BX2 NT St Peters

This afternoon I was once again at St Peters doing New Testament Bible Explorer.  I had a great time telling the children stories from the life of Jesus.  We looked at who he selected for his disciples as well as parables, miracles we even heard about Peter declaring about Jesus being the Christ.  We ended with Jesus being transfigured which then set him on a course for Jerusalem which we will hear about during next weeks lessons.  The children joined in all the actions even the ones that had been away last week picked it up.

BX3 OT Pennington School

This afternoon I have been at Pennington School with the year 5 class doing lesson 3 of Bible Explorer.  Last week a few children were off but today they were all in.  Doing the hand signs to start off from the beginning was therefore new to some children so I did them slowly, however they had been through them in class during the week.  Today's stories were from Joshua, Judges and Ruth and several children wanted to be involved with the stories as I was telling them.  We had some laughs as I recalled some of the stories particularly Gideon and Samson.  Next week we move on to the Kings and look at Israel's first king, the best king and the wisest king.

St Peters

This morning I was at St Peters for the assembly.  I decided to do the same assembly that I had done on St Mark.  I explained to the children that it is good to look at people like the saints and other famous Christian people and tell their story.  So after singing God's love is bigger than a burger, I read a short passage from Mark about a 17 year old boy running away following the arrest of Jesus - this boy is believed to be Mark - who also has been know as John Mark.  I asked the children why they thought he had run away and a few answers came back like he was afraid, scared, frightened of being arrested too.  I then asked if they thought he was brave - no hands went up.  I then explained what happen after Pentecost and the coming of the Holy Spirit and how the followers of Jesus went out and told everyone about Jesus and one person was Paul.  He travelled all over the Roman empire telling people the good news and on his travels a man went with him Mark or John Mark.  Paul faced all kinds of troubles and I read a piece from the letter to the church at Corinth which talked about his hardships and reminded the children that if Mark was travelling with him then he too would face the same things.  I then asked if they thought Mark was brave now - all hands went up.  To conclude the assembly I talked about how I would never have dreamt that I would sand in front of people telling them stories because at school I wouldn't get up to sing, answer questions, act or no anything like that but like Mark and with God's help I now can and they might be scared now about things but with God's help they will be able to do great things because God can do anything which was a cue to a song.  After the song I said a prayer followed by the Lord's Prayer.

Low Furness School

This morning I was at Low Furness School doing the assembly.  The theme was St Mark.  I started the assembly by singing God's love is bigger than a burger. Then I introduced the theme.  I read an account from Marks Gospel of an event that took place during the arrest of Jesus.  It involved a young man who ran away scared however he left his clothes behind!  which brought a laugh from the children.  I asked the children why they thought he ran away - they said he was frightened, scared of being arrested too.  I then asked if they thought this young man was brave - no! came back the answer.  I then explained that following the coming of the Holy Spirit many people went out telling others about Jesus and one person was a man called Paul.  He travelled far and wide spreading the message of Christianity and on his travels a not so young man went with him - Mark.  I then read an account from the letter Paul wrote to the church at Corinth when he detailed some of his sufferings explaining that if Mark was with him then he too might have been a great comfort to Paul and instead of being a scared person he was brave.  I encouraged the children to follow Mark's example saying that when I was at their age I would never of thought that I would be able to stand up in front of people and talk to them but God can do anything and through him we can do all kinds of things.  This was a cue for a song - God can do anything.  following the song I close with a prayer. 

BX2 OT Croftlands Juniors

This afternoon I have been at Croftlands Junior school with the year 5 children doing the second lesson of Bible Explorer.  Following a recap of the story and of the hand signs we continue our journey through the Old Testament as I told the story of Moses and the exodus from Egypt.  The story ended as the Hebrew people are waiting to take over the land that had been promised hundreds of years before to Abraham.  Next week we shall look at the story of Joshua, the judges and Ruth.

BX1 NT St Peters

This afternoon I have been over to St Peters to do Bible Explorer New Testament.  I started by recapping some of the hand signs from last year and explained what the Jewish people had been looking forward to a Messiah, a saviour the Christ.  This led to the tell of the Christmas story - I know it is April but we have to start the story of the New Testament at the beginning.  We cover the birth, the visitors to the stable, the wise men, his escape to Egypt and return (at some point) then his trip south to Jerusalem as a 12 year old, then his baptism by John and then the 40 days in the wilderness.  On the way I explained who John was and how he came to be born.  Next week we look at the start of his ministry.

BX1&2 OT Pennington School

On Wednesday afternoon I was in Pennington School doing a double lesson of Bible Explorer to the year 5 class.  We had a great time was we covered the main stories of the first 5 books of the Bible.  The children really got into it as they sat and listened, joined in with the hand signs and took part in the dressing up parts within the stories.  Next week we will be looking at Joshua and then the Judges ending with the lovely story of Ruth.

Croftlands Juniors

This morning following the assembly with the infants we did the same assembly to the juniors.  We sang Inright Outright to start and then I told the story this time and Sarah did the talk at the end.  To finish off the assembly we sang Shine and then Sarah closed in prayer.

Croftlands Infants School

This morning Sarah and I were at Croftlands Infants School for the assembly.  As it was our first visit since Easter Sarah asked the children of they had had a good Easter holidays and if they had and chocolate left.  She mentioned this as the theme of the assembly was linked to Easter it was on Forgiveness.  So start off we sang Inright Outright which has the line which says - Jesus cares for me when He died on Calvary.  Sarah then used the story of the two little boys that we have been using for our assemblies this month.  The basic story is two boys fall out as a result of toys being broken.  However they do decide to make it up and become good friends again.  The boys did say to each other that they couldn't forgive each other.  Sarah asked if the children had ever been in a situation like that, she reminded the children that Jesus on the cross had asked God to forgive them for hurting him.  I then read a bible verse from Ephesians 4:32 which says 'we should learn to forgive'.  I also talked about Peter and how he said 3 times that he didn't know Jesus and then after Jesus had rose from the grave Jesus asked Peter 3 times if he loved him - this was like Jesus cancelling out what Peter had done.  I reminded the children of two lines in the Lord's Prayer which says forgive us our sins as we forgive those that sin against us.  To round off the assembly Sarah asked the children if they knew what forgiveness meant and a couple of children gave really good answers.  We then sang Shine and Sarah closed with a prayer.

Flookburgh School

This afternoon I went over to Flookburgh School to do the assembly.  After the welcome and talked a little about the Easter break and asked who still had eggs left.  I did this as what I wanted to say linked back to Easter.  So after singing Inright Outright I told the children the story that we have been using since the start of this term about the two boys that fall out over toys and about how unhappy they both were because the didn't or rather couldn't forgive each other.  However the story does have a happy ending as the make friends again in the end.  Having asked the children if that had ever happen to them I then talked about forgiveness and how Jesus even on the cross was able to ask God to forgive the people who had been hurting him.  He also forgave Peter who had said three times that he didn't know Jesus.  I reminded the children of the words of the Lord's Prayer that say forgive us our sins and we forgive those that sin against us.  I finished by saying that if we learn to forgive each other that we can Shine from the inside out which was a cue for a song. After the song I closed the assembly with a prayer.

Cartmel Primary School

After lunch today I went down to Cartmel Primary School for the assembly.  As it is a newer school to us I was keen to teach the children new songs so to start off we sang Inright Outright.  I then told the story about the two boys falling out over broken toys which is really all about forgiveness, since Easter this has been the focus of our assemblies.  I then asked the children if they had ever fallen out with a friend over something really silly and a number of hands went up.  I reminded the children that it is better to forgive so that friendship can remain intact and talked about Jesus on the cross asking for God to forgive the people who were hurting him.  I also reminded the children of the words in the Lord's Prayer that talks about forgiving others as we are forgiven.  Then we sang Shine and I end the assembly with a prayer.

Church Walk Primary School

This morning I went along to Church Walk Primary School for the first assembly of this half term.  After saying hello and asking about Easter and chocolate eggs we sang the first song Inright Outright which linked a little bit to what I wanted to talk about today.  I then told the story about the two boys playing with each others toys in the garden and the plane of one boy gets damaged so he then kicks his friends football into the road and under a lorry.  A big fall out happens - why because they can't forgive each other.  However all ends well after a few very sad and lonely days both boys make it up and forgive each other and become best friends again.  I asked the children if they had ever had something like that happen to them and before I could finish my sentence hands started to go up.  I explained that it is better to forgive each other and make a reference to Ephesians 4:32 - we must learn to forgive.  I referred back to Easter and how Jesus even on the cross asked God to forgive them for they don't know what they are doing.  I displayed the Lord's Prayer and pointed out the lines that talk about forgiving each other as we have been forgiven.  Then we sang Shine and I closed the assembly with a prayer followed by the Lord's Prayer.

BX 1 OT Croftlands Juniors

This afternoon I have been at Croftlands Juniors doing Bible Explorer to year 5.  As this was the first lesson I explain how the lessons would work with the hand signs and told them that I would be encouraging them to get involved with the stories.  We did all the stories and hand signs up to when Joseph goes into Egypt.  At the end a few of the children were talking to me about the lesson and about how they know some of the stories in the bible.  Looking forward to next week.

Ignite

Tonight was our first Ignite meeting after Easter.  So after the food which consisted of 8 pizza's 2kg chips and ice cream for 11 we asked the children about their Easter break.  Some had been on Christian camps and holidays and had great experiences while others had just been out for days while others rested watched telly etc.  We started the evening off with a very messy,silly, daft game which involved a Jaffa Cake biscuit - the children had to eat all the biscuit and chocolate off the biscuit leaving only the centre Jaffa bit and the first one to stick a clean Jaffa on the forehead won - fun was had by all and wet wipes then filled the room!  I then gave out copies of Psalm 23 but each copy was from a different version of the Bible NIV, CEV, BBE, MSG, AMP, NLT, GNB, ERV I then read a line at a time of the Psalm from the NRSV then each version was read out after me line by line.  We then gave out pens and a paper grid with 8 lines on it and explained that we were now going to write our own Psalm on the sheet line by line but with a twist after every line the top of the paper was folded over and handed to the person on the left and they wrote the next line and so on and so on until all 8 lines had been filled in.  On the last hand over the person would read the 'new Psalm'.  The results were fabulous and very moving, considering that they are children aged from 10 to 13 what they wrote down was awesome.  I intend to scan each Psalm and produce a little book for them all and I will try to put it on our website.  After this we looked again at Psalm 23 and went through it line by line and asked them what they thought of each line.  To end our time we asked who had things to pray for and spent 10 mins or so praying before parents came to take them home.

Leven Valley

This morning Sarah and I went to do the assembly at Leven Valley.  After Sarah had said good morning and asked if everyone had had a good Easter, she also asked if the children had any chocolate left! She explained that we would continue with the idea of Easter so to start off we sang Inright Outright.  Sarah then told a short story about two little boys that play together and shared their toys that is until a toy was damaged then the boy who's toy was broken did the same back and.... nasty words came next and then a big fall out.  The boys didn't speak or see each other for days and both felt bad - because they had both had toys damaged and they had both said nasty things to each other and they missed each other too.  One boy decided to go and try to make it up and as he was going to the door who was standing there - his old friend.  They forgave each other and became best friends again.  Sarah expanded on the story by asking if something like that had ever happen to the children - hands went up.  She explained that it isn't good if we not forgive people that hurt us and reminded the children what Jesus said as he was on the cross - Father for give them for they don't know what they are doing.  I then displayed a phrase which said...  'Forgiving helps friends to be friendly again.  Forgiving others makes us happier'  this linked with Ephesians 4:32 which says We should learn to forgive.  I then reminded the children about Peter who said three times that he didn't know Jesus after he had been arrested - then after his death, when Jesus came to be with the disciples Jesus asked Peter three times if he loved him and each time Peter said he did - Jesus was forgiving him.  I displayed the Lord's Prayer and pointed out the lines that talk about forgiveness.  Sarah then said when we do these things we can Shine from the inside out - cue for a song.  To close Sarah said a prayer and led the children in the Lord's Prayer.

Our Lady's Dalton

This morning Sarah and I went to do the assembly at Our Lady's School in Dalton.  We decided to continue the theme of Easter for a bit longer, so after Sarah had said good morning and asked if everyone had had a good Easter, she also asked if the children had any chocolate left! She explained that we would continue with the idea of Easter so to start off we sang Inright Outright.  Sarah then told a short story about two little boys that play together and shared their toys that is until a toy was damaged then the boy who's toy was broken did the same back and.... nasty words came next and then a big fall out.  The boys didn't speak or see each other for days and both felt bad - because they had both had toys damaged and they had both said nasty things to each other and they missed each other too.  One boy decided to go and try to make it up and as he was going to the door who was standing there - his old friend.  They forgave each other and became best friends again.  Sarah expanded on the story by asking if something like that had ever happen to the children - hands went up.  She explained that it isn't good if we not forgive people that hurt us and reminded the children what Jesus said as he was on the cross - Father for give them for they don't know what they are doing.  I then displayed a phrase which said...  'Forgiving helps friends to be friendly again.  Forgiving others makes us happier'  this linked with Ephesians 4:32 which says We should learn to forgive.  I then reminded the children about Peter who said three times that he didn't know Jesus after he had been arrested - then after his death, when Jesus came to be with the disciples Jesus asked Peter three times if he loved him and each time Peter said he did - Jesus was forgiving him.  I displayed the Lord's Prayer and pointed out the lines that talk about forgiveness.  Sarah then said when we do these things we can Shine from the inside out - cue for a song.  To close Sarah said a prayer and led the children in the Lord's Prayer.

Broughton School

This morning I went over to Broughton School for the assembly.  After saying hello and good morning I asked the children about their Easter Holidays and if they had had a good time.  I was going to keep Easter going just a little longer as I was going to talk about Forgiveness.  I read a story about two boys who were best friends but had a falling out as a result of toys being broken.  They both said nasty things but then felt bad afterwards.  In the end one of the boys dads said that he should perhaps go and make up and as he started to leave the house the other boy was there about to do the same.  All ended well.  I displayed the following words 'Forgiving helps friends to be friendly again.  Forgiving others makes us happier'  this linked with Ephesians 4:32 which says We should learn to forgive.  I then linked this to the Lord's Prayer and pointed out the lines that say se should forgive others as they forgive us.  I also talked about Peter and him saying three times that he didn't know Jesus and then after Jesus rose Jesus asking Peter three times if he loved him.  This was Jesus' way of saying to Peter I forgive you.  To close we sang Shine then I said a prayer followed by the Lord's Prayer.

St Peters

This morning Sarah and I went over to St Peters school for the assembly.  The theme for this half term is Creativity, so as the children came into the assembly hall Sarah gave them all a pipe cleaner and asked them to make something.  After saying hello, good morning etc Sarah then gave the children 2 minutes to make something from the pipe cleaner.  Then starting with the back row of children they displayed what they had made. Sarah then said that no-one told them what to make they just did it, that is the creativity that god has placed in us.  I then started to recall the story of Nehemiah rebuilding the walls and gates of Jerusalem saying that he was a maker and mender not a breaker and bender, during the story I paused and Sarah asked questions.  There was also some actions to do like hammering, mixing mortar, sawing etc.  The point was that God wants us to be a maker and mender and not a breaker and bender, we feel great whenever we mix something or mend and repair things.  We should also feel the same when we help to mend broken friendships and broken hearts too.  To continue the theme of creation and creativity we then sang Creator God.  Sarah end the assembly with a prayer followed by the Lord's Prayer.

Crosthwaite School

This afternoon Sarah and I went to do the assembly at Crosthwaite School.  As it was the first one after Easter we decided to give the Easter theme going a little longer so did an assembly based on forgiveness.  To start the assembly off one of the children signs and says a prayer from the front which is great to see.  We then sang Inright Outright, Sarah then told a made up story about two boys who played with each others toys but the boys fell out when one toy was broken by the other boy so in return the other boy broke his toy.  This resulted in a big falling out.  After a few days the boys were feeling very upset and lonely.  Now the toys had been fixed or replaced however they needed to make up.  It was decided that one of the boys would go to say sorry and as he was doing so the other boy had decided the same and arrived at his house - all was now well they had forgiven each other.  Sarah asked if we had ever been in a similar situation were we had been hurt or we had hurt someone else.   I then displayed a phrase which said 'Forgiving helps friends to be friendly again.  Forgiving others makes us happier'  this linked with Ephesians 4:32 which says We should learn to forgive.  I reminded the children about Peter on the day Jesus was arrested and how he denied Jesus three times even though Jesus said he would do it and Peter said he would not - Peter did.  Then after Jesus had died, was buried and rose again he visited Peter and the other disciples by the side of Lake Galilee and Jesus asked Peter three times if he love him - this in a way cancelled out Peters actions of denying Jesus.  After this I displayed the Lords Prayer and Sarah pointed out the part that says forgive us as we forgive others, this was the prayer that Jesus taught his disciples and us and when ever we say it we should remember that Jesus died for us. To close we sang Shine then Sarah lead them in saying the Lords Prayer followed by a prayer for the school.

Low Furness School

This morning Sarah and I went to Low Furness School to take the assembly our theme was Hope as that is the Christian Value the school is focusing on this half term.  As the children came into the assembly we played May the God of Hope.  To start the assembly off we sang Inright Outright.  Sarah started the assembly by talking about waiting for a summer holiday and hoping that the summer would come soon. Then I told the story of David and how he wrote Psalms and in particular Psalm 130:5-6 when he talked about the warriors on the walls of Jerusalem waiting for the sun to come up.  Then I referred back to Easter and the promise that Jesus left us with that one day he would return and as Christians that gives us Hope.  We also have Hope because Jesus said that if we believe in him then we will live out eternity with him in Heaven.  We then sang May the God of Hope.  Sarah closed with a prayer.

Pennington School

This afternoon Sarah and I went to do the assembly at Pennington School.  As it was the first one after Easter we decided to give the Easter theme going a little longer so did an assembly based on forgiveness.  To start the assembly off we sang Inright Outright then Sarah told a story about two boys who played with each others toys but the boys fell out when one toy was broken by the other boy so in return the other boy broke his toy.  This resulted in a big falling out.  After a few days the boys were feeling very upset and lonely.  Now the toys had been fixed or replaced however they needed to make up.  It was decided that one of the boys would go to say sorry and as he was doing so the other boy had decided the same and arrived at his house - all was now well they had forgiven each other.  Sarah asked if we had ever been in a similar situation were we had been hurt or we had hurt someone else.  Sarah linked this with Jesus on the cross and how he said 'Father forgive them they don't know what they are doing..'  I then displayed a phrase which said 'Forgiving helps friends to be friendly again.  Forgiving others makes us happier'  this linked with Ephesians 4:32 which says We should learn to forgive.  After this I displayed the Lords Prayer and pointed out the part that says forgive us as we forgive others.  To close we sang Shine then Sarah lead them in saying the Lords Prayer followed by a prayer for the school.

Penny Bridge School

This morning Sarah and I went down to do the assembly at Penny Bridge School.  As it was the first one after Easter we decided to give the Easter theme going a little longer so did an assembly based on forgiveness.  Sarah told a story about two boys who played with each others toys but the boys fell out when one toy was broken by the other boy so in return the other boy broke his toy.  This resulted in a big falling out.  After a few days the boys were feeling very upset and lonely.  Now the toys had been fixed or replaced however they needed to make up.  It was decided that one of the boys would go to say sorry and as he was doing so the other boy had decided the same and arrived at his house - all was now well they had forgiven each other.  Sarah asked if we had ever been in a similar situation were we had been hurt or we had hurt someone else.  Sarah linked this with Jesus on the cross and how he said 'Father forgive them they don't know what they are doing..'  I then displayed a phrase which said 'Forgiving helps friends to be friendly again.  Forgiving others makes us happier'  this linked with Ephesians 4:32 which says We should learn to forgive.  After this I displayed the Lords Prayer and pointed out the part that says forgive us as we forgive others.  To close we sang Shine then Sarah lead them in saying the Lords Prayer followed by a prayer for the school.