Burlington School

This morning I went over to Burlington School to do the assembly. I started by asking what this week is called - someone said Easter week which it is however I was looking for Holy Week which someone else said.  Next I asked what Sunday just gone was called - Palm Sunday came the answer.  I explained that on Palm Sunday we think about Jesus going into Jerusalem on a donkey and the crowds shouted praise's and waved palm branches and other things to welcome him.  I pointed out that there are many ways to praise God/Jesus which was a cue for our first song So Many Ways to Praise the Lord.  After the song and following on from the intro I told the children that I had a sad story to tell them, one that had violence in it, betrayal, lies and much more - and it all started out in a garden.  I read/dramatized the Way of the Cross story from Lost Sheep while displaying the pictures on the screen of the final days of Jesus' life up to the point he was placed in n empty tomb.  It finishes with this might seem to be the end of the story but in fact it is just the beginning.  I then explained why it was just the beginning in that on Sunday coming up we have Easter eggs.  I asked the children what they were expecting to get on Sunday and they gave me the answer, I also asked who was going to eat chocolate before breakfast - loads of hands went up.  Thinking about the egg which is hollow and empty I told the children that it reminds us about the empty tomb, then the shape slightly rounded is like the stone that had been rolled away and an egg itself is life new life.  I asked the children to think about that as they opened their Easter eggs on Sunday and why it is we celebrate Easter - Jesus' death on the cross and then rose from the dead on the Sunday.  We then sang Inright Outright as it talks about Jesus cared for me when he died on Calvary.  After the song I finished with a short prayer.