Saying Sorry Action: Option 1

➜Psalm 103.12

➜Action: crumpling paper with your feelings and placing it in a basket.

➜This action can be used during any unit at any time of year.

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Invite two children to give out a piece of paper to everyone who would like one.

Name and Name are going to bring round some paper.

If you like, you can take a piece of paper

and hold it in the air

to show that there are things that you wish you hadn’t done.

As the paper is given out, lead the group in either

Option 1: singing the ‘I’m sorry’ refrain, or

Option 2: humming the first two lines of the ‘We need a new start’ song, followed by singing the refrain ‘We’re sorry, we’re sorry, we need a new start’.

 

Once all the children and adults who wish to take a piece of paper have done so:

When we do things that make God or other people sad,

it can make us feel sad and cross inside.

Let’s crumple our paper up to show how we can feel

when we know we’ve made someone feel sad.

Let’s put our feelings into the paper. 

Lead the children in crumpling your paper with your feelings: crossly, with frustration, sadly, etc.

For example:

I’m feeling cross with myself for making my friend feel sad.

I’m going to put my crossness into this paper. 

Crumple the paper crossly.

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Whatever we’re feeling, we can give our feelings to God.

Name is going to pass this basket around.

If you like, you can put your paper in the basket

and give it to God.

 

While all the children and adults who wish to place their paper in the basket do so, lead the group in either:

Option 1: singing the ‘I’m sorry’ refrain, or

Option 2: humming the first two lines of the ‘We need a new start’ song, followed by singing the refrain ‘We’re sorry, we’re sorry, we need a new start’.

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Place the basket in the centre of the circle or on the focal table.

Continue with one of the New Start Actions.

Saying Sorry Action: Option 2

➜Action: crumpling a piece of paper with other people’s feelings and placing it in a basket.

➜This action can be used during any unit at any time of year.

Invite two children to give out pieces of paper to everyone who would like one.

​

Name and Name are going to bring round some paper.

If you like, you can take a piece of paper

and hold it in the air

to show that there are things that you wish you hadn’t done.

​

As the paper is given out, lead the group in either

Option 1: singing the ‘I’m sorry’ refrain, or

Option 2: humming the first two lines of the ‘We need a new start’ song, followed by singing the refrain ‘We’re sorry, we’re sorry, we need a new start’.

 

Once all the children and adults who wish to take a piece of paper have done so:

Sometimes we can do things that make OTHER people sad.

Let’s crumple our paper up to show

how we can make other people feel when we hurt them.

Let’s put their feelings into the paper. 

Lead the children in crumpling your paper with feelings: e.g. crossly with frustration, or gently with sadness, etc.

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We can do things that hurt other people.

The Good News is:

we can give the hurtful things we’ve done to God

and God will give us a new start.

Name is going to pass this basket around.

If you like, you can put your paper in the basket

and give it to God.

Let’s ask God for a new start.

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While all the children and adults who wish to place their paper in the basket do so, lead the group in either:

Option 1: singing the ‘I’m sorry’ refrain, or

Option 2: humming the first two lines of the ‘We need a new start’ song, followed by singing the refrain ‘We’re sorry, we’re sorry, we need a new start’.

​

Place the basket in the centre of the circle or on the focal table.

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We’ve said sorry to God.

I wonder if there’s anyone else

you need to say sorry to this week?

Continue with one of the New Start actions.

Saying Sorry Action: Option 3

➜Micah 7.19; Psalm 38.4; Hebrews 12.1; Matthew 11.28

➜Action: placing a pebble on a piece of fabric or in a bowl of water. This action can be used during any unit at any time of year.

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Invite two children to take around two baskets of pebbles to everyone who would like one.

​

Name and Name are going to bring round some pebbles.

If you like, you can take a pebble

and hold it in the air to show

there are things you wish you hadn’t done.

​

As the pebbles are given out, lead the group in either

Option 1: singing the ‘I’m sorry’ refrain, or

Option 2: humming the first two lines of the ‘We need a new start’ song, followed by singing the refrain ‘We’re sorry, we’re sorry, we need a new start’.

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Once all the children and adults who wish to take a pebble have done so:

Let’s hold our pebble in our hand.

Lead the children in weighing the pebble in their hand.

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When we do things that make God or other people sad,

it can make us feel heavy and weighed down inside

like this pebble weighs our hand down.

When we’re feeling sad and heavy,

we can give our feelings to God.

Place a basket, a piece of fabric, or water in the centre of the circle and invite the children to place their pebble. Or ask two children to take baskets around the circle to collect the pebbles up.

If your group is using water, make sure it is in a container that is deep and transparent, so the children can see their pebbles sinking:

The Bible says:

God will sink all our wrong things

to the bottom of the sea!

Let’s put our pebbles in gently

and watch them sink to the bottom.

Let’s imagine God sinking the wrong things we’ve done

to the bottom of the sea.

Let’s give our sad and heavy feelings

to God now as we sing.

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While all the children and adults who wish to place their paper in the basket do so, lead the group in either:

Option 1: singing the ‘I’m sorry’ refrain, or

Option 2: humming the first two lines of the ‘We need a new start’ song, followed by singing the refrain ‘We’re sorry, we’re sorry, we need a new start’.

The Good News is:

God always wants to give us a new start!

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God doesn’t want us to carry round

things that make us feel sad and heavy!

God takes them from us!

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After three, let’s jump up high

and shout ‘God gives me a new start!’

1, 2, 3. . . God gives me a new start!

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Let’s use our new start to share God’s love this week!

Saying Sorry Action: Option 4

➜Action: scribbling on a whiteboard/chalkboard then wiping it out.

➜This action can be used during any unit at any time of year.

Place a single collective whiteboard/chalkboard in the centre of the circle, or ask one or more children to distribute individual smaller whiteboards/blackboards. Ask two more children to take around chalk/pens and a piece of kitchen roll to give to each child as you sing.

We all make bad choices sometimes.

When we make bad choices,

it can feel like we’ve made a big mess.

Let’s scribble on our board

to show the mess we can make of things.

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While the children and adults scribble, lead the group in either

Option 1: singing the ‘I’m sorry’ refrain, or

Option 2: humming the first two lines of the ‘We need a new start’ song, followed by singing the refrain ‘We’re sorry, we’re sorry, we need a new start’.

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Once all the children and adults have had the chance to scribble:
Look at that mess!

Bad choices can make everything feel messy

and all tangled up.

If we all make bad choices,

the whole world can feel messy!

The Good News is:

God always wants to give us a new start!

Let’s be God, and wipe our scribble away!

Lead the children in wiping away their scribble and drawing a smile on their board. If you’re using a collective board, invite one or more children to wipe out the scribble on behalf of the group then invite another child to draw a smile on the board.

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Now let’s draw a big smile. . .

and after 3 say ‘God gives me/us a new start!’

1, 2, 3: God gives me/us a new start!

Let’s use our new start to share God’s love this week!