St Marys RC Ulverston Operation Christmas Child

Today was the first of our Operation Christmas Child assemblies.  Sarah, Lisa Smith and myself went to St Marys RC School in Ulverston.  After saying hello and introducing ourselves we sang God's Love is Bigger than a Burger, then Lisa had her breakfast as she hadn't had time before she came out.  It was a banana, she offered to share the banana with someone else who hadn't had breakfast and one little boy came out so Lisa said I'll have half and you have half - she gave him the skin!  That was an example of sharing -yes but not sharing good things.  We she continued should share good things with those that don't have enough.  This led then to talking about shoe boxes and I did a short presentation to explain what the children can do to share this year.  I showed the journey of a box from picking the box to deciding boy/girl, age, to filling it, to bringing it in, collection, processing packing, warehouse, flight, to receiving it on the ground and giving out to children.  I then told the children just how many boxes this country sent last year and how many we sent from Ulverston.  Then I said on behalf of those children that got a box last year I wanted to say a big THANK YOU.  Sarah then continued and encouraged the children to fill a box again this year.  Sarah also said that in our country times are hard too and the children might not be able to fill a full shoe box so we left an empty one and if they wanted they could bring in a few little things to put in it.  We closed the assembly with a prayer.

BX OT2 Vicarage Park

This afternoon it was the second lesson of Bible Explorer at Vicarage Park.  I was welcomed into the class room by some very excited year 6 girls who couldn't wait to find out what was going to happen in today's lesson.  I as unpacked the props box and lifted out the costumes lots of questions followed about which story I was going to tell, and could they be in the story - I was really pleased that they demonstrated such interest and excitement.  The lesson today was Moses and the story of the people coming out of Egypt and developing into a nation.  I completed the lesson and gave a little insight into next weeks lesson before running through all the hand signs from the beginning.

Vicarage Park Kendal

This morning Sarah and I went over to Kendal to visit Vicarage Park School.  It was only our second visit to the school for an assembly, the children did however remember us from our first visit before the summer holidays.  After singing Inright Outright Sarah told a story base on Matthew 21:12-16 which included two priests in the temple talking about Jesus and about what he had and was doing.  Frequently the word Respect came up in the story and how in the priest eye people were not showing Respect in the temple.  After the story I read the bible passage from Matthew.  Sarah then asked the children who in the story had shown Respect, the answer was Jesus, the children who had been singing as well as the people Jesus had healed, it was the priests that didn't and hadn't shown any Respect.  I then displayed the 10 commandments and focused in on just 7 that show and teach us how we should show Respect to God and also to man.  We finished the assembly by singing So Many Ways before Sarah said a final prayer.

BX OT2 at Low Furness School

This afternoon I was once again at Low Furness school.  It was the second lesson of Bible Explorer and in this lesson we heard about the story of Moses and the Israelites leaving Egypt and starting the journey into the promised land.  The hand signs include the various aspects of the story which help the children to remember the order of the events.  By the end of the lesson today we have covered 5 books of the Old Testament.  Next week we focus in on the people taking over the land and the rule of the Judges.

Leven Valley School

Following our assembly at Our Lady's Sarah and I went along to Leven Valley School to repeat the assembly for the children there.  It was lovely to see all the children and staff again however I would ask that you pray for this school as over the summer they lost a staff member and it has hit the school quite hard, so please hold them up in prayer over the coming weeks.

Our Lady's Dalton

This morning Sarah and I went to Our Lady's in Dalton for the first assembly of the new school year.  As we are nearly at the end of the first month back at school we decided not to do our New Beginnings assembly like we have done in other schools instead we did the assembly on Respect in the Bible.  So after singing Inright Outright Sarah told the story of two priests in the Temple Courts talking about Jesus, this is a story from the bible - Matthew 21:12-16 however a bit of dramatic licence has been used to draw out the points.  After the story I read the actually passage from the bible.  Sarah than asked which of the characters in the story showed the most respect it was of course everyone except the priests.  This led on to me talking about other bible passages that have respect in them - like the 10 commandments.  I displayed them on the screen then went through just 7 of them that show respect that the children would understand.  Following this we sang So Many Ways to Praise the Lord.  Sarah then closed with a prayer.

St Peters

This morning Sarah and I went over to St Peters for the assembly.  We decided to sing Inright Outright to start the assembly off, then Sarah told a story which was a conversation between two priests following Jesus' clearing out of the Temple.  It was a made up story but had elements of what the real bible story tells us.  The basic and bottom line was based on respect.  After the story I read the bible passage to the children as it appears in Matthew 21:12-16 and then Sarah asked the children a few questions about it like who showed the most respect, who showed the least respect.  I then explained that in the bible there are lots of places where respect is mentioned, talked about or implied.  I used the example of the 10 commandments given to Moses.  I displayed them on  the screen for a few minutes then explained what 7 of them meant -  Do not worship any other gods, Do not misuse the name of God, Keep the Sabbath holy, Honour your father and mother, Do not murder, Do not steal and Do not lie.  I explained that three of them show respect to God and the other four respect for other people.  Following this we sang So Many Ways to Praise the Lord - as the children in the story had done just that in the Temple Courts.  Sarah closed the assembly with a prayer followed by the Lord's Prayer.

Low Furness School

This morning Sarah and I went into Low Furness School to do an assembly based upon one of their chosen Christian Values - Respect.  As we had a story, plus a short bible reading as well as the explanation we decided to sing Inright Outright first (as it is a short quick song).  Then Sarah read a story which was a fictitious story about two priests in the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem talking about Jesus after he had over turned the money changers tables, then went on to heal many people and children danced and play around in the Temple Courts.  The bible account is found in Matthew 21:12-16.  Sarah read the story which used the word respect many times over, the priests were not happy with what Jesus was doing in the Temple - talking to people about heaven, healing people, allowing children to praise God - they said he wasn't being respectful.  Then when they challenge him in a less than respectful way Jesus respectfully gives them an answer quoting from the scriptures - which doesn't help as the priest should know the scriptures anyway.  After the story I read out of the bible what it really says about the event.  Then Sarah asked the children who had shown more respect in the story she read to them.  I then pointed out that throughout the bible there are loads of examples of respect and in the book of Exodus we have the 10 Commandments. I displayed them on the screen then picked out 7 of them and explained what they mean they were - Do not worship any other gods, Do not misuse the name of God, Keep the Sabbath holy, Honour your father and mother, Do not murder, Do not steal and Do not lie.  I explained that three of them show respect to God and the other four respect for other people.  Following this we sang So Many Ways to Praise the Lord - as the children in the story had done just that in the Temple Courts.  Sarah closed the assembly with a prayer.

BX OT1 Vicarage Park Kendal

This afternoon I was over in Kendal at Vicarage Park doing Bible Explorer with the year 6 class.  This was a new school for Bible Explorer.  Having introduced myself to the class we launched straight into the lesson.  The children responded very well to the stories, the acting out of parts as well as the jokes, the different voices I used and not forgetting the hand signs.  as I packed away at the end of the lesson the class teacher asked the children about what they had learnt and all kinds of things came out.  I really enjoyed the lesson and I felt as though the children got a lot from it too - looking forward to next week.

Pennington School

This morning Sarah and I went along to Pennington School for the first assembly of the new term.  It was lovely to see all the children again, it was also a beautiful day and as Sarah introduced herself she said what a good day it was to Be Happy on - that was our first song.  Following the song I lifted Scruff's bag onto his stand and reintroduced him to the children - but Scruff wasn't so happy in fact he was quite sad and down.  So I asked him what the problem was and he poured out (or is that pawed out?) his troubles.  He had some funny feelings as a result of moving from the puppy grooming parlour to the big dog grooming parlour.  He felt alone and a bit scared.  I asked the children for some suggestions as to what we could do - answers like help him to make friends, give him a hug and provide him with some dog treats were some of the answers the children came up with.  So I gave him a pat on the head, a tickle under the chin and a dog treat put him back in the bag and Sarah explored some of the suggestions with the children.  She talked about feeling a bit scared when we are in school particularly when you are new to the school like the reception children, and using the ideas the children had for Scruff Sarah linked them to how we could help the new children.  Sarah also linked it to Matthew 25:35ff when Jesus was talking about being thirst, hungry and sick and how he said that whenever we do things to help others it is as if we are doing it to him and for him.  Therefore by doing those things to others we Shine from the inside out - which was a cue for the final song.  After the song Sarah closed the assembly off with a prayer.

BX OT1 at Low Furness school

This afternoon I was at Low Furness School for the first lesson of Bible Explorer.  I was with the year 5/6 class.  Last year I did the New Testament and so this year it is back to the Old Testament.  So after a brief intro from the teacher to explain what was happening I launched into the lesson.  A number of children wanted to get involved with the various stories I was telling as we made our way through the book of Genesis.  We looked at Adam and Eve, Noah and the flood, talked about the Tower of Babel, then on to the stories of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph.  Next week we will cover the story of Moses.  The children got into the idea of the hand signs pretty quickly as I worked my way through them as I went along.  Looking forward to next week.

Flookburgh CE Shool

This morning Sarah and I took a lovely early morning drive through the mosses to Flookburgh School.  It was only our second visit to the school and the first of this new school year.  As the children came into the assembly hall we played I Love You.  Some of the children recognised us from before the summer so when Sarah said good morning a few were unsure what to say.  The last time we visited the school someone had been looking at our song list and seen a song called God's Love is Bigger than a Burger, and the head asked if we could sing it during our visit.  So we started off with that song.  Then I introduced the children to Scruff the Dog, who was feeling a little down.  So following some questions and things I discovered that he had some funny feelings when I further questioned him he replied that he was feeling a bit lonely and a bit scared.  Again I needed to know why and he told me that he had just recently moved to a new dog grooming parlour where there were bigger dogs and he missed the smaller dogs at his other parlour.  So after giving him a doggie treat he went back into his bag and Sarah picked up the points and suggestions the children had come up with to help Scruff.  She linked this to starting at a new school or moving up a class and how we can all feel a bit lonely and scared at times.  She mentioned about a passage in the bible from Matthew 25:35ff and I paraphrased the passage for the children.  Jesus was talking about being hungry, thirst sick etc and people asked him when that was and he replied that whenever you do something for others like helping them out it is as if you do it for Jesus and to Jesus.  Sarah then summed up what we had said and explained that when we do help people out we Shine from the inside out - which was our final song.  After the song Sarah closed with a prayer.

Croftlands Infants School

This afternoon Sarah and I took Scruff the Dog to Croftlands Infants school.  It was our first assembly of the new school term.  After introducing ourselves to the new children we sang Be Happy then I introduced Scruff to the new Reception class.  But Scruff wasn't all that happy today he was feeling very sad and down.  So I asked him why and he told me that as he had now grown a bit older and bigger he was no longer allowed to go to the puppy grooming parlour but the one for older dogs and he had left some good friends behind and he was a bit scared of the bigger dogs.  So I asked the children what he might do about this and they gave me lots of different ideas some of which made him happy so with a dog treat in his mouth he returned to his bag. Sarah then used some of the childrens ideas and used them to explain about looking out for each other and in particular for the new children in the school.  This linked in with a bible passage from Matthew 25:35ff which has Jesus explaining to his followers how we should help each other and when we do that it is as if we are doing it for him and to him.  I explained this in infant speak to the children and then finished by saying that when we do that we Shine from the inside out Jesus' love which was a cue for a song.  after the song Sarah closed the assembly with a prayer.

Croftlands Juniors

This morning Sarah and I went along to do the first assembly of the new school year at Croftlands Juniors.  So after singing Be Happy Sarah started to talk about how it is good to be happy but there are times when we don't feel happy and we feel sad.  It can be for any number of reasons like feeling lonely, scared, unsure of something - a bit like starting a new school or moving up a class etc.  She encouraged the children to look out for children in the school that might be feeling a bit strange, or look sad and a bit down and to be-friend them.  Sarah then linked it to the bible passage from Matthew 25:35ff that I then read in my own words, it talks about Jesus saying that he was hungry, thirsty, sick, without clothes etc and Jesus was asked by the crowd when did we see you like this and Jesus' reply was simple - whenever you do these things to others then you do it for me.  I concluded then by saying that when we do these sort of things we Shine from the inside out - this was a cue for the song.  After singing Shine Sarah said a short prayer.

Penny Bridge School

This morning Sarah and I did the assembly at Penny Bridge School, it was the first one of the year.  It did seem a little strange as it was in the morning the assembly time changed from afternoon to morning.  After saying hello and introducing ourselves to the new reception children we sang Be Happy.  As I stood in front of the new children I tried to encourage them to do the actions to the song, some did others didn't.  This led onto another introduction for the reception children - Scruff the Dog.  But as excited as the children were Scruff wasn't happy, in fact be was very sad.  I asked him what the problem was and he told me that he was a bit scared and that he felt alone.  This needed more questions about why, I found out that he had been taken to a new dog parlour and that bigger dogs were there which made him scared and he felt alone because he had to leave the other dog parlour were he had friends.  I asked the children what they thought we such do and lots of different answers came back.  Having got some good ideas I sent Scruff off with a doggie treat and Sarah talked to the children using some of their answers to explain that we should look out for each other in school and help those that are  scared of feeling alone because by doing that we share God's love.  Using the bible passage from Matthew 25:35ff I explained that Jesus talked about helping each other and showing love to one another and it is as if we do it to him.  This makes us Shine from the inside out which was a cue for a song.  After singing Shine Sarah said a prayer.  

Ignite

Tonight was our first Ignite meeting following the summer holidays.  We are still doing the Youth Alpha (just 1 week left now).  Tonight's theme was all about God healing, the video had a number of accounts of people who had been healed or had been involved in prayers for healing.  This led to some interesting discussions from the children, who had heard about people being healed as well.  It was good to welcome some new people to the group as well.  Sarah and I feel that it was a good positive start to the new term.

Broughton School

This morning we travelled over to Broughton school for the first time of this new school term.  As the new reception class would be in we decided to do our New Beginnings assembly so to start off we sang Be Happy then I brought out Scruff the Dog, now he wasn't very happy today in fact he was a bit down.  I asked him what the problem was and he whispered in my ear that he had some funny feelings inside him, so I questioned him further to find out that he felt a bit scared and alone.  Now I couldn't leave it like that so I told him that there was no need to be scared or feel alone as he was with lots of people that knew him - but that wasn't helping as he knew that - it was because he had gone to a new Dog Grooming Parlour and there was a few bigger dogs there, that was what was making him feel the way he did.  So I asked the children what we might do to help him.  So armed with a few ideas and the promise of a treat from my pocket he went back into his bag and Sarah talked to the children.  She used the what Scruff was feeling as an idea for how the new children in school might be feeling and used the suggestions the children gave as ways the older children might help them out.  Using the bible passage Matthew 25:35ff which Jesus talks about doing things for other people is like doing them for him we encourage the children to look out for and help the new starters in the school because when we do we can shine Jesus' love from the inside out which was our next song.  Sarah then closed with a prayer.

St Peters

It was great to go back to St Peters this morning.  Sarah and I do so enjoy doing assemblies at the school.  To start this morning we sang Be Happy.  For the assembly we decided to do  one on new beginnings and took along Scruf the Dog who told us - well me actually that he was a bit scared and felt a little bit alone.  So when I asked him why he explained that he had just started at a new Poodle Parlour and he was scared because there were some bigger dogs there and he felt alone as he had left some friends at his old one.  After asking the children what they thought would help him he said good bye and went back into his bag.  Sarah then highlighted some parts of what the children had said and applied them to the school and new children in the school.  This then linked with a bible passage from Matthew when Jesus was talking about being thirsty, alone, sick, in prison etc and Jesus being asked when was it and his reply was it is whenever you do for others these things you do them for me.  Instead of reading the passage out I displayed it and did a summery of it.  This then linked to the song Shine as when we do these things we can shine from the inside out.  Sarah then closed with a prayer followed by the Lord's Prayer.

Crosthwaite School

This afternoon Sarah and I went over to Crosthwaite school for the assembly.  It was the first one of the new term.  After singing Be Happy I used Scruff the Dog to introduce the theme which was New Beginnings.  Scruff came out feeling a little bit lonely and a touch scared.  He wasn't happy.  When I asked him he whispered in my ear about being alone and scared so I enquired as to why he felt that way when after all he had been to school before and seen all the children.  He said it wasn't school that was the problem it was the new Doggie Parlour that he had started to go to.  He didn't seen his old friends anymore and there are some really big dogs there too.  So I asked the children what we could do to perhaps help Scruff during this time and they said things like, give him a treat, play with him, talk nicely to him etc.  Scruff was happy with this and was still happy when I put him back into the bag (with a little treat too).  Sarah then picked up on this idea of being scared and feeling alone and linked it to the new children starting school.  We used Matthew 25:35ff to explain this.  In the passage Jesus talks about being thirsty, hungry and in need and he says that when we help someone out it is as if we are doing for him.  This links with shinning from the inside out which is what our next song was Shine.  Then Sarah closed with a prayer.

Low Furness School

This morning Sarah and I went along to Low Furness School for the first assembly of the new school year.  After singing Be Happy I used Scruff the Dog to introduce the theme which was New Beginnings.  Scruff came out feeling a little bit lonely and a touch scared.  He wasn't happy.  When I asked him he whispered in my ear about being alone and scared so I enquired as to why he felt that way when after all he had been to school before and seen all the children.  He said it wasn't school that was the problem it was the new Doggie Parlour that he had started to go to.  He didn't seen his old friends anymore and there are some really big dogs there too.  So I asked the children what we could do to perhaps help Scruff during this time and they said things like, give him a treat, play with him, talk nicely to him etc.  Scruff was happy with this and was still happy when I put him back into the bag (with a little treat too).  Sarah then picked up on this idea of being scared and feeling alone and linked it to the new children starting school.  We used Matthew 25:35ff to explain this.  In the passage Jesus talks about being thirsty, hungry and in need and he says that when we help someone out it is as if we are doing for him.  This links with shinning from the inside out which is what our next song was Shine.  Then Sarah closed with a prayer.

Church Walk

This morning Sarah and I went to do our first assembly of the new school year, it was at Church Walk School.  It was great to see all the children and staff again.  After singing Be Happy I brought out Scruff the Dog, now he wasn't at all happy with things.  He told me then I told the children that he was lonely.  I asked how could he be with all the children in front of him but he said that he felt alone when he was in the bag.  I asked the children what they thought I could do to help him - a dog treat, take him for a walk, play with him and we should never be alone as God is with us all the time were some of the answers the children gave us.  Scruff then quite happily went back into his bag with a promise of a treat later, a long walk and a play with his ball and that God is with us always.  Sarah then drew out the point that in schools we can sometimes feel a bit like Scruff particularly if we are new to the school like at Church Walk when all the new Reception class start on Tuesday - they may feel like this.  The suggestions the children gave can we applied to us to.  Sarah then asked me to summarize Matthew 25:35-45 which is a passage in which Jesus is talking about being hungry, thirsty, homeless with out clothes etc and some asks him when he had ever been like that and Jesus' reply is that whenever we do these things for others it is as if we are doing them for him.  I then said that by doing things for people at school means that we can Shine from the Inside Out. which was a cue for our song.  Sarah then finished with a short prayer.