Croftlands Infants School

Yesterday morning I went to Croftlands Infants School to do our final assembly of 2015, it was lovely to see all the children who were very excited some had a party that afternoon so were getting ready for that others were just excited as it is the end of term and Christmas.  So to start off we sang Be Happy, I then played a video of the Christmas story which was a poem of Bob Hartman which had animated.  There was a repeating line in the poem which said 'turn our sad into glad' and it was reminding us of what Jesus came to do.  I explained that yes Jesus came to turn or sad into glad again but he continues to do that for us.  He wants to turn our sadness into gladness.  I asked the children to spare a thought on Christmas morning when they are opening all their presents and gifts to the real reason why we celebrate Christmas and that Jesus is the greatest gift of all given to us by God.  To finish the assembly we sang Rejoice with us then I closed with a prayer.

St Peters

Yesterday Sarah and I made or last visit of 2015 to St Peters School.  To start off the assembly we sang Be Happy everyone in the school was so happy as it is getting very close to the end of term and yes Christmas!  After singing the song we showed them a short video clip about Christmas, the video was a poem by Bob Hartman which had been animated.  It had a line in it that said 'turn a sad into glad' I reminded the children that is what Jesus did when he came to earth and in fact is still doing that today.  I also reminded the children of the assembly we did two weeks ago and how Jesus is our saviour.  To close the assembly we sang our Christmas song Rejoice with us then Sarah said a prayer and led them in the Lord's Prayer.

Low Furness School

This morning I went to do the last assembly of the year at Low Furness School.  I did our Christmas assembly for them.  So after singing Inright Outright I got children up to hold the boxes and then went through each of the letters of Christmas asking the children to think of words with that letter to do with Christmas.  Then as the box lids came off the children helped to rearrange them into the bible verse from Luke 2:11 Today a saviour has been born to you.  After the children sat down I held onto the word saviour and asked what they thought it means some great answers came back, I explained that it means one who saves and one child had already at this point said it was Jesus.  I linked this back to the song and the line that says Jesus cared for me when he died on Calvary.  It was good to explain that at Christmas we celebrate the fact that Jesus came to us as a baby but that he grew to a man and died for our sins on the cross.  I asked the children to remember on Christmas morning amid the opening of presents and things to think about Jesus because without him there would be no Christmas.  I encouraged them to rejoice as we sang Rejoice with us this Christmas.  I finished the assembly with a prayer.

Croftlands Juniors

This morning I went to do the final assembly of this year at Croftlands Junior School.  It was great to see all the children.  I started the assembly off with Inright Outright then got 9 children to each hold a box with a letter on the font which when put in the right order said Christmas.  I then asked if they could think of things to do with Christmas for each of the letters.  After they opened the boxes and inside the lid of each one was a word.  Putting the words together made a sentence in fact a bible verse from Luke 2:11 which says 'today a saviour has been born'  After the children had sat down I asked them about this word saviour and about what they thought it means, I also asked if the knew who the saviour is.  I explained that Jesus did come to us as a baby at the time we now celebrate Christmas but in fact grew to a man and died for us - our saviour.  The song we sang has a line that says Jesus cared for me when He died on Calvary.  On Christmas morning all of us will be Inright outright upright downright happy through and through when we open up our gifts but spare a thought for why we do it - God's special gift to us in Jesus.  So now it is a time to rejoice at Christmas.  We finished by singing Rejoice with us this Christmas and then I said a prayer.

Leven Valley School

Today I took our Christmas assembly to Leven Valley School.  After singing Inright Outright I asked the children if they knew what the letters on the Christmas boxes spelt.  Loads of hands went up the word was Christmas.  I asked 9 children to come out and hold a box up as I went down the line and asked the children for something about Christmas that started with each letter.  Then the children open the boxes and found some fixed up words.  I told them it was a Bible verse we then moved the children around until we got a verse that made sense - Today a saviour has been born to you. Luke 2:11  I read it with them a couple of times before asking the children to sit down again.  I kept hold of the word saviour and asked what it means and who the saviour was.  The answer is of course Jesus and he is the one who saves.  I linked this to the song we had sung about Jesus caring for us when he died on Calvary.  I also said that on Christmas morning everyone will be Inright Outright Upright downright happy through and through when they open their presents but also spare a thought for why we do it - Jesus God's gift to us born to save us given to us at Christmas.  To close we sang Rejoice with us and I closed with a prayer.

Flookburgh School

This morning Sarah and I went down to Flookburgh School for the assembly.  It was good to see all the children and staff again - there was a great Christmas feel about the place too as the hall was all decorated which made our assembly even better as we were talking about Christmas.  To start we sang Inright Outright then I drew the children's attention to some Christmas parcels with letters of them.  I asked if anyone could tell what the letters spelt - Christmas.  I asked 9 children to come up and hold a box each then going down the line asked the school if they could think of something to do with Christmas for each letter - candles, holly etc down the line.  I then asked them to remove the lid of the box and look inside - on each lid was a word - some big some small but it didn't make sense.  Sarah then got the children arranged into the right order by moving their position each time I read the sentence until finally we got it - it was Luke 2:11 Today a saviour has been born to you.  After the children had sat down Sarah started to talk about this word saviour asking what it means, and talking about why we celebrate Christmas - the birth of our saviour Jesus.  She linked what she was saying back to the song Inright Outright.  She explained that it is because of Jesus the greatest gift of all that we rejoice at Christmas because without him there would be no Christmas at all.  To close we sang Rejoice with us this Christmas.  Sarah then asked a child to read out a prayer then she closed with a second prayer.

Broughton School

This morning I went along to Broughton School to do the assembly.  After telling the children how many shoe boxes we had collected in total we sang Inright Outright.  Then I pointed to some gift wrapped boxes I had with me, each had a letter on it.  Firstly I asked if anyone could tell what the word said - Christmas.  I got 9 children out to the front to hold the boxes up as I went along the line asking what things to do with Christmas the children could come up with for each of the letters, we had, candles and carols, happy and holly, reindeer and Rudolf, ice and ivy, snow and Santa, tree and turkey, mince pies and mistletoe, advent and finally stocking and star - to name just a few.  Next I asked the children to open their box and look at the lid - there was a word on each lid which was from the bible verse in Luke 2:11.  It was in the wrong order so they needed to move around to get the verse right - which was fun as each time someone moved I read the verse out.  In the end when the verse was in the right order we all said it together a couple of times - Today a saviour has been born to you.  I asked the children to sit down and I took the lid with the word saviour in it and asked what a saviour is - some one that helps people, a person who could save you from drowning -  asked who the saviour was - Jesus came the reply.  I explained that saviour simply means 'one that saves'  I made reference to the song we had sung and explained that at Christmas time we do think of Jesus coming as a baby but he grew into a man who saved us, who is our saviour.  I said that in the midst of the excitement of Christmas remember the real reason we celebrate, it is a time to rejoice.  This linked to the next song Rejoice with Us.  After the song I said a prayer. 

St Peters School

This morning I went along to St Peters School to do the assembly.  After telling the children how many shoe boxes we had collected in total we sang Inright Outright.  Then I pointed to some gift wrapped boxes I had with me, each had a letter on it.  Firstly I asked if anyone could tell what the word said - Christmas.  I got 9 children out to the front to hold the boxes up as I went along the line asking what things to do with Christmas the children could come up with for each of the letters, we had, candles and carols, happy and holly, reindeer and Rudolf, ice and ivy, snow and Santa, tree and turkey, mince pies and mistletoe, advent and finally stocking and star - to name just a few.  Next I asked the children to open their box and look at the lid - there was a word on each lid which was from the bible verse in Luke 2:11.  It was in the wrong order so they needed to move around to get the verse right - which was fun as each time someone moved I read the verse out.  In the end when the verse was in the right order we all said it together a couple of times - Today a saviour has been born to you.  I asked the children to sit down and I took the lid with the word saviour in it and asked what a saviour is - some one that helps people, a person who could save you from drowning -  asked who the saviour was - Jesus came the reply.  I explained that saviour simply means 'one that saves'  I made reference to the song we had sung and explained that at Christmas time we do think of Jesus coming as a baby but he grew into a man who saved us, who is our saviour.  I said that in the midst of the excitement of Christmas remember the real reason we celebrate, it is a time to rejoice.  This linked to the next song Rejoice with Us.  After the song I said a prayer.

Crosthwaite School

This afternoon I went over to Crosthwaite School for the assembly.  I started it by singing Inright Outright - I did a quick recap of the actions with the children first.  I had before the assembly arrange a number of boxes wrapped in Christmas paper at the front, each box had a letter on the front.  I then asked who could tell what the word said - it was Christmas.  I asked 9 children to come out and help.  Then using each letter of Christmas I asked if they could think of something with that letter to do with Christmas - I got a number of very good answers back from the children.  Then the children opened up the boxes to find a word in the lid, I now asked them to make a sentence with the words - it was a bible verse from Luke 2:11.  It said - Today a saviour has been born to you.  I asked the children to sit down after I had gone over the verse a few times.  I held up the word saviour and asked if anyone could tell me what it meant.  I had a number of great answers - one who saves.  I explained that this was Jesus and that he came to earth to be our saviour - the one who saves.  That was why we sang Inright Outright at the start as it says - Jesus cared for me when he died on Calvary.  That is why we have Christmas, and why we celebrate at Christmastime.  I then finished off the assembly with Rejoice with us this Christmas then closed with a prayer.

Pennington School

This afternoon I went to Pennington School to do our Christmas assembly.  After singing Inright Outright I introduced the children to a collection of 9 Christmas boxes each with a label on them.  The labels each had  a letter on them.  A quick, keen eyed child would easily spot that the word was Christmas.  I asked 9 children to come up and hold a box in the right order then going down the line using each letter asked the children to think about something to do with Christmas.  So we had carols, candles, holly, reindeer, ivy, ice, snow, tree, mince pies, advent and Santa - as well as a good few more.  Then I asked the children to open the box and inside the lid was a word which made up a bible verse, the children now needed to get themselves in the right order to make the verse, which was from Luke 2:11.  The children got themselves in the right order and the verse read Today a saviour has been born to you. Luke 2:11.  I then asked what the word saviour means, and a few people gave an explanation - I read the dictionary definition 'one who saves'.  I explained that Jesus was that saviour and that is why we celebrate at Christmas time.  The song we sung to begin linked in with that idea as there is a line in it that says Jesus cared for me when he died on Calvary.  Jesus was the greatest gift given to us as he became our saviour.  That gives us a good reason to rejoice at Christmas time - to close we sang Rejoice with us this Christmas, then I closed with a prayer.

Penny Bridge School

This morning Sarah and I went to Penny Bridge School to do the first of our Christmas assemblies - yes I know it is still November.  After singing Inright Outright Sarah introduced the children to a collection of 9 Christmas boxes each with a label on them.  The labels each had  a letter on them.  A quick, keen eyed child would easily spot that the word was Christmas.  So Sarah asked 9 children to come up and hold a box in the right order then going down the line using each letter asked the children to think about something to do with Christmas.  So we had carols, candles, holly, reindeer, ivy, ice, snow, tree, mince pies, advent and Santa - as well as a good few more.  Then I asked the children to open the box and inside the lid was a word which made up a bible verse, the children now needed to get themselves in the right order to make the verse, which was from Luke 2:11.  The children got themselves in the right order and the verse read Today a saviour has been born to you. Luke 2:11.  I then asked what the word saviour means, and a few people gave an explanation - I read the dictionary definition 'one who saves'.  I explained that Jesus was that saviour and that is why we celebrate at Christmas time.  The song we sung to begin linked in with that idea as there is a line in it that says Jesus cared for me when he died on Calvary.  Jesus was the greatest gift given to us as he became our saviour.  That gives us a good reason to rejoice at Christmas time - to close we sang Rejoice with us this Christmas, then Sarah closed with a prayer.

Lindale School

This morning Sarah and I went down to Lindale School for the assembly.  We had a very warm welcome from the children as we arrived.  We had a great time teaching them a new song So Many Ways to Praise the Lord.  After the song I explained that today I was going to talk to them about a spoon - but not just yet so I asked the children how they would say or show love to someone else.  A number of hands went up and I took answers from a number of the children, we had things like kissing, hugging, telling them, doing something for them etc I added some of my own like sending a card or a gift, sending a text or something like that.  I then asked how do we tell God we love him, the answer came back by praising him and praying to him.  This idea of praying was the theme for the assembly I took the spoon out and told the children that I was going to teach them a way to pray using a spoon - but not yet.  I talked a bit about how we pray, I explained how I was taught to pray when I was a child.  I also explained that when we pray we don't always need to be in church because we can pray anywhere like in a quiet bedroom, up a mountain, in the shower and even some people pray while they drive to work (although I did point out that they shouldn't close their eyes and put the hands together when they do).  Jesus' disciples asked him how they should pray and what He was has become the Lord's Prayer for us today.  I asked the children if they knew were it was in their school hall and they all pointed to it.  I then took out the spoon and asked if anyone liked to bake or cook hands went up - I then asked if the knew the letters we use in cook books for teaspoon - tsp.  So taking the t - we can say thank you to God for all the great things we have and the beauty of creation and for all the rain we have had recently, use the s - to say sorry for things we have done wrong but also for things we haven't done like talking to someone that is upset in the playground, the p - is for please were we ask God for things.  I did a very quick example of this by saying Thank you God for what you give us, sorry for what we have done wrong and please can I have loads of toys at Christmas.  I explained that is not the kind of please I was meaning, the please is to ask for help with something, or to pray for someone that isn't well - I used the example of my shoulder saying that yesterday it was very painful but people prayed and today it feels a lot better.  Sarah then introduced the closing song I Love You and afterwards invited anyone that wanted to come out and share a prayer with the school.  A boy and a girl came out and each prayed for people in need in our world, Sarah then used a tsp prayer to close the assembly.

Low Furness School

This morning Sarah and I were at Low Furness School for the assembly.  Our theme was Heroes and Heroines in the Bible.  So to start the assembly off we sang Giants of Faith which covers a number of people in the bible who are heroes.  After this Sarah shared a few photographs of other more modern day heroes like explorers, nurses, the wartime king and queen and a very brave local young lady who created a bucket list that went viral.  Sarah talked about each one briefly then handed over to be to look at people in the bible, I ran through the names of the characters in the song missing out one of them - after asking the children which one I had missed - Ruth - I told her story and explained why I consider her to be a heroine in the bible.  Following the story We sang Shine from the Inside Out as that is what God wants us to do.  Then Sarah said a prayer to close.

Church Walk Primary School

This morning I went along to Church Walk Primary School for the assembly.  After thanking the children for their shoe boxes and telling them how many we sent away we sang So Many Ways to Praise the Lord.  Then I told them that this morning I was going to use a teaspoon for the assembly but not just yet and put it away again.  I asked the children how they tell someone or show someone they loved them.  Loads of great answers came back from the children I then asked how do we tell God we love him - prayer was the answer I was looking for.  I talked a little about prayer and how Jesus' disciples even asked him how to pray and what we now have is the Lord's Prayer.  I then took out my teaspoon and said that I was going to use it to teach the children a way they could pray.  I asked if any of them cooked or baked loads of hands went up, I then asked if they knew what letters are used to shorten the word teaspoon in a recipe or cook book - tsp.  So using these letters the t - to say thank you to God for the great things he gives to us, the wonder of creation and to praise him, the s to say sorry to him for the wrong we have done as well as the right we have not done, then the p to say please and ask God for something.  I then did a quick example of a prayer by saying thank you God for what you give me, sorry for what I did wrong and please can I have loads of toys - it got a little laugh I did say that asking for things like that was not what I was meaning, the please was to ask God for help with something, or pray for someone who is ill.  I went on to say that we can pray at any time and in any place.  To finish off we sang I Love You and I then said a tsp prayer.

Leven Valley School

Just before lunch I was at Leven Valley School for their assembly.  After singing Inright Outright I introduced the assembly idea Peace and Remembrance - I did explain that over the last few days we have done this assembly a few times and I felt it was right for today in the light of what has happen recently in our world.  As I started to talk about things that help us to remember I displayed them on the screen finishing with a picture of a cup and some bread, I explained that each Sunday people meet together in churches and remember what Jesus did for us.  I moved on to display some other ways people remember things when the use a sentence in for the colours of the rainbow, or to spell out a word like because for example.  I then displayed the word PEACE and explained that I wanted the children to a) learn how to spell it and b) learn what the word means.  I came up with this PEACE People Everywhere Acting Christ-like Evermore.  I did explain what Christ-like means by asking the children to give me examples of Jesus.  To close the assembly we sang May the God of Hope and I closed with a prayer.

Our Lady's School

This morning I was at Our Lady's School for the assembly.  After singing So Many Ways to Praise the Lord I introduced the assembly idea with a teaspoon.  I then asked the children how they would show or tell someone they loved them.  I got a number of very good answers.  I then went onto ask them how they tell God they love him - by praying came the answer.  It was prayer that I wanted to talk about with the children, I explained a few different ways to pray and talked about places where you could pray - it doesn't always have to be a church I said.  I then took the teaspoon and asked what letters do we shorten it to - tsp so using the t we can say thank you to God for all he has done for us, using the s we can say sorry for the wrong we have done to people and the p is for please when we can ask God for something (I did point out that asking for loads of toys at Christmas was not what I was talking about)  So I told the children that the next time they use a teaspoon remember the t s and p.  To close we sang I Love You and I then said a tsp prayer.

Shoe Box Collection for Operation Christmas Child

WOW!  What a day!  Sarah and I set off this morning to do two assemblies first at St Peters then on to Broughton School the plan was that after each assembly we collected the OCC shoe boxes from the schools.  As we had a bit of time between St Peters and Broughton we decided to try and find a place to get a coffee in Broughton we ended up at the Bakery, I ordered the coffees and then got talking to the lady behind the counter, the conversation moved on and it somehow came around to me telling her that I was out and about collecting shoe boxes.  I pointed out the logo on my jacket as I was talking, I said how many we collected last year and so on and so on and that on Saturday we shall be processing them and getting them ready for shipping off to needy children.  She wanted to know more so I continued then she said that she would like to give me some money towards the work - I explained that I was just in the shop for two coffees but she proceeded to open the till and gave me some money - by now I could feel the tears starting to build up.  I was so over whelmed by this lady - I pray that God will truly bless her and her business. We then headed off to Captain Shaw's school after the assembly at Broughton before going down into Millom for the collections there.  From Millom it was back towards Barrow and the collections there then back via Dalton to Our Lady's school before reaching home - 69 miles later and the van weight down under the weight of the 350 shoeboxes we had on board.  It took two of us nearly half an hour to unload.  Then this evening Grace, Martha and myself have sorted them into ages and put them in to packing cartoons ready for taking to the processing day on Saturday 41 in total plus the ones we have already dropped off at ECC.

Broughton School

This morning Sarah and I went to Broughton School for the assembly.  After singing So Many Ways to Praise the Lord I pulled a teaspoon out of my pocket and said that today I was going to talk about a teaspoon in the assembly - but not yet.  I then asked the children how they would show love to someone and several answers came back in reply form doing acts of kindness, to sending a card, to giving a hug loads of great answers.  I then asked how do we tell God we love him - the hands went up again and the first answer came out - by praying to him.  I then said that I was going to talk about how we can pray to God using a teaspoon - but not yet.  I talked about prayer and how people pray and where people pray and each one is good and that there is not real right or wrong way to pray or right and wrong place to pray in.  I then took out the teaspoon again and asked what letters we use to shorten the word teaspoon in a cook book - tsp was the answer given.  So I said that using the letters tsp I would teach them a way to pray.  the t is to say thank you to God for all that he gives to us, the s is to say sorry for all the wrong things we have done or the right things we have not done and the p is for please a chance to ask God for things (I did point out that it doesn't mean asking for loads of presents at Christmas).  So I encouraged the children to think about that the next time the use a teaspoon.  To finish off the assembly we sang May the God of Hope and Sarah then finished with a prayer using the tsp idea.

St Peters School

First thing this morning Sarah and I were at St Peters School for the assembly.  We decided to do an assembly on Peace and Remembrance so after singing Inright Outright Sarah started to talk about how we remember things.  We had examples like using a mobile phone, a diary, telling someone, making a list and a very old fashion thing putting a knot in a hankie.  All are very good ways of remembering things, she then went on to talk about how we remember what God has done for us in Jesus dying on the cross making a link to the words from the song we had just sung.  I then added that sometimes when we want to remember things we put a sentence together like the order of colours in a rainbow, or how to spell a particular word and I gave some examples of words the children might have been taught how to spell in this way - because, would, could and should.  But I pointed out that the sentence used to help remember the word does not tell us what the word means.  I then displayed the word PEACE on the screen and said that I had put a sentence together that would both help us to remember what the word means as well as how to spell it - so PEACE - People Everywhere Acting Christ-like Evermore.  Sarah then explained what it is to be Christ-like.  To close we sang May the God of Hope.

Croftlands Infants School

This morning Sarah and I went to Croftlands Infants school for the assembly.  As we were deciding what to sing at the start of the assembly the children asked for God's Love is Bigger than a Burger - so we went with it.  I then said that today I was going to talk to them with a ... then pulling a teaspoon out of my pocket - I said this.  All the children laughed as I then said but not yet and put it away.  I asked the children how we would show love to someone, lots of great answers came back from being friends with people, to showing kindness and care towards people, helping others.  I added a few of my own like telling them, writing to them, buying a gift for them.  I then asked how do we tell God we love him.  By praying came the answer back.  I then reintroduced the spoon saying that today I was going to show them a way to pray using a teaspoon - but not yet as I put it away again.  I explained that there are lots of different ways to pray and that we can pray in all sorts of different places too.  Then the teaspoon came out again and I asked if they had ever done any  cooking or baking and if they knew the letters we use to shorten the word teaspoon in a cook book - TSP came the answer.  So I said that if we take the letters TSP we can use them to reminded us how to pray - the T is for thank you - we show Thank God for what he has given us and what he has done for us, the S is for sorry, we should say sorry to God for the times we have done things wrong, and the P is for please when we can ask God for something - I did add at this point that it is not asking for loads of presents at Christmas but asking please for help with a test, or if someone is ill.  To finish off we sang Great Great Brill Brill as it has a line in it about God being there when we talk to him.  Following the song Sarah closed the assembly with a prayer using the TSP idea.

Croftlands Junior School

This morning I went to Croftlands Junior School to take the assembly.  To start off we sang God Can Do Anything then I displayed the word Peace on the screen and asked if the school had done anything on 11th November which they had.  I explained then that in 1918 as the war ended Jelly Babies were introduced first being called Peace Babies.  They were a sort of pick me up, a good feeling, a celebration of peace following the war years.  They stopped production in the second world war and finally in 1953 came out again this time called Jelly Babies.  In 1989 they were all given a name and a character.  In fact each of the colours are different flavours as well as each baby being slightly different too.  The point was they all work together in harmony which is what peace should be like.  I pointed out that we are all different too, and we should work towards peace at all times.  Matthew 5:9 says this Happy are those who work for peace; God will call them his children.  I read this verse out to the children and encouraged them to be peace makers in school, in their community and in the wider community too.  To close we sang May the God of Hope after I said a short prayer.

Low Furness School

This morning Sarah and I did the assembly at Low Furness School, the theme was Peace and Remembrance.  After singing Inright Outright Sarah introduced the theme and referred back to last weeks assembly we did with Jelly Babies on Peace.  She then asked the children what they do to remember things, I had put together some pictures like a smart phone, pen and paper, knotted hankie, diary etc as things we use to help us remember.  Sarah then linked the assembly from yesterday when communion was discussed and how in a service we offer the sign of the Peace to each other.  I then displayed some other pictures like a rainbow, the words could, would, should and because and explained that we put a rhyme to these to help us remember.  I then displayed the word Peace and gave one possible way to remember it which was please eat apple crumble everyday. Which is fine but what about putting something together to help us remember what peace is so we had this People Everywhere Acting Civilised Evermore.  I then reminded the children about the things we use to remember then slowly faded in a poppy, and   pointed out that the leaf was pointing to a particular place 11 o'clock which reminds us that at 11 o'clock on the 11th day of the 11th month the guns fell silent bringing world war 1 to a close.  We finished the assembly by singing May the God of Hope and during the instrumental part Sarah said a prayer.

Church Walk School

This morning I went along to Church Walk School to do the assembly.  It was great to see all the children, we always get a very warm welcome from them whenever we go to visit the school.  To start we sang God Can Do Anything then I talked about peace and used the Jelly Babies and explained that they had been introduced after the first world war as a way to celebrate peace.  The link was that each one is different as we are different, not only in colour but also taste.  Following the second world war the Peace Babies as they had been known as were reintroduced as Jelly Babies then in the 1980's they were all given names and a character.  Peace happens when all people work together in harmony.  I asked the children what they could do to make peace at school, in the family, in the community of Ulverston as well as the wider community and a few children suggested things they could do.  To close off the assembly we sang May the God of Hope then I said a prayer.

BX NT5 Low Furness School

This is a post I should have posted last Thursday
Today I went to Low Furness School for the last lesson in Bible Explorer New Testament with the year 5 and 6.  It was all about the spread of the gospel message through the work of Paul and his travelling companions during the three missionary journeys that he did as recorded in Acts.  The final part of the lesson sees Paul heading off to Rome on a ship which is then wrecked in a storm.  Once in Rome Paul being under house arrest writes letter to the churches he help set up and visited time and again on his travels.  The very last part is talking about how the gospel spread throughout the Roman Empire and as a result we got to hear about it here.  The children had a great time listening and joining in with the story telling too as they acted out scenes from the stories.

Burlington School

This morning I was at Burlington School for the assembly.  I decided to focus the assembly on peace as it is getting close to 11th November.  So after singing God Can Do Anything (which was a new one to the children) I opened a packed of Jelly Babies and explained a little of the history of them - like the fact that they were first though of in 1918 to celebrate the end of world war 1.  This linked in with the theme of peace as back then they were called Peace Babies.  I explained that when you look at a packet of Jelly Babies they are all different in that the have different colours, flavours and the jelly babies are different too and each have a name and a character!  They all come together in harmony and when people do that, that is what makes for peace.  I asked the children to remember that the next time they eat a packet of Jelly Babies or any sweets for that matter.  I asked the children to also suggest ways that they can bring about peace in their, school, home and community to and a number of good ideas came out from that.  To close we sang May the God of Hope again another new one to the children, I then said a prayer.

St Peters School

This morning I went over to St Peters School to do our assembly about peace.  To start with we sang God Can Do Anything then I introduced the theme for the assembly and talked about Jelly Babies which started out as Peace Babies after the first world war.  The idea was that the differences between the babies reflects our differences and that they all should be together and peace is when all sides work together in harmony.  I then asked the children what they could do at school, at home, in the local community and in the wider community to bring about peace.  The children suggested loads of things that they could do from being kind to one another to stop fighting (in the world).  To close of the assembly we sang May the God of Hope and I then said a prayer followed by the Lord's Prayer.

Crosthwaite School

This afternoon Sarah and I went over to Crosthwaite School the assembly.  As it is getting close to the 11th November we decided to do an assembly on Peace.  To start off the assembly we sang God can do anything, I then opened a packet of Jelly Babies and asked the children what flavours they liked as I went through each one.  I then explained that Jelly Babies were first introduced in 1918 as 'Peace Babies' a sort of pick me up and good feeling thing to have once the war was over.  Then after a short break in production for the second world war they reappeared as Jelly Babies.  In 1989 they were all given names and characters, Sarah then explained what these were.  She then asked the question what makes them peace babies now?  well it is because they are all different, look different, do different things and have different things with them.  If they are all the same that would be no fun as it would be all the same taste.  It reminds us that we are all different too and that like the Jelly Babies work together.  This is how we should be as this is what makes for peace.  Peace is enjoyed when people of different ages, interests and appearances live together in harmony. Sarah also read out a bible verse from Matthew 'Happy are those who work for peace: God will call them his children!' (Matthew 5.9, Good News Bible) Sarah then asked what we can do to bring about peace within our school, our lives etc.  We then sang May the God of Hope before Sarah closed the assembly with a prayer.

Low Furness School

This morning Sarah and I went to Low Furness School the assembly theme was Peace.  To start off the assembly we sang God can do anything, I then opened a packet of Jelly Babies and asked the children what flavours they liked as I went through each one.  I then explained that Jelly Babies were first introduced in 1918 as 'Peace Babies' a sort of pick me up and good feeling thing to have once the war was over.  Then after a short break in production for the second world war they reappeared as Jelly Babies.  In 1989 they were all given names and characters, Sarah then explained what these were.  She then asked the question what makes them peace babies now?  well it is because they are all different, look different, do different things and have different things with them.  If they are all the same that would be no fun as it would be all the same taste.  It reminds us that we are all different too and that like the Jelly Babies work together.  This is how we should be as this is what makes for peace.  Peace is enjoyed when people of different ages, interests and appearances live together in harmony. Sarah also read out a bible verse from Matthew 'Happy are those who work for peace: God will call them his children!' (Matthew 5.9, Good News Bible) Sarah then asked what we can do to bring about peace within our school, our lives etc.  We then sang May the God of Hope before Sarah closed the assembly with a prayer.

Pennington School

This afternoon Sarah and I went along to Pennington School for the assembly.  So after singing So Many Ways to Praise the Lord I lifted a teaspoon out and said that I was going to talk about it - but not yet.  I asked the children how they would tell or show someone that they loved them - lots of ideas came out, giving a hug, kissing (but not at their age I quickly added), helping them, telling them.  I then asked how we tell God we love him - praying came the answer.  I then explained that I was going to show the children how to pray with a teaspoon - but not yet.  I talked about different ways people pray some kneeling on the floor, in the quiet of a bed room. in church, up a mountain etc.  I also spoke about people like the Pharisee and tax collector story Jesus told how the Pharisee used grand words and the tax collector just said sorry.  I also talked about the disciples when they asked Jesus how to pray and from that came the Lord's Prayer.  I was going to teach them a way to pray using a teaspoon.  So I asked them what letters does the word teaspoon get shorten to in say baking - tsp came the answer.  So using the TSP we can pray, the T is for thanks - thanking God for the things he gives to us and giving him praise, S is for sorry - saying sorry for the things we have done wrong, P is for please, asking God for things - I did at this point say that it wasn't asking for money and things but help with things like tests, when someone is ill etc.  Sarah then took over and said that now we would sing I Love You as that is how the assembly started by asking how we say I love you to God.  After the song Sarah closed with a prayer.

Penny Bridge School

This morning I went down to Penny Bridge School for the assembly.  To start off we sang So Many Ways to Praise the Lord, I then asked the children how they would show someone or tell someone that they loved them.  Loads of good answers came back from the children, like sending them a card, giving them gifts, helping them out or just talking to them.  I then asked how do we tell God we love him - the answer I was looking for was by praying to him which was one of the answers I got as well as singing and praising him.  I then lifted out a teaspoon and explained that I was going to teach them a way to pray using a teaspoon - but first I explained how I was taught to pray when I was their age which isn't wrong but is one way, I also said that we can pray anywhere from our bedrooms to the top of a mountain.  I then told them that Jesus' disciples asked him how to pray and what Jesus told them became known as the Lord's Prayer.  I quickly told them the story of the tax collector and the Pharisee and about the big words he used to pray and that to pray we don't need big fancy words.  Back to the teaspoon...I asked the children what letters we use to shorten teaspoon it is TSP so taking these letters I said we can use them to remind us how to pray.  So the T is thank you when we should thank God for what he has done for us, the S is to say sorry for the wrong things we have done or the right things we haven't done, then the P is to say please when we can ask God for things - I don't mean loads of money etc but things like help us in a test, or when someone is ill.  To close off the assembly we sang I Love You then I prayed a tsp prayer.

Parish Church Light Party

Feeling a bit spaced out after the Parish Church Light Party this evening - well I say spaced out that is because we went into space.  The theme for the evening was space so children came in space costumes (adults too I might add).  We had a great time with the children as they enjoyed doing space related craft activities and then eating extra jumbo out of this world hot dogs.  They watched a short drama too about Jed the young space adventurer who ignored the rules and got himself lost in space, only to have Mission Control send him the Return Home Signal - this was linked to the Lost Son parable Jesus told which I then linked to Jesus saying he is the way as well as the light of the world quotes from John.  I had a great time and I hope and pray that the children did too, thanks to Emily the children and family worker at the Parish for putting it together.

BX NT4 Low Furness School

This afternoon it was lesson 4 of Bible Explorer New Testament.  It was the stories relating to the start of the church following the day of Pentecost.  So I covered the story of Stephen, Philip, Saul/Paul on the road to Damascus, ending with Peter and Cornelius.  Several of the children helped out in telling the stories too by reading from a little script.  Next time we will be looking at the journeys Paul goes on which spread the gospel even further.

Flookburgh School

This morning I went down to Flookburgh School to do the first assembly of the new school year.  It seemed a bit strange as we haven't seen the children for such a long time.  To start the assembly of we sang So Many Ways to Praise the Lord.  Then I asked the children  how they would say or tell someone they loved them, a number of suggestions came back, like get them a gift, send a card, tell them etc.  I then asked how do we tell God we love him - by prayer came back the answer.  It was this I wanted to talk about.  I explained that I was going to teach them a way to pray using just a tea spoon, but before I did I told them about how different people pray, like on their knees, in the quiet of the bedroom, up a mountain, in church etc.  I also told them about Jesus' disciples asking him how to pray and from that came the Lord's Prayer - which was up on the wall in the hall.  I reminded them that I was going to teach them how to pray with a teaspoon but not just yet.  I also told the story of the Pharisee and the tax collector and how the Pharisee looked down upon the tax collector and used big words and a loud voice so that everyone could hear him, but the tax collector bowed his head and quietly said sorry for what he had done wrong.  Now to the spoon but first - I asked who like to cook and bake - hands went up - good what is the letters used in a recipe to say use a teaspoon - tsp came the answer.  it was the tsp that I was going to use - t = thank you we should start our prayers of thanking God for what he has given us and praising him for what he has done, I drew a link back to the song So Many Ways... next s=sorry we should say sorry to God for the things we have done wrong and I gave a few examples like falling out with a friend, saying something not nice to someone then finally p=please we can ask God for things - that isn't to say we ask for silly things like money - but things we might need help with, or for people who might be ill.  To finish we sang I Love You then I closed with a prayer using tsp.

Lindale School

This morning Sarah and I went down to Lindale School to do an assembly.  We had been asked to do something as an alternative to Halloween like having a pumpkin with a heart in it instead of a ghoulish face.  So to start the assembly we sang God Can do Anything, then I asked the children a question and displayed it on the screen - Do you want to see a really scary picture? - the children reacted with a big yes - Sarah (knowing what was coming) questioned my suggestion and talked a bit about movie's with U PG 12 12A 15 and 18 ratings - I suggested that the picture might be worse than an 18.  The children still wanted to see it!  So I asked the teachers - there were a few heads shaking and then I say OK here it is - as I switched the slide over there was a picture of .......me!!! followed by a big ARRRRRRRRH!  The next slide was black and I talked about how in this country we do go about at this time of year doing trick or treat and go out to frighten and scare people and think of dark things.  I also said that parents wouldn't or shouldn't allow children to watch things on the television that might scare them.  Sarah then said that in this country we do this stuff for fun, but there are places in the world where children live in fear every night, for them a night of fright is every night.  They live in war zones, have been forced to move out of their homes and live in shelters made from plastic sheets and cardboard.  Their world is very dark.  So Sarah encouraged the children to think and pray about these children as they carve their pumpkins this year.  She also mentioned World Vision who are encouraging people to carve a heart this year and text money to help people who live in fear check out their website here

http://www.worldvision.org.uk/get-involved/carve-heart/pumpkin-carving/

there is also a YouTube clip here to watch

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FgKAl3S887U   

I linked this with the words of Jesus when he said I am the light of the world John 8:12 and encouraged the children to carve a heart and get a parent to text money to help.  I then displayed a pumpkin carved with a heart and another slide saying 'so let's turn this night of fright into a night of light'  because when we do we Shine God's love from the inside out - cue song.  After the song Sarah closed with a prayer.

Croftlands Infants School

This morning Sarah and I went with Lisa Smith to do the assembly for Operation Christmas Child at Croftlands Infants School.  After singing God's Love is Bigger than a Burger, Lisa showed the SKY tv ad which uses the characters from the movie Inside Out.  They all live inside a little girls head - there are things like joy, disgust, sadness, anger etc, they are trying to help the girl do some homework but the internet is down.  Lisa linked these emotions to us by asking if we ever feel like this.  She continued that with things happening in the world today it might be that we feel some of them now.  But there was joy and she made things better.  When we fill a shoe box we can help to change a persons emotions from something not good to joy.  I then explained about what to fill a shoe box with and then what happens to it once it is handed in.  Sarah then asked the children if they would like to see a video of children opening their boxes so we played Love in a Box.  Then Sarah close with a prayer.

Croftlands Junior School

This morning Sarah and I along with Lisa Smith did an Operation Christmas Child assembly for the children at Croftlands Juniors.  To start the assembly off we sang God's Love is Bigger than A Burger, then Lisa displayed the SKY tv advert which features some of the characters in the new Inside Out movie.  The characters represent different emotions inside a girls head, like anger, fear sadness, joy etc.  The point was we are not selling SKY tv but the things that the characters felt are real and are the same as we feel at times.  We can feel angry when we see and hear things on the TV but the key in the advert was joy she was the one that make a difference.  And we too can make a difference by filling a shoe box full of goodies and sending it to children who really need to have that love and joy in their lives.  I then went on to explain what sort of things you can put into a shoe box and about what happens to it on it's journey to the child.  To finish off we showed the Love in a Box video showing children opening their shoe boxes and the joy they felt.  Sarah then closed with a prayer.

BX NT3 Low Furness School

This afternoon I have been with the children in year 5 and 6 at Low Furness School doing the third lesson of New Testament Bible Explorer.  This lesson covers the last few days of Jesus' life on earth as well as other great stories such as the lost sheep, coin and son.  It also has the story of Lazarus being raised from the dead and Zacchaeus.  The children joined in as we acted out various parts of these stories like Jesus in the temple clearing out the money changers and those selling animals.  We covered the last supper story too then on to the final hours of his life as he was handed over to be crucified.  It would have been a sad place to stop but we continued on into Easter Sunday and Jesus' tomb being empty and him risen from the dead.  Next week we move on into Acts of the Apostles and the start of the church.

Leven Valley School

This morning Sarah and I went down to Leven Valley School for the assembly.  After singing So Many Ways to Praise the Lord I asked the children how you would tell someone that you loved them.  I got a number of really good answers like talking to them, giving a gift, hugging them, email and text, write to them, send a card etc.  I then asked how we tell God that we love him - by praying to him came the answer.  I then went on to talk a bit about prayer and how I was taught to pray when I was younger, and how some people say that you only pray in church.  But I said that you can pray in loads of different ways like in your bedroom, in church, on a mountain side in fact anywhere.  I told the story of the two men that Jesus talked about that prayed in the temple one was a Pharisee the other a tax collector.  The Pharisee used big words and mocked the tax collector which wasn't and isn't the right thing to do.  I also said that Jesus' disciples asked him how they should pray and out of that came the Lord's Prayer.  I explained to the children that I was going to show them a way to pray using - and I pulled out a tea spoon.  This brought a laugh but I asked them if they knew what the shortened letters were for a teaspoon in a recipe - tsp.  So using the letters t - we say thank you to God for something and praise him, s - to say sorry for the things we have done that are wrong and p - to ask him please for things like helping us in a test, or pray for someone who is ill.  We then sang I Love You and I closed with a tsp prayer followed by the Lord's Prayer.

Our Lady's School

This morning Sarah and I did an Operation Christmas Child assembly for the children at Our Lady's school.  To start off we sang God's Love is Bigger than a Burger then Sarah started to talk about the movie Inside Out which has little people inside the head of a girl and they help to control her they are her emotions.  We showed the SKY tv ad which features these characters to explain that we can all feel angry, sad, disgusted at times but it is joy that we should be feeling.  This linked with the shoe boxes in that the children can help to bring joy to a child that doesn't have very much by filling a shoe box.  I then explained what to do in filling the box and talked about how the shoe box gets to a child in need.  To finish off we showed the video Love in a Box which is about children getting their boxes and opening them.  Sarah then closed with a prayer.

Broughton School

This morning I went over to Broughton School to do an Operation Christmas Child assembly.  After singing God's Love is Bigger than a Burger I talked a little about the movie Inside Out by first showing the SKY tv ad.  The movie has people inside a child's head that control her emotions there are things like anger, sadness, joy disgust. I wanted to focus on just one of them joy.  I explained to the children that with events happening in the world today it is possible that we have some of the same emotions that the girl has in here head like anger and things but we can make a difference by filling a shoe box full of gifts we can bring joy into a child's life.  I went on to explain how that can be done and what can be put into a shoe box and then explained what happens to it after the children hand it in.  To finish off I showed the Love in a Box video of children opening their boxes and seeing the joy on their faces.  I closed the assembly with a prayer.

St Peters

This morning Sarah and I went to do an Operation Christmas Child assembly at St Peters school.  To start the assembly we sang God's love is bigger than a burger then Sarah talked to the children about the movie Inside Out.  She then showed the SKY tv ad which features the characters from the movie.  The ad has nothing to do with shoe boxes but demonstrates some of the emotions through the characters that we have like sadness, joy, anger.  Sarah said though she wanted to focus on joy and about how we can bring joy to a child this Christmas time simply by filling a shoe box.  I then continued and explained how to fill a shoe box with the various things that a child might like to receive.  I went on to say what happens to the box once it is collected from the school.  To close off the assembly we showed the video Love in a Box which shows the joy on the faces of the children when they open their boxes.  Sarah then closed with a prayer.

Low Furness School

This morning I went to Low Furness School to take the assembly.  The theme for this week was Love and Prayer.  So after singing So Many Ways to Praise the Lord I asked the question how do we tell someone that we love them.  A number of hands went up and loads of good answers came back like telling them, emailing, phone call, write to them, give a gift, a hug do something for them - I then asked how do we tell God we love him.  This got the answer by praying to him.  I then went on to explain how I was taught in school and church to pray by kneeling on the floor, hands together and eyes closed - which is good.   This led to asking where can we pray - in private like the bed room, in church, up a mountain - anywhere really.  I told the children that Jesus' disciples asked him how to pray and as a result we now have the Lord's Prayer.  On another occasion Jesus told a parable about a Pharisee and a Tax Collector, the Pharisee boasted about how he was not like the Tax Collector and about how good he was, while the Tax Collector said sorry to God and asked for forgiveness.  I wanted to tell the children one way they could pray to God which was simple - the teaspoon prayer.  The tsp which is the shortened name for a teaspoon I explained can remind us to first t say thank you to God for what he has done for us and to praise him (there are so many ways we can praise the Lord), then the s - saying sorry to God for things we have done that are wrong and finally p - asking God please for something not money or stuff like that though.  Then to finish we sang I Love You and at the end I said a prayer using the tsp as an example.

Church Walk Primary School OCC Assembly

This morning Sarah and I along with Lisa Smith went to Church Walk Primary School to do an Operation Christmas Child assembly.  After introducing ourselves (not that we really needed to) we sang God's Love is Bigger than a Burger.  After this Lisa did her talk about joy based on the movie Inside Out and relating it to the SKY tv ad which features some of the characters.  This led to me talking about what to put into a shoe box and talking about what happens when we collect them.  Sarah then talked about the joy children feel as they open the boxes linking back to what Lisa was saying.  We then showed the Love in a Box film clip before Sarah finished the assembly with a prayer.

Captain Shaw Primary School

This morning Sarah and I travelled over to Captain Shaw Primary School in Bootle to do an Operation Christmas Child assembly.  To start off we sang God's Love is Bigger than a Burger then Sarah talked a little bit about the movie Inside Out and about the characters in the movie, to remind the children who some of them were we played the Sky tv ad which features them.  She then focused on the different emotions anger, sad, Joy etc and talked about each one of them but said she wanted to mainly focus on Joy as that is a great emotion to have.  The Joy character was very joyful and Sarah explained that we can help to bring joy into a child's life by filling a shoe box with goodies.  I then explained how to do it and what happens to them once they are filled.  To finish with I showed the Love in a Box film clip.  Sarah then continued and encouraged the children to have a go again this year as last she they returned 100%+ as every child did one.  She explained that when we do that we can shine from the inside out cue for a song.  after the song she closed the assembly with a prayer.

BX NT2 Low Furness

This afternoon I was at Low Furness School with the year 5/6  class doing the second lesson of Bible Explorer New Testament.  I couldn't go last week due to having a bad back so I did a big recap of the first weeks stories and hand signs.  The children had remembered them very well which was great.  Today we heard stories form the gospels about the early part of Jesus' ministry like talking to Nicodemus and the women at the well in Samaria.  I also explained about parables and retold the parable of the sower.  The children heard also  about some of the things Jesus did - healing people, calming the storm, feeding the 5000.  We ended the lesson with Peter proclaiming who Jesus is and then once again putting his foot in it during the transfiguration.  Next week we will by the end of the lesson concluded the earthly life of Jesus having covered that story in depth and others along the way.

Croftlands Juniors

This morning Sarah and I went to do our first assembly of the new school year to Croftlands Juniors.  We only had the year 5 and 6 children in as the years 3 and 4 had gone swimming.  We decided to do our harvest assembly so to start we sang So Many Ways to Praise the Lord.  We then displayed some clocks with different times on them and asked the children what time it was - now they all could all tell the time but the point was what time of day it was like get up, start school, have lunch, go home.  Sarah talked a little about time then we played the 1 minute game so when they thought 1 minute was up they stood up.  This linked to an apple with a seed in it so I asked what or who tells the seed when to grow, I displayed the cycle seed, small plant, tree, bud, flower, apple , seed etc and explained that God is the one who determined that the apple would produce seed way back in Genesis.  I displayed the following verses for the children to think about - Genesis 1:11Then God said, "Let the earth grow grass, plants that make grain, and fruit trees. The fruit trees will make fruit with seeds in it. And each plant will make its own kind of seed. Let these plants grow on the earth." And it happened. Genesis 8:22 As long as the earth continues, there will always be a time for planting and a time for harvest. There will always be cold and hot, summer and winter, day and night on earth."  Ecclesiastes 3:1-2 There is a right time for everything, and everything on earth will happen at the right time. There is a time to be born and a time to die. There is a time to plant and a time to pull up plants. I went on to say that at this time of year we start to think about all the good things that God gives to us it is harvest time.  Sarah continued to emphasis this point and said that God provides so much for us and is a great big God that holds us in his hands - cue song.  After the song I closed with a prayer.

St Mary's Catholic Primary School

This morning Lisa Smith and I did an Operation Christmas Child assembly for the children at St Mary's in Ulverston.  We started the assembly by singing God's Love is Bigger than a Burger, then Lisa did a talk about our emotions.  To help get the point over Lisa used the latest Sky Tv ad which has some of the characters from Inside Out the movie in it.  The girl is wanting to use the computer on the internet but it is too slow, the emotions all react in a different way, Worry stresses about it, Anger becomes angry, Sad looks on the dark side and is very sad however Joy looks for the brighter option - in this case Sky broadband.  This was linked to how we can sometimes feel when we face situations, and in some case's can't see how to get through them like bad stuff that happens in the world.  However we can bring Joy to someone by filling a simple shoe box with gifts for a child that might never have been given a gift.  I then explained how to go about it and what to put into a shoe box.  Then told the children what happens to them once we collect them, this does bring a laugh as they see elephants carrying packing cases of shoe boxes.  I then show the Love in a Box film and ask the children to see the Joy on the children's faces as they open their box.  To close Lisa prayed.

Pennington School

Today we did our first assembly of the new school year at Pennington School.  It was an Operation Christmas Child assembly too and Lisa Smith our co worker came along with us too.  After saying hello and singing God's love is bigger than a burger, Lisa introduced the idea of putting items into a shoe box by showing the SKY tv advert which features the characters from the movie Inside Out.  The characters represent a child's different emotions and depending upon how they react to situations will determine how the child reacts.  There is Angry, Joy, Sad, Worry etc.  The one that Lisa wanted to focus on was Joy.  This is the emotion that we feel when something good happens like receiving a present from someone, it is the same with the shoe box when a child in a far off country gets a box filled with goodies joy is what they feel.  After Lisa had finished I then explained what to put into the shoe box and explained what happens to it on it's journey to a child.  We then showed the Love in a Box Video showing the reaction of the children as they opened up their shoe boxes. Lisa then closed the assembly with a prayer.

Penny Bridge Academy

Today we did our first assembly of the new school year at Penny Bridge Academy.  It was also our first Operation Christmas Child assembly of the season and Lisa Smith our co worker came along with us too.  After saying hello and singing God's love is bigger than a burger, Lisa introduced the idea of putting items into a shoe box by showing the SKY tv advert which features the characters from the movie Inside Out.  The characters represent a child's different emotions and depending upon how they react to situations will determine how the child reacts.  There is Angry, Joy, Sad, Worry etc.  The one that Lisa wanted to focus on was Joy.  This is the emotion that we feel when something good happens like receiving a present from someone, it is the same with the shoe box when a child in a far off country gets a box filled with goodies joy is what they feel.  After Lisa had finished I then explained what to put into the shoe box and explained what happens to it on it's journey to a child.  We then sang another song and Sarah closed the assembly with a prayer.

Burlington School

This morning following the assembly at St Peters School we drove over to Burlington School to do an assembly.  This is our first visit to the school following the transition assembly and lesson we did there for the year 6 children in the summer term. We decided as it is getting close to harvest time to do our harvest assembly, so we started by singing Creator God as we have done for the last few assemblies. Then Sarah did the talk today, she started by talking about time and we displayed some clocks with times on them one was set at 8 o'clock, one at 9 another at 12 and one at 3:15.  Each time she asked the children what happened at that time during the day. She then introduced the 1 minute game so I got the stop watch ready and told the children that they needed to stay seated and then stand when they thought a minute had gone by.  A number of the children did manage it some stood just before and others just after.  Sarah explained that a minute seems to take for ever to pass, she then displayed a picture of some apples one of which was cut open and reminded the children that an apple has a seed inside it and that seed when planted can grow into a tree which in turn will grow apples on them.  She then showed the life cycle of an apple from seed to fruit and explained that it is God who makes them grow and referred to three bible verses to help the children to understand -

Genesis 1:11Then God said, "Let the earth grow grass, plants that make grain, and fruit trees. The fruit trees will make fruit with seeds in it. And each plant will make its own kind of seed. Let these plants grow on the earth." And it happened. Genesis 8:22 As long as the earth continues, there will always be a time for planting and a time for harvest. There will always be cold and hot, summer and winter, day and night on earth."  Ecclesiastes 3:1-2 There is a right time for everything, and everything on earth will happen at the right time. There is a time to be born and a time to die. There is a time to plant and a time to pull up plants. I went on to say that at this time of year we start to think about all the good things that God gives to us it is harvest time.  Sarah continued to emphasis this point and said that God provides so much for us and is a great big God that holds us in his hands - cue song.  After the song I closed with a prayer.

St Peters School

This morning Sarah and I went to St Peters School.  The drive to the school was awesome as the views over the mountains was stunning, the sun light was just catching them it is hard to describe them.  Anyway back to the blog - We decided as it is getting close to harvest time to do our harvest assembly, so we started by singing Creator God as we have done for the last few assemblies. Then Sarah did the talk today, she started by talking about time and we displayed some clocks with times on them one was set at 8 o'clock, one at 9 another at 12 and one at 3:15.  Each time she asked the children what happened at that time during the day. She then introduced the 1 minute game so I got the stop watch ready and told the children that they needed to stay seated and then stand when they thought a minute had gone by.  A number of the children did manage it some stood just before and others just after.  Sarah explained that a minute seems to take for ever to pass, she then displayed a picture of some apples one of which was cut open and reminded the children that an apple has a seed inside it and that seed when planted can grow into a tree which in turn will grow apples on them.  She then showed the life cycle of an apple from seed to fruit and explained that it is God who makes them grow and referred to three bible verses to help the children to understand -

Genesis 1:11Then God said, "Let the earth grow grass, plants that make grain, and fruit trees. The fruit trees will make fruit with seeds in it. And each plant will make its own kind of seed. Let these plants grow on the earth." And it happened. Genesis 8:22 As long as the earth continues, there will always be a time for planting and a time for harvest. There will always be cold and hot, summer and winter, day and night on earth."  Ecclesiastes 3:1-2 There is a right time for everything, and everything on earth will happen at the right time. There is a time to be born and a time to die. There is a time to plant and a time to pull up plants. I went on to say that at this time of year we start to think about all the good things that God gives to us it is harvest time.  Sarah continued to emphasis this point and said that God provides so much for us and is a great big God that holds us in his hands - cue song.  After the song I closed with a prayer.

Crosthwaite School

This afternoon Sarah and I went over to Crosthwaite School.  It was great to see all the children and staff again. We started the assembly by singing Creator God.  I then displayed some clocks with times on them one was set at 8 o'clock, one at 9 another at 12 and one at 3:15.  I displayed them one at a time and asked the children what time it was - they said the time so I asked again - the answer I was looking for was breakfast time, school time, lunch time, home time etc.  This led on to me talking about time I asked who gets you up in the morning apart from your parents - alarm clock was what I was looking for.  We then played the 1 minute game so I got the stop watch ready and told the children that they needed to stay seated and then stand when they thought a minute had gone by.  A number of the children did manage it some stood just before and others just after.  I then displayed a picture of some apples one of which was cut open.  I reminded the children that an apple has a seed inside it and that seed when planted can grow into a tree which in turn will grow apples on them.  So I asked the children who tells the seed to start to grow - does it need an alarm clock that says wake up it is time to grow - no!  I then showed the life cycle of an apple from seed to fruit.  I explained that it is God who makes them grow and referred to three bible verses to help the children to understand -

Genesis 1:11Then God said, "Let the earth grow grass, plants that make grain, and fruit trees. The fruit trees will make fruit with seeds in it. And each plant will make its own kind of seed. Let these plants grow on the earth." And it happened. Genesis 8:22 As long as the earth continues, there will always be a time for planting and a time for harvest. There will always be cold and hot, summer and winter, day and night on earth."  Ecclesiastes 3:1-2 There is a right time for everything, and everything on earth will happen at the right time. There is a time to be born and a time to die. There is a time to plant and a time to pull up plants. I went on to say that at this time of year we start to think about all the good things that God gives to us it is harvest time.  Sarah continued to emphasis this point and said that God provides so much for us and is a great big God that holds us in his hands - cue song.  After the song Sarah closed with a prayer.

Low Furness School

This morning Sarah and I went to Low Furness School for the assembly.  The theme was Love in the Bible, so to start we sang God's Love is Bigger than a Burger then I talked to the children.  I had prepared a series of slides starting with a love heart and a bible introducing the theme, the other slides had pictures from bible stories like crossing the Red Sea, David and Goliath, Ruth, Esther then on to pictures of Jesus the final one was Jesus on the cross.  For each picture I talked a little about how God showed his love in that particular story.  I finished with the verse we had in the last assembly from John 15 v12 Love one another as I have loved you.  Sarah added to what I had said and talked a little about harvest as next week the school has it's harvest service explaining that God shows us his love by providing for us.  To finish we sang I Love You and Sarah closed with a prayer.

Vicarage Park School

Today we made our first visit of the new school year to Vicarage Park School in Kendal.  It was great to see all the children and staff again - it seems so long since we last saw them.  The theme was Harvest so we thought it would be good to start of by singing Creator God.  I then displayed some clocks with times on them one was set at 8 o'clock, one at 9 another at 12 and one at 3.  I displayed them one at a time and asked the children what time it was - they said the time so I asked again - the answer I was looking for was breakfast time, school time, lunch time, home time etc.  This led on to me talking about time I asked who gets you up in the morning apart from your parents - alarm clock was what I was looking for.  We then played the 1 minute game so I got the stop watch ready and told the children that they needed to stay seated and then stand when they thought a minute had gone by.  A number of the children did manage it some stood just before and others just after.  I then displayed a picture of some apples one of which was cut open.  I reminded the children that an apple has a seed inside it and that seed when planted can grow into a tree which in turn will grow apples on them.  So I asked the children who tells the seed to start to grow - does it need an alarm clock that says wake up it is time to grow - no!  I then showed the life cycle of an apple from seed to fruit.  I explained that it is God who makes them grow and referred to three bible verses to help the children to understand -

Genesis 1:11Then God said, "Let the earth grow grass, plants that make grain, and fruit trees. The fruit trees will make fruit with seeds in it. And each plant will make its own kind of seed. Let these plants grow on the earth." And it happened. Genesis 8:22 As long as the earth continues, there will always be a time for planting and a time for harvest. There will always be cold and hot, summer and winter, day and night on earth."  Ecclesiastes 3:1-2 There is a right time for everything, and everything on earth will happen at the right time. There is a time to be born and a time to die. There is a time to plant and a time to pull up plants. I went on to say that at this time of year we start to think about all the good things that God gives to us it is harvest time.  Sarah continued to emphasis this point and said that God provides so much for us and is a great big God that holds us in his hands - cue song.  After the song Sarah closed with a prayer.

BX NT1 Low Furness School

This afternoon I was in Low Furness School with the year 5/6 class doing New Testament Bible Explorer.  Last year I was in doing Old Testament so the year 6 children knew what to expect, the year 5 children will do Old Testament next year.  You can't do New Testament without referring back to the Old Testament as it points to events in it.  To day we looked at some passages that foretold the birth of Jesus and explained that the people had been waiting a long time for a person, a special person to come along and save them, that person was Jesus.  During the time of the prophets they talked of a Messiah, a saviour and that is was Christ means.  It does seem very strange doing Christmas stories in September but that is where the New Testament begins.  We covered the story of Jesus' birth and the visit of the shepherds and the wise men, the family going into Egypt as Herod the Great was killing all the two year old boys.  I explained about the families move back up north to Nazareth and mentioned that Jesus would have no doubt helped Joseph out in his work.  I also did the story of Jesus at 12 in the temple and showed some pictures of the model temple in Jerusalem.  I then went back in time to talk about John and how he was announced and what he did as an adult in baptising people in the Jordan.  I explained also that Jesus came to him to be baptised too and that this was the start of his ministry.  I also covered the events afterwards as Jesus went off into the desert for 40 days and nights and that after the devil tried to tempt him, I explained Jesus' respond to each and told the children that everything Jesus said had come from the Old Testament.  I left the story telling there to be continued next week.  I had some time left over so I talked about the different types of Bible that you can get which interested some of the children.  I even took out the scrolls that I have from Israel and showed them to the children too.  I finished off by answering questions.

Broughton School

This morning I went over to Broughton School to take the assembly.  It was great to see all the staff and children again following the summer break.  To start with we sang God's Love is Bigger than a Burger and then I told one of Aesop's stories about parts of the body not working together. The hands, feet, eyes, mouth etc grew tired of feeding the stomach so they decided to stop.  They had thought the stomach to be lazy while they did all the hard work.  Then they suddenly started to realise that they couldn't do what they did before until finally the stomach spoke up telling them that they all need to work together and that they needed him just as much as he needed them.  They then and have ever since worked together.  I then talked to the children asking them if they came to school and there was no teachers then how would they learn and if the teaches had no one to teach what would they do?  I explained that like the parts of the body we all need each other.  I continued by displaying the verse from John 15:12 Jesus is speaking to the people and says Love one another as I have love you.  I then asked if the children liked jigsaw puzzles and loads of hands went up, I displayed a few pieces of a jigsaw and said that each piece is different in some way but each one is needed to make the picture work I reminded them of the verse and said that in school we should try to do as Jesus said.  I gave them a few ideas as to how they could show love to each other, helping to open a door, picking up things from the floor, looking out for the little ones in the school etc.  I concluded by saying when we do that we Shine from the inside out - cue for a song.  After the song I closed with a prayer.

Lindale School

This morning Sarah and I went down to Lindale School to take the assembly.  It was great to see all the staff and children again following the summer break.  To start with we sang God's Love is Bigger than a Burger and then Sarah told one of Aesop's stories about parts of the body not working together. The hands, feet, eyes, mouth etc grew tired of feeding the stomach so they decided to stop.  They had thought the stomach to be lazy while they did all the hard work.  Then they suddenly started to realise that they couldn't do what they did before until finally the stomach spoke up telling them that they all need to work together and that they needed him just as much as he needed them.  They then and have ever since worked together.  Sarah then talked to the children asking them if they came to school and there was no teachers then how would they learn and if the teaches had no one to teach what would they do?  She explained that like the parts of the body we all need each other.  I continued by displaying the verse from John 15:12 Jesus is speaking to the people and says Love one another as I have love you.  I then asked if the children liked jigsaw puzzles and loads of hands went up, I displayed a few pieces of a jigsaw and said that each piece is different in some way but each one is needed to make the picture work I reminded them of the verse and said that in school we should try to do as Jesus said.  I gave them a few ideas as to how they could show love to each other, helping to open a door, picking up things from the floor, looking out for the little ones in the school etc.  I concluded by saying when we do that we Shine from the inside out - cue for a song.  After the song Sarah closed with a prayer.

Croftlands Infants School

This morning Sarah and I went to do the assembly at Croftlands Infants School, it was our first visit of the new school term.  It was great to see all the children again and also to see the reception children a number of them Sarah knew from Little Nippers.  To start we sang God's love is bigger than a burger then we did our working together assembly which is a story tale about the parts of the body not getting on with each other the bottom line was that they all needed each other.  I linked this to the bible verse in John when Jesus says love one another as I have loved you.  I also displayed a picture of a jigsaw and reminded the children that the pieces are all different shapes and sizes and that they are all needed to make the finished picture.  I encouraged the children to show love by helping each other out, and helping the teachers too then I said when we do that we can Shine from the inside out - cue song.  After the song Sarah closed with a prayer.

Leven Valley School

Following on from the assembly at Our Lady's School I went a long to Leven Valley School to do the same assembly.  It was also great to see the children and particularly the new reception class.  After singing God's Love is Bigger than a Burger I told the story of the parts of the body and went on to talk about working together in the school and how we are all a bit like jigsaw pieces in that we are all different  and yet we are all needed to make up the whole picture.  I talked about the bible verse - Love one another as I have loved you from John and said that when we do that we Shine from the inside out - cue song.  After the song I said a short prayer

Our Lady's School

This morning Sarah and I went and did our first assembly of the new school year at Our Lady's in Dalton.  It was great to see all the children and staff again.  We started the assembly with God's Love is Bigger than a Burger then Sarah told the story about the parts of the body which we have used in all our assemblies so far.  I added my bit in at the end about ways we can work together and reminded them that we should Love one another as Jesus has loved us, and by doing that we can Shine from the inside out - cue song.  Sarah then closed the assembly with a prayer.

St Peters

Today we did our first assembly of the new school year at St Peters.  It was great to see all the children again following the summer holidays.  We started by singing God's Love is Bigger than a Burger then Sarah went onto tell the story of the parts of the body not working together as they should.  I followed this up with the verse of Jesus Love one another as I have loved you.  I also pointed out to the a jig saw and explained that in a jig saw no piece is any more important than any other, they are all needed to make the whole picture.  this led on to talking about how we can show love to one another and Shine from the inside out.  Cue for a song, after the song Sarah closed with a prayer.

Low Furness School

This morning Sarah and I did our first assembly of the new school year at Low Furness School.  We started with an old favourite Great Big God then Sarah went on to tell a story about the parts of the body - that sadly didn't seem to want to work together anymore.  They all thought that the stomach was lazy and that he didn't do any work.  The hands and feet were fed up of fetching and carrying food and the eyes sick of looking for food while the teeth and mouth tired of chewing while the stomach just accepted all the food.  It wasn't long before the parts of the body became very poorly and then the stomach spoke up saying that they all need each other to work together in order for them to function as a group.  I then linked this to school life and how in schools we all need to look out for each other and work together.  The bible tells us to love one another.  I used the idea of a jig saw puzzle in that all the pieces look different and do different things and to make the puzzle complete they all have a part to play.  Sarah went on t say that when we work together and show love then we Shine from the inside out - cue for a song.  After the song Sarah closed the assembly with a prayer.

Church Walk

This morning Sarah and I did our first assembly of the new school year.  We went to Church Walk School.  It was so good to see all the children again after the summer break and so good also to be back doing assemblies.  We wanted to inspire the children at the start of the year so after singing Great Big God Sarah told a story with pictures about the parts of the body.  The body parts like the hands and feet, eyes, nose and mouth got a bit fed up with getting food for the stomach - they though him lazy.  So they each decided to stop doing what they did but then the whole body became ill and couldn't function that is until the stomach explained that they all needed each other and that they all needed to work together.  I then explained that it is a bit like that in schools, we all need each other and we all need to work together and when we do that we can show God's love.  I read the verse from John that says Love one another as I have loved you Ch15 v12 and explained that the word love here is not about kisses and things but showing love by - opening a door say, or helping to clear away, or helping a younger child in school.  Then when we do that we Shine from the inside out - cue for a song.  After the song Sarah closed the assembly with a prayer.

A reason to Celebrate

Today was our Holiday Club Celebration Service following Polar Explorers last week.  We had a full church and lots of children came too.  We had a great time of praise and worship as we reflected back over the week.  We heard from the reflective time when the children voiced their own ideas about the characters they had learnt about during the week.  We had some of the children's prayers read out as well.  I summed up the week and the daily themes too as well as bringing in the theme for the day, we had Peter - never too many mistakes, Stephen - never too ordinary, Philip - never too near or far, Paul - never too bad, Timothy - never too young and today Lydia - never too unlikely.  Each of these people had either met Jesus, had an encounter with him or heard about him and they had decided to follow him.  In following him they said sorry for the wrongs they had done, put their faith and trust in him and decided to follow him.  God then poured out his Spirit on them which equipped them for his service.  We too can be like this none of us is perfect we all make mistakes, do bad things, are unlikely characters for God to use, we might be too young or old and just ordinary BUT God can use you just as you are so why not ask him right now!

Polar Explorers Holiday Club final day

To day was our final full day of Polar Explorers at Croftlands.  We have had a great week with the children as they have heard stories and learnt about 5 bible characters from the New Testament.  Each person left a positive mark on the people around them and it is this lesson that we have being keen to get over to the children during the week when the children have had a quiet reflective time with their group leader.  Each group came up with a word or two or a phrase about the person they have being learning about and we have displayed them on a board for other people to see.  We have encouraged the children and their families to come along to the celebration service on Sunday when we will be displaying photographs of the week.  Today finished with the customary picnic and then the water fight.

Day 2 of Polar Explorers

Day 2 of Holiday Club, the children came back today ready to go off on another expedition.  Today we looked at the story of Stephen and how he did an ordinary job - giving out food and waiting at tables, but as ordinary as that was God used him in a big way.  He was happy doing his job and doing God's work in the process to we said :- Never too Ordinary to be part of God's Big Expedition.  There is a lesson for us all in that.  We might be doing a really boring job of work put God might have put you there for a reason - to do his work.  Now there is food for thought! - notice the link to the story food?  Well it works for me it is late after all.