Crosthwaite School

I went over to Crosthwaite School on my own this afternoon due to the ice on the roads Sarah thought it best to stay at home.  As it happened I got delayed anyway by roadworks!!  So I welcomed everyone and wished them a happy New Year and asked them to shout out one thing they got for Christmas just as an ice breaker (ha ha).  Then we sang Great Big God before I went on to tell the Zaccheaus story as I have done it so many times this last week or so I was able to add in some extra bits as well which the children enjoyed.  Following the story I talked about how Zacchaeus had promised to pay back what he had stolen and I asked the children if they had made promises at the start of the year, some hands went up.  Then when I asked if they had kept them some hands went down.  I explained that it is not always easy to keep promises and sometimes to keep a promise involves us changing something.  Like in the story of Zacchaeus he had to change if he was going to keep his promise.  I explained that God makes us promises too and although we break promises He has never and will never break His.  I reminded the children for example of the Noah story.  Following on from this I said a prayer.