Who Is My Neighbour?

 (Resource Pack 19)                                                                                        KEY STAGE 1 &2

VISUAL AID:  A pair of old spectacles….(and a puppet)

Read from Rev 3.20. or the song based on that reading. (See full script in my free assembly book: But It’s Only Nine o’ Clock In The Morning.)

Put the spectacles onto the puppet who can play the part of the old  shoemaker. Some children can also mime the various characters in the story.

Let me tell you a story

There once was an old shoemaker, a very kindly man, who was now very old, and he lived alone.

 His wife had died, and his own children now lived elsewhere. He worked hard in his little shop, each day, making shoes, and there he had all he needed; a bed to sleep on, a chair and a table to sit at and a stove to keep him warm.

One night he fell asleep, and in his dream he heard a voice speaking to him.  The voice whispered, "My name is Jesus, if I come to your home tomorrow, will you let me in!"

He was bubbling over with excitement, when he woke up from his dream. Today was the day he would see Jesus.

Several people passed by his shop that dreary, cold day, and he waved to them.

An elderly lady was shivering; her hands were blue with the cold. He ran to fetch her a shawl, and he brought her inside to warm her hands by the fire.

Then an old road sweeper, a very poor man passed by, and the shoemaker asked him inside and gave him a loaf of bread "You are very kind," said the poor man, and off he hurried down the street, taking the loaf of bread to feed his family.

A woman cradling a baby approached him. The night was cold and her baby was without shoes.

"Poor little chap, you must have cold feet," said the shoemaker.He had had some warm fur lined leather shoes on the shelf, and he handed them over to the lady for her baby. "Oh thank you, they fit perfectly," she said and the shoemaker was pleased and he felt warm inside.

And so he returned to the window, anxiously looking out for Jesus.Was he coming to see him or not? Had he missed him?

Many more people passed by the shop that day, and to each the shoemaker gave a smile, a wink or a nod or a greeting. Then darkness fell.

The old man was desperately disappointed. Jesus had not come,  and in his sadness tears welled up in his eyes, and so he went to bed.

Once more he was to hear the voice of Jesus in his sleep.

"Didn't you see me?" said the voice of Jesus in his dream? "When you do this to the least of my little ones you do it for me!" I came to you in the shape of all those people you helped today.

And through his misty tears, the old man thought of all the people he had given joy to that day.

"So he came after all!" he smiled.