin with small changes.
We can all make a difference - it really is up to us!
Begin by looking around and wherever we see people imprisoned by
Debt...
Hunger...
Unsympathetic governments...
Lack of education...
Lack of someone to speak up for him or her...
Ask ourselves the questions:
What should I do?
What can I do?
It may involve us in giving TIME... MONEY...
It may involve accepting MISUNDERSTANDING.
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PRAYER: |
Lord, we thank you for our freedom and for all those who have worked to give it to us. May we always value and treasure it. Help us to be aware of those who do not have the freedoms that we enjoy and make us strong to fight for them.
Amen.
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SONG: |
'Let there be peace on earth', No. 629, Baptist Praise and Worship, pub. Oxford University Press.
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