Leven Valley School

This morning I went down to do the assembly at Leven Valley School.  It was the first visit to the school this year so it was great to see all the children again as well as the staff.  I started by talking about Christmas and New Year and asked if the children had had a good time - I know it seems like ages ago now but there was a link into the story later.  We then sang Be Happy and I explained afterwards that I was going to tell the children a story that Jesus told which was an earthly story but had a hidden or heavenly meaning to it.  I then went on to recall the story of the Lost Son or as my visuals called it The Wild Son Who Returned. Towards the end of the story I focused in on the dad who forgave the wild son for what he had done.  I then pointed out that Jesus came to earth to show us and to teach us more about God and Heaven and how we can get there and this story was one such story.  I then explained the meaning to the children in that the son is like us who do things wrong and the dad is like God who forgives us - we just need to say sorry.  We also need to forgive people that do wrong things to us - this idea comes out of what Jesus taught us and is also in the Lord's Prayer.  We then sang God Can do Anything and as we did I said that no wrong is too big or too small that God can't forgive us for.  I then finished with a prayer.