Experience Christmas

Sarah and I have had a great day today.  We have been involved with Experience Christmas that was run and organised by Liz Ridgeway from ECC Barrow.  We had 150+ Key Stage 1 children from two different schools in Barrow.  The event was held in St Marks Church and focused on the fact that the Angel Spoke about the first Christmas, the Shepherds Heard about it, the Donkey Felt something and the Camel Saw something special.  The introduction was by way of a quick warm up song - Great Big God followed by a second Christmas song with sign language.  Then a drama introduced the idea and four people acted out the parts of the angel, sheep, donkey and camel.  The children then split into four groups and went to different stations around the church to experience Christmas by listening to a story then doing a simple craft.  After about 15 minutes the children moved on and so visited 4 locations each time getting a story and doing a little craft.  The craft was in fact a heart and the people in the story formed a kind of jigsaw puzzle on the front - but with a gap.  At the end of the morning we gathered round the front of the church which is were the crib scene was and we sang the new song again then we explained the gap because on the back of the heart it said 'Jesus God's gift of Love at Christmas for ......'  the front gap formed a cross.  And we explained that Jesus was the greatest gift ever as He was given to us by God because God loves us so much and Jesus died for us.

Once we had explained the heart to the children we said a prayer and they all left and went back to school.

St Peters

Today I went over to St Peters to take the assembly.  I thought it would be good to talk about those people we have as our hero's.  So to start we sang Giants of Faith then I asked the children about who they thought of as hero's and some children gave examples from TV and film to bible characters.  I then introduce one of my hero's from the bible explaining that a hero is someone who puts others before themselves.  Ruth is a good example of that, I read from the Loin's Children Bible and displayed the pictures on the screen.  At the end I explained a little more about Ruth and encouraged the children to be like her.  Following on from that we sang Shine then a prayer and ended with the Lord's Prayer.

Croftlands Juniors

 Our visit to Croftlands Juniors today to take the assembly.  To start with we sang So Many Ways to Praise the Lord and then Sarah introduced the idea and theme of the assembly.  She talked about what we do when we get cold hands and asked the children how they would warm them up.  Meanwhile I am sat at the front wearing Grace's hat, scarf, mitten como warming my hands with it.  Sarah went on to talk about the fingers inside a glove and how they keep themselves warm but in a mitten they keep each other warm.  Introducing the bible verse which was "Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:"   (Philippians 2:4-5) Sarah explained why she was talking about mittens and gloves and how we should be together when ever we do things so that the love of Jesus works with us.  We finished with Shine followed by a prayer.

Leven Valley School

This blog is being posted a day late.

Today we were at Leven Valley School for the assembly.  We started with So Many Ways to Praise the Lord and went on to do the Gloves and Mittens assembly that we have done in nearly all the schools now.  Sarah explained first of all about how we might keep our hands warm with help from the children who gave some good suggestions.  I then showed my hand in the glove and then my other hand in the mitten.  The point was made that we were not teaching about why it is best to wear mittens instead of gloves but with a mitten all our fingers can help to keep each other warm - on the other hand there was a glove which has all the fingers apart and they can do their own thing.  The main point is that we should be together and not think only of ourselves like the bible verse says  "Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:"   (Philippians 2:4-5).
we concluded the assembly with a prayer and by singing Shine followed by Chicken Dance.

Low Furness School

The theme for the assembly today was Heroes and Heroines.  When you consider the stories in the Bible there are lots of different heroes and heroines - David would be a first choice for most people.  Today though we told the story of Ruth from the children's Bible.  Ruth was someone who put others before herself and that is the true meaning of being a hero - someone who considers others first.  I read the story and Sarah did a summary at the end.  To start though we sang Giants of Faith because Ruth is mentioned in the song.  To finish we sang Shine as the children requested it.  Sarah finished with a prayer followed by the Lord's Prayer.

Broughton School

Today we were over at Broughton School for the assembly.  We took the idea with us that we have used at so many different schools already this year Mittens and Gloves.  Before we started we sang So Many Ways to Praise the Lord which was a new one for the children.  Then Sarah began the assembly talking at first about having cold hands.  I in my usual way messed about a bit until we got to the Gloves and Mittens part which forms the main message of the assembly.  Sarah introduced the Bible verse from Philippians ch  2:4-5 "Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:"  Using the Gloves and Mittens as examples of how it is better to be together than to be apart - like the fingers in a pair of mittens can help keep each other warm while the fingers in a glove are all individuals.  God wants us to look out for the interests of others and not our own.  We finished with singing Shine before I said a prayer.

Messy Church

Had a fun filled afternoon down at the Methodist Church in Ulverston with their Messy Church - get ready for Christmas.  It was very much an Advent theme today.  Children made Christmas related crafts and the worship part had a talk about Christmas.  Sarah had a USB pen and gave it to me to plug into the computer but when I did it said memory full, so I tried to play around a bit but the memory was full!!  Sarah pointed out that sometimes at Christmas time we fill our lives with things that are part of Christmas but not part of the Christmas story.  In other words our lives become full of stuff - we need to get rid of some of the stuff and make space for Jesus at Christmas - like the USB pen was full of rubbish I needed to get rid of.  We sang a couple of songs before we started - Be Happy and So Many Ways to Praise the Lord.

Our Lady's Dalton

This morning Sarah and I went into Our Lady's School in Dalton.  We did the assembly that we have done to so many other schools this week about Mittens and Gloves and how it is better to be together with people like the fingers in a mitten than to be apart from people like the fingers in a glove.  The verse we use to explain this better was -   "Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:"   (Philippians 2:4-5).  We had sung So Many Ways to start off the assembly and we finished with Shine then I said a prayer.

Crosthwaite School

This afternoon Sarah and I went over to see the children at Crosthwaite School.  We had a wonderful drive through the lanes to the school seeing the yellow, orange and golden colours on the trees.  We did the assembly that we have done to so many other schools this week about Mittens and Gloves and how it is better to be together with people like the fingers in a mitten than to be apart from people like the fingers in a glove.  The verse we use to explain this better was -   "Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:"   (Philippians 2:4-5).  We had sung So Many Ways to start off the assembly and we finished with Shine then I said a prayer.

St Peters

This morning Sarah and I went over to St Peters.  We started with So Many Ways to Praise the Lord before Sarah started to talk about cold hands and what we do to keep them warm.  I put my coat back on and messed about a bit putting my hands into my pockets.  She went on to talk about gloves and how they do keep us warm but all are fingers are separate unlike mittens where the fingers are together.  The point being when we are together we can help each other like the fingers do (in keeping warm) so if we share things out and work as a team then we share the warmth of God's love.  Sarah gave the children a verse to think about -  "Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:"   (Philippians 2:4-5) Following this we sang Shine then I said a prayer followed by the Lord's Prayer.

Croftlands Infants School

This afternoon Sarah and I went into Croftlands Infant school for an assembly.  We started by singing So Many Ways to Praise the Lord before Sarah started to ask the children some questions.  As she was asking the children what they did to keep warm I put my coat back on and rubbed my hands together, blew on them, put them in my pockets etc.  Eventually the children said to put on some gloves or mittens.  So I got out a right glove and put it on and a mitten for my left hand and as Sarah talked to the children about how with a glove all the fingers are apart and in a mitten they are together I demonstrated this.  The point of the assembly is simple - when we do things together it is better than when we do things apart because when we are together we help each other out.  To finish the assembly we sang Shine and I said a prayer.

Ulverston Infants - Church Walk

Had a lovely time with the children and staff at Church Walk infants this morning.  Again we did our assembly using the object talk with gloves and mittens to demonstrate Phillippians 2 v 4-5  "And look out for one another's interests, not just for your own. The attitude you should have is the one that Christ Jesus had:"  Putting on gloves keeps your fingers warm individually - keeping ourselves to ourselves, not helping each other.  Putting on mittens keeps the fingers together helping each other to keep warm.  We then said that whether they use gloves or mittens, next time they put them on to remember our little talk about how the warmth of Gods love is shown when we respect, love and help each other.  We sang "So Many ways to praise the Lord" and finished with "Shine".

Penny Bridge School

Our assembly today was taken from a idea in an object lesson book.  After singing So Many Ways to Praise the Lord, Sarah started to talk to the children about having cold hands.  Which is particularly relevant as the days are getting colder.  She asked what the children did with their hands to warm them up, there was the put them in your pocket idea, rub them together, warm them over a fire and of course put on mittens or gloves.  Looking at a pair of gloves modelled by me she said that all the fingers are separate and not together however with a pair of mittens all the fingers are together and therefore help to keep each other warm.  She liken this to us and how we should seek to be together so that we might help each other out.  Following the talk we sang Shine before I said a prayer and reminded them about the idea the next time they put on their gloves or mittens.

Low Furness School

It was our first assembly of the new half-term today at Low Furness school.  The theme we had been given was 'getting on and falling out' so after we had sung So Many Ways to Praise the Lord Sarah started to talk from a new book that we bought while we were away the other week.  It was an object talk book and today the object was gloves - here it is.  Sarah talked about cold hands and how if your hands are cold then normally the rest of your body is too.  Now we can put our hands into our pockets but then we can't do anything with them like pick stuff up.  I demonstrated this to the children - laughs all round.  Some people put on gloves - so I did and here each finger is kept warm - by the material around it.  However a pair of mittens where all the fingers are together well each finger helps the others to keep warm.  Much like if we all help each other out and not act on our own thinking only of ME, ME, ME all the time. I concluded by saying at this time of the year when we will be putting on gloves etc try to remember about the mittens and how we should help each other out.  We finished with Shine.