Nearly every Primary struggles with reverence, and the problem is usually worse in senior Primary, where many children consider themselves too old to be there or have simply gotten into the habit of talking or acting silly during Primary. Following are suggestions for a Sharing Time Lesson to help with the problem.
Opening Song: Reverence is Love
Preparation:
Study the leadership handbook to learn the guidelines for creating a reverent Primary.
Supplies
Paper and pencils for each class.
Chalk and eraser
Poster board
As children arrive, give one student in each class or row a piece of paper and a pencil. If you have many students, you might use two sheets of paper for each group. Ask the student to have each child and adult in the row or class write down one thing Heavenly Father has done for them that they are grateful for. Ask them to please ask the teacher to choose one person to read the list when you call on that row. When they are finished, the paper should be given to the chosen reader to quietly hold or to place under his chair.
Begin by telling your students that the Primary has a serious problem, and that as you have thought and prayed about how to resolve it, you have decided that because they are all at the age of accountability, and most have been baptized, they are old enough to simply be told what the problem is, and to resolve it themselves. You trust them to solve this problem and to carry out the solution. You will introduce the topic and then help them to work out the solution.
Ask for the readers to come up and read their lists. Post the lists on the board or wall. Do these lists even begin to cover all the things Heavenly Father has done for us? Why did He do them? (He loves us.) He shows His love for us by giving us those things we need, and sometimes what we want. How can we, in turn, show our love for Him? We can show love for Him by making good choices. Ask the children to suggest some of the choices they can make. If no one mentions reverence, ask the children if they feel that reverence is also a way to show love for Heavenly Father. Why?
Ask them to picture a child coming to their home to visit. Imagine that this child runs into their bedroom and starts knocking their things off the shelves. He pulls candy out of his pocket and starts to eat. The trash is thrown onto the floor. He gets a drink, which he spills and never cleans up. Some of their friends are visiting, and they are trying to talk to them, but he whispers, pokes people, talks loudly and interrupts. What thoughts would they have about this child? Would they feel that this child loves them? Point out that this sort of thing happens every week in Heavenly Father's house.
Ask the children what the word reverence means. (You may want to review the words to the song again.) Draw attention to the line that says we are reverent because reverence is love. If being reverent is a way to show Heavenly Father that we love Him, then what message do we seem to be sending if we are not reverent? (Be sure to point out to the children that you know this is not true, but it looks as if it were.) Ask if this is a message they really want to send to their Heavenly Father. Since there is a reverence problem in the Primary, this does seem to be the message we are sending.
Tell them that as leaders and teachers, you will, of course, still be working on reverence, but that you also want the children to help solve this problem. Divide them into groups by class or work as one large group. They can work out one set of solutions for the entire Primary or just for their own class, depending on which you feel would work best for your Primary. Give them some guidelines to work with, written in advance on a poster or the board. For example, their solutions must not introduce irreverence-they cannot hit someone who is not being reverent. The solutions must be kind, spiritual and practical. If you work as a group, you should guide the discussion. If children divide up, be sure an adult is assigned to each group. Give each group paper and pencil.
You may need more than one sharing time to complete this project. When the choices have been made, make a chart so that students will remember. You may also want to send a copy home to parents to review with their children and give a copy to each teacher. Remember to tell the children that you, as a presidency, have the final say. The children are making suggestions. Their
suggestions must not violate church policy and should never involve reverence competitions. Be sure to review the handbook for guidelines. Also be sure the children think of things they can do, rather than simply thinking up more work for you. Help them to feel that the primary responsibility for reverence lies with the individual.
