The opening worship acts as prayers of adoration, while prayers of confession and intercession are included in the response; therefore, only the prayers of thanks need including at this point in the service.

We gave everyone a strip of paper and a pen on their way into the service. Then we invited them to write or draw their prayers of thanks on their paper, before attaching them together, creating a chain of thanks. A final prayer was said, offering all our individual prayers to God.

Ask for two volunteers who can be “injured.” Use face paint to create several wounds on each. For each of your “injured people,” you then need two more volunteers. Give each pain several bandages and ask them “treat” your “injured.” You could ask the congregation to pick sides and cheer them on. You could also play music such as the Casualty theme tune (approx. 1 minute long) to act as a timer.

Then it’s time for the judging; reward points for effectiveness of bandaging, aesthetics(!) and wounds treated, before you declare an overall winner. If you have any nurses (retired or active) in the congregation, you could ask them to judge.

A copy of the story of the Bible reading is available to download. It includes the conversation Jesus had before and after with a man who questioned him. It may be read by two voices; one to tell the part in italics and the other to read the normal type.

The first and last parts of this version are adapted from a children’s Bible. The central section was written by Rachael’s 6-year-old who had been learning the story in school.

The talk considers each of the characters who featured in Jesus’ story. We consider how we may wish to be like the Samaritan, but there are times when we are actually more like the victim, the robbers who actively harmed the man, or the priest or Levite who caused harm through their inaction.

While we should aim to act like the Samaritan, we know we don’t always get it right. We can always pray that we make the right decisions.

A full talk is available to download, with grateful thanks to Steve Hunter.

Our responses focus on a different aspects of prayer, as we consider how we might act at times like the different characters in the story of the Good Samaritan:

1. Prayers of confession – You’ll need some stones with dirt on, a basin of water to wash them in and a towel so people can dry their hands after. Invite people to offer their sins to God, then reflect on their forgiveness as they wash dirt from a stone and see it become clean.
2. Prayers for others –You’ll need an outline of a person, some sticking plasters and sharpies or similar to write on them with. Invite people to write their prayers for other people/situations on plasters and stick them to the outline of the person.
3. Prayers for self – Set up a “quiet space” where people can prayer and be prayed with if they want. Invite people to sit in this space to prayer for themselves. You may also offer to pray for people if they wish.
4. Sorting sensory activity –Print the kind/unkind images and cut them out. Hide them in a tub with dry rice/lentils/beans/similar. Provide two smaller containers and label them “kind” and “unkind.” Resources of this are available to download. Invite people to come and search for images and discuss if they are kind/unkind actions.