Friday 23 May 2014

OT BX5 Croftlands Juniors

Had a great time this afternoon with the year 5 classes from Croftlands Juniors.  It was our last lesson of Bible Explorer Old Testament.  We had a couple of hand signs to catch up on from last week which I did first then started on today's stories and hand signs.  Lots of children wanted to help out in the telling of the stories which was great to see their enthusiasm - we needed kings for Assyria, Babylonia and Persia as well as a queen Esther and Mordecai, I played the part of the nasty Haman as I don't want to put that role onto a child.  The children joined in when required to boo or bow down or cheer as the story unfolded.  I also explained about the gap between the testaments of 400 years when history of the people carried on but wasn't recorded in the bible for some reason.  We ended with the hand signs for 400 years silence - Christ.  The last thing we did was a complete run through from creation before I handed out the certificates.

Thursday 22 May 2014

Ignite - Youth Alpha

Tonight's Youth Alpha theme was - What is Faith?
We watched the video and it explored what faith is and explained that there are some people who because they go to church say they are a Christian, while others say well I live in a Christian country so I must be a Christian.  The video said that if you hang out in McDonalds does it make you a Big Mac?
We saw a short animation of Blondin who back in his day would tight rope walk across Niagara Falls but not just walk he did all kinds of stunts on the way.  One day he wheeled a wheel barrow over then asked a Royal spectator if he believed that he could do it again with a person in it, the Royal said yes but then refused to get in the wheel barrow to prove it.  In fact no one from the crowd would until a little old lady made her way from the back climbed in the wheel barrow and Blondin walked her over the falls.  The old lady was Blondins mother she trusted her son and put all her faith in him - that is faith.
At the end of the video there was a prayer of commitment which the presenters said and encouraged others to say as well.  I had prepared three similar looking glasses with a brownish coloured liquid in, I asked the group if they thought they knew what it was - Coke a Cola.  However one was the real thing, one was Cola and the other Dandelion and Burdock.  Three different people tried the three drinks and then tried to decide which was which.  The point was that sometimes people look at Christianity, God, Jesus, the church etc and form a judgement about it and like the three drinks don't want to taste and see.  It is only by tasting do we see which of the three drinks is the real Coke a Cola and it is like that with God we need to taste him and see that he is good.  After this little experiment I displayed the picture 'Light of the World' by Holman Hunt.  As we looked at it I pointed out that the figure is Jesus and he is standing on the outside of an over ground door, round the door are weeds.  When Holman painted the picture people complained saying that he had missed out the door handle Holman replied there is a handle but it is on the inside.  The picture is like us Jesus is there knocking at our door and only we can open it up to him.  After this I looked at the prayer again that had been said by the presenters and encouraged everyone to close their eyes as I slowly read it again and said that if anyone prayed it and truly meant it and it was for the first time that they should raise a hand so we could see.  Sarah and I kept our eyes open as we did this.  Two hands went up, one person it was for the first time and the other as a recommitment.  After we had finished we gave the person who had said the prayer for the first time some information and promised to buy them a Bible to read we also rang home and told them what they had done.  Please pray for these children and for the step they have made God knows who they are.  As it is half term next week we are taking a week off.

OT BX5 St Peters

This afternoon I was once again at St Peters but sadly it was the last Bible Explorer lesson for this year.  We successfully went through the hand signs so far as well as explaining that although at the start of the lesson we were only part way through the book of 2 Kings which is 11 1/2 books into the Old Testament we would finish on time.  I explained what a prophet was and about what they did, I also explained that prophets appeared at different times during the Old Testament and spoke to different groups of people.  I moved through quickly to the Esther story as that is my all time favourite story in the Bible and I had a number of children helping me tell the story.  As we then completed the last few hand signs and I announced that the end had come there was a moan from the class as they wanted more.  The class teacher then said that after half term she will be running a BAM club so the children could then hear and learn more stories.

Leven Valley School

This morning I went alone to Leven Valley School as Sarah was involved at Low Furness School doing something for Ascension Day (which is next week during half term).  After singing Be Happy I once again told the Dr Seuss story of Yertle the Turtle.  I then retold the Tax Collector and Pharisee story.  The theme being about Humility.  I once again talked about Jesus washing the disciples feet and about how we should follow his example - not foot washing but being a servant to others.  I then moved a chair that had been left out and explained that by doing it I was being a servant now if I had left it at that then I would have been humble as well but I then started to brag about it to a teacher which was boastful and not being humble.  I then said that when we do serve others and do things humbly we can Shine from the inside out, which was a cue for a song - Shine.  At the end of the song a said a prayer to close.

Wednesday 21 May 2014

Crosthwaite School

This afternoon I spent a joyful half hour or so driving up over Gummers How to Crosthwaite school to be welcomed by an even sunny reception from the children.  Once they had all settle down in the hall we sang Be Happy together.  The theme for the assembly was once again Humility and I once again told the Dr Seuss story of Yertle the Turtle.  Then as I explained what a parable was I went on to tell the story of the Tax Collector and the Pharisee, and as I have done in the past I really played the Pharisee part BIG.  When I asked the Jesus who might we then see in heaven the reply was the Tax Collector and when I asked why the reply came back because he was the one that said sorry.  I then explained that he was humble before God and to fully explain this I showed the picture of Jesus washing the feet of his followers.  The children might have left feeling a bit puzzled had I not explained why feet washing happened in Jesus day.  I wanted to emphasise the idea of being humble and not brag or boast about things we do and so as I was talking I spotted a chair left out from lunchtime so I picked it up then went to the teacher and bragged to her about how good I was for moving the chair - this was of course the wrong thing to do - yes it was good to move the chair and put it away without being asked that was being a servant but to then brag about it was wrong.  I think the children got the point.  To finish we sang Shine as I encouraged the children to Shine from the inside out.  Then to close I said a short prayer.

St Peters

This morning I went along to St Peters.  Sarah should have been with me but her wheelchair is broken and is waiting repair.  Part of the school were out on a school trip so it was a small gathering of children.  I started with Be Happy and then told the Yertle the Turtle story as we have done in all the schools this month.  This led to the parable about the Tax Collector and the Pharisee.  I play the part of the Pharisee up and use grand words and a big voice to get the point over, then in a small voice play the Tax Collector with head bowed low to the ground.  Then as Jesus asked the crowd I ask the children which one of the two might they see in heaven - they reply the Tax Collector because he was the one that said sorry.  I explain that this is humility and that Jesus wants us to be humble.  I then showed a picture of Jesus washing the feet of his disciples before he died - I also explain why people needed their feet washing.  Jesus came to serve us and he showed humility as he did it.  He didn't do something and then brag about what he had done.  I encouraged the children to be like that to humbly do something just because it needed doing and not because they could then shout about it.  When we do this we can Shine from the inside out and that was our next song.  Following the song I said a prayer.

Tuesday 20 May 2014

Croftlands Infants

This afternoon Sarah and I have been at Croftlands Infants school.  We decided to do the assembly on humility like we have done in several other schools this month except we took Scruff the Dog with us to help with the story.  So to start we sang Be Happy and then I got Scruff out who had been in a dog race and come first.  He was so pleased with himself and made it known to everyone just how good he was at running - but he didn't get the biggest round of applause because the little dog that came in last got it instead.  Scruff couldn't understand while as he said lots of times he was the best.  This led me to telling him and the children the parable of the Tax Collector and the Pharisee.  I played up the part of the Pharisee in a grand way and played down the Tax Collector, I then asked the children which one they thought we might find in heaven and the answer came back the Tax Collector, I asked why and it was because he said sorry.  I reminded the children about Jesus washing the disciples feet the night before he died and the fact that he was God's Son.  I then explained that we should be like that - which is humble not bigging ourselves up like Scruff tried to do or like the Pharisee did.  We should be like Jesus servant hearted and willing to do things for other people.  Following this Sarah gave the children a choice of singing Great Big God (their favourite) or Shine - the children picked Great Big God.  I then closed with a prayer.

Low Furness School

This morning Sarah and I were at Low Furness School for the assembly.  The theme was curiosity, the school are looking at Christian values at the moment so themes for assemblies are reflecting this.  So after singing Creator God Sarah introduced the theme while I got some props and a power point ready.  I had put two balloons on a stick and held it in the middle.  One balloon said Faith the other Science.  The idea was that faith and science should balance each other.  But when one of the balloons is popped that balance changes.  I burst the faith balloon so naturally the balance was out.  I talked about how science can show us the How of things like how spiders web's are made, or what a snowflake looks like and I asked the question - How you ever looked at the night sky and been curious as to how many stars there are?  The thing is we do need a balance and as much as science can tell us the how of things Faith tells us the Why.  Why we are here, Why the world is here, etc.  So to restore the balance I also burst the science balloon.  Sarah add that to go with curiosity we need wisdom as it is good to be curious but we need to have wisdom as well.  Sarah then said a prayer to conclude that part of the assembly then we sang Shine.

Monday 19 May 2014

Broughton

This afternoon Sarah and I went over to Broughton School for the assembly.  We did the assembly about humility that we have been doing just recently.  So to start we sang Be Happy Sarah told the story from Dr Seuss while I told the parable of the tax collector and the Pharisee.  To close we sang Shine before Sarah said a prayer.

Pennington School

We left Church Walk and went to Pennington School to do an assembly on the same theme - Humility.  Again we sang Be Happy followed by Sarah telling the Dr Seuss story.  Following that I once again recalled the parable that Jesus told, about the tax collector and the Pharisee.  Every time I retell the story something extra gets added to it.  Again we emphasised the point which was to be humble and a servant like Jesus was in washing the disciples feet.  To conclude Sarah said a few words about it before we sang Shine.

Church Walk School

This morning for the first of our  three assemblies today we were at Church Walk.  We started by singing Be Happy as it was such a lovely day it needed to be sung.  Sarah then opened with a Dr Seuss story about Yertle the Turtle.  He was the king but wanted to be better than everyone else so he got other turtles to stand on top of each other as he made for himself a tall throne to sit on.  In the end he ended up in the mud.  This linked with a story from the bible that Jesus told about the tax collector and the Pharisee.  I told this story to the children and afterwards asked who they thought might be in heaven - the tax collector because he had said sorry to God.  The key theme here was humility and so I displayed a picture of Jesus washing the feet of his followers the night before he died and explained that he came to serve and we too should serve as he did.  Sarah concluded with a prayer before we sang Shine.

Friday 16 May 2014

OT BX 4 Croftlands Juniors

Had an action packed afternoon with the children from year 5 from Croftlands Juniors as we did Bible Explorer.  Today we were looking at the stories concerning the first three kings of Israel, Saul, David and Solomon.  As well we looked at the life of Samuel the last judge of Israel.  As we went through nearly 120 years of history pointing out some of the big events in the kings lives we summarised them with 6 simple hand signs.  Next week we focus on the divided kingdom and the exiles as well as the return and my all time favourite story Esther.

Thursday 15 May 2014

Ignite

Why did Jesus Die?
This was the BIG question that was asked tonight at Youth Alpha.  Fourteen young people gathered in our living room to explore this big question, as we watched the Youth Alpha film series and look at other the reasons Why Jesus died.  The group come up with such amazing questions as they are seeking the answers to some of life's greatest mysteries, some questions we will never know the answers to this side of heaven.  I feel that I am being taxed more with these youngsters than I was when we did the adult Alpha course last year.  Please pray for all the children, you may not know who they are but God knows them, pray for us too as we guide these precious children in our care down the road as they start the greatest journey they will ever take.  Next week we look at - How can we have faith?

OT BX4 St Peters

This afternoon I have been at St Peters doing lesson 4 of Bible Explorer.  The stories today were from Samuel to the divided kingdom, so we covered the first 3 kings, Saul, David and Solomon.  Some of the children asked how if we have only done 8 books we were going to finish in time.  I explained and filled in some of the gaps about the books we are not covering like Psalms, Proverbs, Song of Solomon and the prophets but said more about that next week.  The children really do get into the hand signs as we recap from each week.  We finish next week with one of my favourite stories Esther.

Monday 12 May 2014

Penny Bridge School

This afternoon we went over to Penny Bridge School.  The year 6 girls were in dance mode as they had been putting together a dance to a sing which they wanted to perform to us after the assembly.  We started with Be Happy and then Sarah went on to tell part of a Dr Seuss story called Yertle the Turtle.  He fancied being top dog or turtle and so ordered people around until he had a throne of turtles upon which he could start, except it wasn't high enough so he ordered more turtles to make the throne higher.  However the bottom turtle burped which shook the stack of turtles and Yertle landed in the mud.  Instead of biging himself up he should have been humble.  This linked to the story Jesus told about the tax collector and the Pharisee.  The Pharisee bragged before God of how great he was and how thankful he was that he wasn't a tax collector, meanwhile the tax collector couldn't even lift his eyes to the Lord as he asked for forgiveness for what he had done wrong.  The tax collector was the one who showed humility, and like Jesus when he got down to wash the disciples feet we should be prepared to be the servant of people and be humble as we seek to serve others.  I then displayed the verse that says the first shall be last and the last shall be first and explained what that means.  Sarah then concluded with a prayer.  The year 6 girls then did their dance.

Friday 9 May 2014

OT BX3 Croftlands

This afternoon I have once again been at Croftlands Juniors with the year 5 groups doing the third lesson of Bible Explorer.  As we slightly ran out of time last week due to the classes coming in slightly later I had a job to do today to catch up and finish today's lesson at the right place.  So I did the last few hands signs from lesson 2 and moved right into the ones for today.  We heard about what happened after Moses had died and Joshua took over.  We had the walls of Jericho story and moved on to explain how the land was divided up by the people after they had secured it all.  Next came the story of the judges and in particular Deborah, Gideon and Samson.  We finished with the story of Ruth ready for the David story next week.

Thursday 8 May 2014

OT BX3 St Peters

Had a delightful afternoon over at St Peters today.  I was doing the third Bible Explorer lesson which covers the stories of Joshua and then into the Judges.  We then focus in on just 3 of the judges Deborah, Gideon and Samson.  Then we finish on the delightful story of Ruth.  The children were a little surprised in that we have done 3 out of 5 weeks and only really looked at 8 books out of the 39 that are in the Old Testament.  New week we shall see a few more books ticked off the list and an explanation about some of the other books.  So next week we look at the last judge, the first king and that followed after that.

Tuesday 6 May 2014

Low Furness School

This morning Sarah and I went to Low Furness School.  The theme was humility so after singing Be Happy Sarah told a short Dr Seuss story about Yertle the Turtle.  The story was about a turtle that wanted to big himself up and be the best and in the end ended up falling down in the mud.  This linked to the story Jesus told of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector so I told this part of the story and linked it into some of the actions that Jesus did like washing the disciples feet and the words he spoke the first shall be last and the last shall be first.  Sarah concluded the assembly talk with a short prayer about being humble then we sang Great Big God.

Saturday 3 May 2014

Millom Fun Day

Today we have been over at Millom in the Network Centre for the joint churches fun day.  We had a great time.  I did 3 different shows during the afternoon each one had a gospel message for the people.  The first show had a lot of children friendly tricks in it with a message at the end, the second and third shows slightly less children/family tricks and more gospel illusions.  I ended the show with my glass that represents the world with water in it - the people but the world became dirty and unclean - ugly as sin entered the world God had the answer and as the cross enters the glass/world and touches the water/people it cleans it and the water becomes clear again.  I followed this with the 4 points illustration and invited people to take a copy if they wanted one at the end - lots of people did - children, teens and adults too.  As people came into the shows we gave them a Smile Jesus Loves You sticker, I am not sure how many we gave out but they are in packs of 60 and we used almost 3 packs.  Looking forward to other fun days later on this year particularly as I have a number of new tricks for 2014 which I have used today for the first time.

Friday 2 May 2014

OT BX2 Croftlands

This afternoon I was at Croftlands Junior school for the second part of Bible Explorer. The children all came in and sat in readiness for the lesson. We had some part of last weeks story to complete,  so once that was done we started on the story of Moses.   The children really got into the swing of the lesson as we went through hand sign after hand sign.  As the stories went along. The lesson was all to quickly over as the school day came to an end. Next week we start on Joshua and the rest of the judges.

Thursday 1 May 2014

Ignite - Youth Alpha

Wow!  I say again WOW!  Tonight at our Ignite group we started the Youth Alpha course.  We had 16 young people in our living room all engaged in watching and listening to the Youth Alpha Film Series.  At various points in the video there were questions so we stopped the video and asked the young people what there answers might be - we looked at :- If you only had 24 hours left to live, what would you do? Why do you think people find it awkward to talk about their religious beliefs?  Assuming God is real; if you could ask God one question, what would you ask?  We made sure that all the group answered the questions and we were amazed at the answers the children gave.  As we settled down for the videos Sarah said that she felt it such a privilege to be apart of the group as they all connected with the two presenters as they looked at John14:6 I am the way the truth and the life.  Tonight was just the intro to the course looking at Christianity Boring, Un-true irrelevant. There was some funny stuff as well in the form of jokes and stories which I read out, as well as a funny video clip of a baby biting his brothers finger.  All in all a very good night Praise be to God for all those young people.  Please pray for them you may not know them but God does and pray for us too as we continue this course.

 

OT BX2 St Peters

This afternoon I was again at St Peters doing Bible Explorer Old Testament.  I had left the Joseph story until this week as we ran out of time last week.  So this week following a quick recap of last week I launched into the Joseph story and then went right into the Moses story.  I managed to get through all the Moses story so make me back on track again for next week.  The children loved being part of the stories as they came out to join in and play the various parts.  They are also keen to learn the hand signs and to do them, as I was setting up some of the children helped me and they were going over last weeks signs and encouraging each other as they did which was great to see.  Next weeks lessons will focus on Joshua and the Judges finishing with the lovely story of Ruth.