Low Furness School

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

Church Walk

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

Urswick Holiday Club Day 5

Day 5 at holiday club is always a little sad as it is the last day, however as soon as the children arrive and we get started the sadness goes away and is replaced by joy as we see the children having so much fun and enjoyment.  Today we find out the winning team as well as the team with the best pod which this year was a rocket.  The day as always ends with a picnic and water fight (which I declined to do this year - first time ever).  Before all that though we heard the final part of the story which is perhaps what Daniel is remembered most for - the lions den story.  So I we got transported back through time and space to Ancient Babylon we heard from Hegai who was feeding the kings lions about what happened when Daniel spent the night in their den.  We heard about the tricks some of Daniels enemies played on him and trick the king into making a new law.  Then the sadness of Daniel being found out and ending in the den was replaced by gladness as he came out unharmed the next morning.  Then we heard how the king made his own new law and that was that everyone in the whole of the kingdom was to respect the God of Daniel, as he is a mighty and powerful God that is able to save people like Daniel.

Urswick Holiday Club Day 4

Well what can I say - as I set off this morning from Swarthmoor the rain was pouring down and as I drove through the lanes that had already started to flood I thought -games.... inside today.  But God blessed us with fine weather just in time for the games to take place.  We have a great big God don't we and he looks after us all.  This has been the underlining theme throughout the week.  Daniel along with Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego all knew that they served a great big God who was and is able to do far more than we can ever imagine.  The story today saw King Nebuchadnezzar's son Belshazzar as king of Babylon and during a party decided to use the special items taken from God's temple in Jerusalem by his father and drink from them while paying honour to other gods.  Until that is a human hand wrote on the wall Mene Mene Tekel Parsin which no-one except Daniel could translate.  It was the notice to the king that his reign was going to end and that very night it did and King Darius of the Medes took control.  Tomorrow our final day we will hear the story that perhaps Daniel is most remembered for - the lions den.

Urswick Holiday Club Day3

We have had another great morning at Holiday Club.  The children have got into the swing of things and we get a sense that they are really having a great time.  The children are paying attention to the story so much so that later on in the morning's programme when Gary comes along they are able to answer loads of the questions that are asked.  The drama is going well too and is building to a big finish on the last day.  Time during the reflection part of the morning has been good as well, the children have been given an opportunity to ask as well as have questions answered.  Our hope is that the children will continue to come along each day and that they will talk about what they did this week in the future.

Urswick Holiday Club Day 2

Had another fab day at Urswick Holiday Club today.  The children had a great time too!  They heard the story of the dream from Daniel 2 which had kept King Nebuchadnezzar awake.  Daniel was able to not only tell the king what the dream was but also what it's meaning was.  He spent the night in pray along with Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego and at dawn God told him the meaning of the dream.  Tomorrow we will hear about the fiery furnace.  Also tomorrow is Universe Day when the children have been encouraged to come with a hat or face made up to show something in the universe - should be interesting.   

Urswick Holiday Club Day 1

This morning we lifted off into action at Low Furness School at the start of Urswick Holiday Club.  I say lifted off we did in a kind of way as we are doing Space Academy, so following the countdown we blasted off from Urswick into space (we came back in time for lunch).  The theme is space however the stories are from Daniel - I know thousands of years before space travel - what's the link I hear you cry.  Well as strange as it would be for us to go into outer space and see, hear and experience new things it was the same for Daniel and his friends as they were taken from Jerusalem into exile in Babylon.  The children listened to Hegai on the 3D HD Multimedia time travel device as he recalled the early days in Babylon of Daniel and company.