Assemblies Online Secondary

Play the theme tune from Doctor Who as students and staff enter the hall. It is available on the album Doctor Who Series 4 Original TV Soundtrack (Silva Screen, 2008). 

[Use the Which Who PowerPoint with this activity]

[PowerPoint slide 1]
Ask the students to answer the following questions to find out which Doctor Who character they are most like.

[PowerPoint slide 2]
Question 1: You find a fifty pound note in the street. Do you:

a) Pick it up, go back in time to find out who dropped it, then go forward in time again and give it back to them
b) Exterminate anyone who tries to pick it up
c) Ignore it - you've got bigger things on your mind
d) Take the money and use it to buy someone attractive a drink

[PowerPoint slide 3]
Question 2: You are in a nuclear power station when the reactor begins to overload. Do you:

a) Run straight to the control panel and reverse the polarity of the neutron flow
b) Recharge your batteries with the reaction and find a way to break out and begin the quest for global domination
c) Harness the power of the reaction to a cunning device that will enable you to control the minds of the world's population
d) Search for someone good-looking in the panicking crowd

[PowerPoint slide 4]
Question 3: Your football team is playing a big cup game. Do you:

a) Cheer your team along, but take it on the chin if they lose - you already knew what the result would be
b) Use the opportunity of lots of people gathered in one place to rain down death on a vast scale.
c) Kidnap the opposition's star player.
d) Football isn't a matter of life and death. Not that it would matter to you if it was

[PowerPoint slide 5]
Question 4: You are in the queue at a bank, when armed robbers burst in. Do you:

a) Get the leader talking while you do something clever and technical with the security circuits to get everyone else safely out of danger
b) Queue? Nobody makes you wait in line!
c) If you are in a bank at the same time as a robbery, the chances are that you planned it
d) Try to chat up the robbers' leader

[PowerPoint slide 6]
Question 5: An old lady at a bus stop tells you that she was a beauty in her younger days. Do you:

a) Say that you remember her, and she was
b) Say that beauty is meaningless and that she will be exterminated
c) Say that beauty is pointless unless it's backed up with cunning, genius and power
d) Say that she still is a beauty and ask for her phone number

[PowerPoint slide 7]
Mostly A: You are the Doctor! You are selfless, brave and always ready to face down death with a twinkle in your eye and a joke on your lips.

[PowerPoint slide 8]
Mostly B: You are a Dalek! You are a cold-blooded killing machine intent on nothing but your own supremacy. Maybe you should go into politics.

[PowerPoint slide 9]
Mostly C: You are the Master. You are a deranged, power-hungry egotist with extraordinary talents that could be put to much better use. Then again, trying to take over the universe is so much fun.

[PowerPoint slide 10]
Mostly D: You are Captain Jack Harkness. You coast through life, flirting with death and flirting with anyone who has a pulse.

Follow the quiz by moving straight on to the talk. 

[Use the Easter Facts PowerPoint with this activity]

Talk through the PowerPoint with the students, or just display it in silence allowing sufficient time for everyone to read the words on the screen.

[PowerPoint slide 1]
80 million Easter Eggs are sold in the UK each year. [click] This represents 8% of the UK's annual chocolate sales.

[PowerPoint slide 2]
300 million Cadbury's Creme Eggs are sold worldwide each year.

[PowerPoint slide 3]
The average Easter egg is 20% Chocolate and 80% packaging.

[PowerPoint slide 4]
The most expensive Easter egg was the Diamond Stella Egg. [click] It was 65cm high, encrusted with 100 diamonds and was valued at £50,000.

[PowerPoint slide 5]
And all because 2000 years ago, a man was willing to die. 

Play the clip from Doctor Who: The End of Time, part 2:

Start time: 0.48.48 (in chapter 9 of the DVD)
End time: 0.53.32
Clip length: Four minutes and 44 seconds

The clip begins with the Doctor lying on the floor, surrounded by broken glass. The first line is him saying, 'I'm alive.' The clip ends as the lights go out in the radiation chamber, with the Doctor slumped on the floor.

In the clip, the Doctor realises that his death was not to occur during the confrontation with the Master and the Time Lords. Rather, he has to take the place of his friend Wilfred in the radiation chamber and die in Wilfred's place. He rails against the injustice of his imminent death, then accepts his fate and steps into the chamber. 

[Use the Easter Doctor Who Talk PowerPoint with this presentation]

[PowerPoint Slide 1]
It's nearly here. Saturday 3rd April 2010 marks the first broadcast of the first episode of the brand new Doctor Who, with Matt Smith taking over from David Tennant as the time-travelling, universe-saving, monster-thwarting custodian of the big blue box. Let's remind ourselves how David Tennant's Doctor faced his final moments.

For those of you who didn't watch or don't recall the details, the Doctor had been warned that his death was near, and told that 'he will knock four times'. He subsequently found himself in a stand-off which resulted in the destruction of his old nemesis the Master and the reborn race of Time Lords. We join the clip just after the destructive conclusion to that encounter, a conflict which the Doctor fully believed would be the end of him.

[Play the clip from Doctor Who: The End of Time (part 2)

Start time: 0.48.48 (in chapter 9 of the DVD)
End time: 0.53.32
Clip length: Four minutes and 44 seconds

The clip begins with the Doctor lying on the floor, surrounded by broken glass. The first line is him saying, 'I'm alive.' The clip ends as the lights go out in the radiation chamber, with the Doctor slumped on the floor.

If you are unable to show the clip, say the following:

David Tennant's Doctor thinks that he has somehow dodged his own prophesied death, when he hears four knocks. His friend Wilfred is trapped in a radiation chamber, and the only way to let him out is if the Doctor takes his place. The Doctor rails against the injustice of having to die, complaining that there is so much more he could do with his life, and then calmly steps into the chamber, releasing Wilfred and condemning himself to a massive, fatal dose of radiation.]

[PowerPoint Slide 2]
As we saw, the Doctor certainly didn't welcome the prospect of death, but neither was he prepared to let Wilfred die in his place. Of course, we all know that for the Doctor, death doesn't necessarily mean death, it means regenerating as a new person. But earlier in the episode the Doctor had commented that it still felt like a death. He would be gone, and in his place would be a new man, him but somehow not him. Having willingly risked his life to save the world, now the Doctor willingly faces death to save one man, his friend Wilfred.

It's interesting to compare the Doctor's final moments with Jesus' preparations for his own death. Let's read the account from Matthew's gospel. This is from the night where Jesus was arrested, and takes place a few hours before the chief priests and their followers arrive to take Jesus into custody:

[PowerPoint Slide 3]
Then Jesus went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to them, "Sit here while I go over there and pray." He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee along with him, and he began to be sorrowful and troubled. Then he said to them, "My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me."
Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, "My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will."

Matthew 26:36-39
Today's New International Version

Like the Doctor, we can see that Jesus does not relish the prospect of death. He says that his soul is overwhelmed with sorrow, and he asks God if there is any other way of achieving what he has to do. But notice as well that important phrase at the end of the passage: 'Yet not as I will, but as you will.' Throughout the episode, the Doctor has attempted to cheat death and find a way to avoid his prophesied demise. That isn't for Jesus. We see throughout the gospel that he knows all along that his life is leading to this moment. Again and again, he sets himself on a path that leads only one way.

[PowerPoint Slide 4]
But, of course, for Jesus and for the Doctor, death isn't the end of the story. The Doctor got up from the floor of the radiation chamber, and began to regenerate into a new Doctor - the one that is going to be played by Matt Smith. Jesus' transformation took a little longer and was very different. [click] Three days after Jesus' death, the Bible tells us that he was risen from the dead. He didn't become a new person, like the Doctor, but he did enter into new life. [click] Christians believe that Jesus' resurrection demonstrates that God's plan to save the world through Jesus' death had worked. [click] More than that, it demonstrates the new life that is open to those who put their trust in Jesus and in his death.

This Easter, as you settle down to watch Doctor Who, don't forget that the Easter story is even more dramatic and spectacular than anything that scriptwriters and directors can dream up. It's about a man who was prepared to be faithful to God, who was prepared to face a slow, painful death and come through the other side of death, forging a path for others to follow and bringing new hope and new life in place of death and despair. This Easter, why not make some time to think about Jesus - he's the reason that Easter is celebrated, after all. 

[Use the Easter Doctor Who Talk PowerPoint with this presentation]

[PowerPoint Slide 1]
It's nearly here

• Saturday 3rd April 2010
• Matt Smith replaces David Tennant as Doctor Who
• Reminder of old Doctor's final moments
• Prophecy: 'He will knock four times'
• Doctor thinks he's got away with it

[Play the clip]

[PowerPoint Slide 2]
Doctor didn't welcome prospect of death, but wouldn't let Wilfred die
Having risked his life to save the world, now he gives up his life to save his friend

Compare Doctor's final moments with Jesus' preparations for his death

• Account in Matthew's gospel
• A few hours before Jesus is arrested

[PowerPoint Slide 3]
Then Jesus went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to them, "Sit here while I go over there and pray." He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee along with him, and he began to be sorrowful and troubled. Then he said to them, "My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me."
Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, "My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will."

Matthew 26:36-39
Today's New International Version

Like the Doctor, Jesus doesn't relish prospect of death

• 'My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow'
• Important phrase: 'Not as I will, but as you will'
• Jesus doesn't try to cheat death
• He always knew that he had to die - a path that he chose

[PowerPoint Slide 4]
Death isn't the end

• The Doctor gets up from the radiation chamber floor and begins to regenerate
• Jesus' transformation took longer, and was different
• [click] Three days after dying, Jesus was raised from death
• Not a new person, but entering into a new life
• [click] Christians believe Jesus' resurrection shows that God's plan to save the world worked
• [click] Jesus demonstrates the new life for those who trust in him

The Easter story more spectacular than anything scriptwriters can come up with
It's about a man who:

• Was faithful to God
• Chose to face a slow, painful death
• Came through the other side of death
• Brought new hope and new life

This Easter take time to think about Jesus - he's the reason that Easter is celebrated, after all. 

Dear God, thank you for Jesus' death. Thank you for his willingness to sacrifice himself, to give himself up to death for the sake of the world. Thank you for the amazing difference that his death can make for us, and for the confidence that his resurrection gives us. This Easter, help us to remember all that he has done for us, and to live our lives in the knowledge of that new life. Amen. 

What do you think was going through Jesus' mind as he waited the moment of his arrest? How do you think you might feel if you were facing a painful death for the sake of someone else? Have you ever put yourself in a position to suffer on someone else's behalf? What do you think it would take for you to make such a decision?

What do you think is the real meaning of Easter? 

If you want to include singing in your assembly, one or more of the following may be suitable:

• My Song Is Love Unknown (400, Songs Of Fellowship combined edition, Kingsway 2003)
• To God Be The Glory (559, Songs Of Fellowship combined edition, Kingsway 2003)
• How Deep The Father's Love For Us (780, Songs Of Fellowship combined edition, Kingsway 2003)
• The Cross Has Said It All (1019, Songs Of Fellowship combined edition, Kingsway 2003)
• You Chose The Cross (1661, Songs Of Fellowship combined edition, Kingsway 2003) 

Encourage the students to discuss the similarities and differences between the sacrifices made by the Doctor and by Jesus. Do they think that the clip from Doctor Who helps to shed light on what Christians believe about Jesus?