Monday 30 April 2012

Pennington School

This morning we took Gary to see the children at Pennington School - however only the junior aged children were in school as the rest were on a school trip.  So we introduced the school to Giants of Faith before Sarah used the MSBBBS to tell  the story of Jesus healing the blind man on the Sabbath Day.  And Gary was there too to lend a hand - or not as the case may be.  He came up and started to talk with the children as Sarah was about to start the story.  Eventually she managed to start telling the story only to be stopped again by Gary as he didn't know what the Sabbath was.  So Sarah asked the children and got a very good answer back that it was like our Sunday.  The story continued and as we have done in so many other schools since Easter when Sarah said Then he spat on the floor Gary responded with p-tooey and so the story continued.  By the end the children joined in each time with the very own p-tooey etc.  Sarah commented on what and amazing miracle it was that Jesus performed and how amazing it is anyway to have sight and to be able to see things like the beauty of God's world, our friends and family the sums on the whiteboard (groans came here) she encouraged the children to use their eyes to look around today as they went about their day.  We finished with Shine and said a prayer.

Friday 27 April 2012

Lesson 2 BX Croftlands Junior School Year 5

This afternoon I was at Croftlands Junior School doing the second Bible Explorer lesson.  Last week we had a delayed start so didn't get the full hour so I had a little catching up to do in finishing off lesson 1 and doing lesson 2.  I took about 10 minutes to complete the Joseph story before going on to the story of Moses in lesson 2.  The children really enjoyed the whole thing with hands going up everywhere whenever I lifted out a new prop or costume.  It is good to see them so enthusiastic about the lesson.  I told the children that next week I would test them on the hand signs before we start the lesson that is all the signs from creation through to Moses dies.  Looking forward to next week and so are the children.  I count if a complete privilege to be able to go into schools and talk to children about God and the Bible.  So Praise God for those little children and long may they desire to know more about it.

Thursday 26 April 2012

Leven Valley School

At lunch time today we went out to Leven Valley School to take the assembly and we took Gary along too.  After singing Creator God (first time for the school) we started the story using the MSBBBS which is short for Mark and Sarah's Big Book of Bible Stories.  Sarah introduced the theme and then invited Gary up to see the children.  Gary was pleased to be at the school again as he hadn't seen the children for such a long time.  He said it was so good to see them and he even pointed out one child and said I'm going to keep my eye on you.  Then he put his two fingers to his eyes and point to the child several times much to the amusement of all the children.  Sarah meanwhile was waiting to start the story and asked Gary several times if he had finished to which Gary said he had and why didn't she get on with the story.  Sarah tried but Gary pointed again to the child and the children laughed again.  Sarah was having none of it and told Gary to behave so she could tell the story.  When Sarah got to the bit about the Sabbath day Gary once again stopped her and asked what that was, so Sarah asked the children if they knew and one child told her it was the Jewish special day when they should do no work - good answer.  The story continue much as it has in our other assemblies with Gary shouting p-tooey etc at the right times.  Sarah concluded by saying what an great miracle it was that Jesus performed but when we think about our eye sight anyway that is a miracle in itself and so we should thank God every day for our eyes and the wonderful things we see through them.  We concluded with singing So Many Ways and Sarah ended with a prayer.

Our Lady's Dalton

Today we had a bit of a treat at Our Lady's as the Jack and Jill Nursery children were in the hall playing and they stayed to the assembly so why we were waiting for the school children to take their places we sang Great Big God for them and encouraged them to join in the actions.  Then when the children arrived we started the assembly by asking if they had had a good Easter and if they had eaten chocolate for breakfast on Easter Sunday morning.  We started with Shine then Sarah introduced the theme for the assembly - Jesus healing the blind man.  And Gary was there too, he said hello to everyone as well as the children from Jack and Jill.  Sarah was keen to get started but Gary kept on interrupting her by saying things like are you going to start the story Sarah, we will be here all day if you don't start now.  So every time Sarah went to start Gary said something else.  Eventually Sarah started the story and said there was once a man who had been born blind and each Sabbath day - Gary stopped her again to ask what the Sabbath was.  Sarah asked the children if they knew what it was and they offered answers.  The story continued until the part were Jesus spat on the floor to which Gary shouted p-tooey, at the bit were Jesus made the mud Gary shouted ooey gooey then he said Health and Safety, then shouted halalooey.  The children thought this was very funny and the next time the words came up they started to join in.  Sarah finished the story by talking to the children about our eye sight and how that is a miracle in itself and we should thank God everyday because of all the beautiful things we can see around us.  So can you imagine she told the children what a brilliant miracle it was for Jesus to do to the man that was born blind.  We finished the assembly with So Many Ways to Praise the Lord before Sarah said a prayer.

Tuesday 24 April 2012

Croftlands Infants School

This afternoon we went to Croftlands Infants and took Gary along with us.  It was great to see all the children again after the Easter Holidays.  After singing Sarah introduced the theme for the assembly - Jesus healing the blind man on the Sabbath.  She told the children that the story is in the bible but today she was going to read it from the Mark and Sarah Big Book of Bible Stories.  She called Gary up to say hello to the children which he did and then went on to ask if the children had had a good Easter holidays and Sarah asked if they had eaten chocolate for breakfast on Easter Sunday. Sarah started the assembly talk and then Gary noticed the MSBBBS and said Wow.  Sarah called order and started to read the story.  However when she got to the bit that said on the Sabbath day Gary stopped her to ask what the Sabbath day was as he didn't understand.  So Sarah ask the children if they knew what it was and a few gave answers that it was like Sunday.  Sarah continued the story but when ever she got to the part about Jesus spitting on the floor Gary shouted p-tooey and pretended to spit then when she said he made a little mud Gary shouted ooey gooey, Sarah said that he rubbed it on the mans eyes to which Gary proclaimed Health and Safety and when the man could she he shouted halalooey!  As the story went on this routine was repeated about 5 times and by the end the children started to join in.  Sarah finished the story while Gary went off to find Mark and tell him the exciting story of Jesus healing a blind man by spiting on the floor and making some mud.....Sarah encouraged the children to close their eyes before saying just how great a miracle it is that Jesus made this man see.  We finished the assembly with So Many Ways to Praise the Lord and before Sarah said a short prayer.

Croftlands Juniors

This morning we went to Croftlands Juniors and took Gary along with us.  It was the first time for a few months that we had the whole school in (some went swimming on Tuesdays).  Sarah introduced the assembly by asking if the children had had a good Easter holidays and if they had eaten chocolate for breakfast on Easter Sunday.  After singing Sarah introduced the theme for the assembly - Jesus healing the blind man on the Sabbath.  She told the children that the story is in the bible but today she was going to read it from the Mark and Sarah Big Book of Bible Stories.  She called Gary up to say hello to the children which he did and then went on to talk to some of the children about how much they had grown since the last time he saw them, he also said that he was going to keep watching them with his two eyes then he pointed to his eyes with his fingers and pointed to the children.  Sarah interrupted him and brought him into the assembly then he noticed the MSBBBS and said Wow.  Sarah called order and started to read the story.  When she got to the bit that said on the Sabbath day Gar stopped her to ask what the Sabbath day was as he didn't understand.  So Sarah ask the children if they knew what it was and a child said it is like our Sunday.  Sarah continued the story but when ever she got to the part about Jesus spitting on the floor Gary shouted p-tooey and pretended to spit then when she said he made a little mud Gary shouted ooey gooey, Sarah said that he rubbed it on the mans eyes to which Gary proclaimed Health and Safety and when the man could she he shouted halalooey!  As the story went on this routine was repeated about 5 times and by the end the children started to join in.  Sarah finished the story while Gary went off to find Mark and tell him the exciting story of Jesus healing a blind man by spiting on the floor and making some mud.....Sarah encouraged the children to close their eyes before saying just how great a miracle it is that Jesus made this man see.  She also said that in today's world we don't very often see or hear of miracles happening but she said the footballer player Fabrice Muamba had made a miraculous recovery after he collapsed on the pitch and was effectively dead.  We finished the assembly with Inright Outright and a short prayer.

Monday 23 April 2012

Penny Bridge School

This afternoon we went to Penny Bridge School. Gary and Sarah told the story of Jesus healing the blind man on the Sabbath, with Gary adding his own unique slant on it. The children as always were very responsive. Sarah went on to talk about what a miracle it is that we can all see today and that we should thank God for the sight to see His wonderful creation which is a miracle in itself. One girl had seen us in town on Saturday ask for a request when we came into her school next for her favourite song which was So Many Ways to Praise the Lord.

Ulverston Infants - Church Walk

This morning we took Gary along to Ulverston Infants - Church Walk after singing a song Sarah introduced the children to Mark and Sarah's Big Book of Bible Stories. In it was the story of Jesus healing the blind man on the Sabbath day. Sarah called Gary who said hello to all the children and then noticed the MSBBBS and asked Sarah what the story was going to be. Sarah started the story but whenever Sarah said certain words Gary did some funny actions which the children thought really funny. He then encouraged the children to copy them each time. So when Sarah said Then Jesus spat on the floor Gary replied (p-tooey); He made a little mud (ooey gooey); He rubbed it on my eyes (health and safety!); And now I can see (halalooey!) Sarah explained to the children that Jesus did lots of amazing miracles during his time on earth and this was one of them. She then got the children to close their eyes and asked them what they could see - nothing was the answer - so she said this another reason to thank God because with our eyes we can see many wonderful things. She encouraged the children to look around today at all the great things God has made for us to see.

Friday 20 April 2012

BX at Croftlands Juniors

This afternoon I was taking the Bible Explorer - lesson 1 with all of year 5. However their afternoon special assembly didn't finish until after 2:15 when I was supposed to start. Then with playtime and year 6 leaving etc it was almost 2:45 before I started. As the lesson is about an hour long normally I knew that I wasn't going to finish all of it. So I stopped the story at Joseph which I will hold over to next week. However the rest of the lesson went very well, with children putting up hands and wanting to be involved. The children were very keen with the hand signs even trying to guess what the next one might be as I was telling the story. Despite the late start I enjoyed myself and I can safely say so did the children. I was also very impressed that some of the year 6 children remembered doing BX last year and were showing me the hand signs before they went off to another lesson.

Wednesday 18 April 2012

St Peters

This morning we travelled over to St Peters in Ireleth to take the assembly. Gary went with us… We have started to put stories together into a book which we have called the MSBBBS or Mark and Sarah's Big Book of Bible Stories. I can see lots of jokes etc coming out of this idea. Sarah introduced the story theme to the children and explained what the Sabbath is in basic terms - it's like our Sunday for example. Then called Gary up although the children didn't make any sound at first they made up for it on the second attempt. Gary said good morning to everyone and Sarah started the story. At certain points in the story however Gary did his own thing which he then encouraged the children to do. So whenever Sarah said - Then Jesus spat on the floor Gary replied (p-tooey); He made a little mud (ooey gooey); He rubbed it on my eyes (health and safety!); And now I can see (halalooey!); Cause he’s the light of the world. The children happily joined in with this towards the end and it happens about 5 times in the story but just to make sure about it Gary asks can they do it once more. Sarah then finished off the talk while Gary went off to find Mark and tell him the Jesus spat on the floor and made some mud etc....The message Sarah gave focused on the fact that Jesus did heal the man and that was a miracle but also that we should thank God for all of our senses. I came back texting on my phone having missed Gary and I asked a few questions to Sarah and the children and asked what Gary was on about when he kept on saying p-tooey? I closed the assembly with a prayer and as always at St Peters the children say the Lords Prayer too.

Tuesday 17 April 2012

Crosthwaite School

Today we took Gary to Crosthwaite School for his first visit. Sarah needed to tell the children or should I say warn the children about Gary, his voice, his colour and his hair as well as the football team he supports. Anyway the children shouted him and he was warmly welcomed by all. Sarah started to tell the story from the MSBBBS or Mark and Sarah's Big Book of Bible Stories (which is a new idea for telling of bible stories) it was the story of Jesus healing the blind man but on the Sabbath. Gary added his own lines when ever Sarah said certain lines as follows Sarah said Then Jesus spat on the floor Gary (p-tooey) Sarah He made a little mud (ooey gooey) Sarah He rubbed it on my eyes (health and safety!) And now I can see (halalooey!) Cause he’s the light of the world. Each time Gary said P-Tooey the little reception children thought he was really spitting. It finished with the children prompted by Gary that is to repeat the lines again just so he (Gary) could do the actions again. Sarah went on to explain that in the Bible there are lots of stories like this one. She also explained what a great miracle it was because Jesus was able to heal the man who had never been able to see at all. She encouraged the children to look around the school and the countryside and thank God for what they could see. Because we had taken Gary and his house there was not any space for the video projector and computer so we sang some songs that we had sung before - Great Big God to start and as requested by a pupil Shine. I closed the assembly with a prayer.

Low Furness School

Today we took Gary along to school and also introduced the children to the MSBBBoS which is the Mark and Sarah Big Book of Bible Stories. In here we had put a story that we heard and saw acted out on the stage each morning at Spring Harvest as part of the big start. It is the story of Jesus healing a blind man on the Sabbath and then being challenged by it by the teachers of the law. However when Sarah says Then Jesus spat on the floor Gary says (p-tooey) and pretends to spit then Sarah says He made a little mud Gary replies (ooey gooey) then Sarah says He rubbed it on my eyes Gary shouts out and holds up his hand (health and safety!) Sarah continues And now I can see Gary shouts (halalooey!) Sarah finishes by saying Cause he’s the light of the world. This is repeated throughout the story and the children are encouraged to join in with it. Several points can be drawn from this in that Jesus did heal a man who had been born blind but also the people of Jesus' day were blind to who he was they just saw him healing on the Sabbath and nothing else. I completed the assembly by talking about how great the Bible is when we can read such great stories as this one. We sang So Many Ways at the start of the assembly and ended with Great Great Brill Brill a song that the children picked. I ended the assembly with a short prayer.