Low Furness School

This morning Sarah and I went to Low Furness School for the assembly.  Our theme was miracles, so after singing an old favourite Great Big God I used a Bob Hartman story to recall Jesus calming the storm as it is in John 6:16-21.  The way the story is told is by repeating a line three times, each time slightly differently, then the children respond with an action on certain key words.  Following the story and much laughter from the children I explained that in the story there are in fact two miracles the first is Jesus walking on the water to meet the disciples and the second is the storm is calmed when Jesus gets into the boat.  I then said that sometimes in life we go through ups and downs and people call this the storms of life but if we have Jesus with us then he helps us through them and calms the storm down.  Sarah also reinforced this point with the children as I got ready the next song which simply had to be God can do Anything.  Sarah closed with a prayer.

Pennington School

This afternoon I went to Pennington School for the assembly.  We started by singing Creator God then I told the Adam and Eve story telling the children how Eve was tricked into eating the fruit from the tree of good and bad and giving some to Adam this was wrong.  I asked the children what the world might have been like if they had not  done this and mentioned a few things like there would be no fighting, no wars, peace would rest on the earth, everyone would have enough to eat and everyone would get along with each other.  When I told the children that God asked Adam and Eve to leave the garden it was because they had done wrong and disobeyed his instructions but also they blame someone else.  To link in with Easter I talked a bit about God sending Jesus as a saviour for the world and reminded the children that Easter is not all about chocolate and Easter bunnies.  To close we sang I Love You and I finished with a prayer.

Penny Bridge School

This morning I went along to Penny Bridge School to take the assembly.  After singing Creator God I ask the children if they knew who the first people on earth were - Adam and Eve came the answer, next I asked if they knew the meaning of their names - I needed to give them a clue, Eve means first woman.  So I then asked what Adam means - first man they got it.  I then explained that I was going to tell them the story of Adam and Eve in the garden and about Eve's encounter with the snake.  After the story I pointed out that Adam, blamed Eve and Eve blamed the snake for their down fall.  I explained that this is not good, they had both been disobedient and then tried to blame someone else.  I continued to tell the children what happened to Adam and Eve and about how they would need to work hard in the future in order for them to eat the produce of the ground.  I asked the children to think what the world might be like if that hadn't of happened; there would be no fighting, no war, no-one would be hungry, people would love each other and live in peace as God had planned it in the first place.  I linked this to Easter and said that it is not all about Easter bunnies and chocolate eggs but about God sending Jesus in love to save the world because we have done things wrong.  We then sang I Love You and I closed with a prayer.

Croftlands Junior School

Following on from the assembly at the infants school I went over to the juniors.  To start with we sang Creator God which would lead me into the assembly story of Adam and Eve.  I asked the children if they knew what the names meant as a way of an intro - 'first people ever'.  I then recalled the story of Adam and Eve as I got to the part when God walks in the garden and asks them if they have taken the fruit from the tree of good and bad, I made a big point of Adam blaming Eve and Eve the snake.  I explained the point of the assembly was to think about how we react when we have done things wrong, too often we can lie about it and hold someone else to blame as Adam and Eve did.  They had to leave the garden and then work hard to live.  Whenever we lie that leads to another lie and so on and so on.  I asked the children to think what the world would be like if they hadn't have done wrong and lied.  To close we sang and signed I Love You, I then closed in prayer.

Croftlands Infants School

This morning I went along to Croftlands Infants School for the assembly.  I started with Creator God then told the Adam and Eve story.  Then at the part of the story when God comes in the cool of the day I point out that Adam blamed Eve, Eve blamed the snake for their wrongdoing.  I explained that we all too often blame others for the wrong things we do, these lies then can lead to other lies and so on and so on.  I encouraged the children to be honest when something has gone wrong or when they do something wrong as that is what God wants us to do.  Adam and Eve needed to then work hard because of what they had done wrong.  We then sang Great Big God after which I said a prayer.

Bx OT 1 and 2 Flookburgh School

This afternoon I had a great time with the pupils of Mr. Ross's class at Flookburgh School.  I started Bible Explorer with them.  As there are only 4 Fridays before Easter it was agreed that today to start us off I would do a double lesson with a 20min break between.  So we worked our way through Genesis up to the point when Joseph is in prison and the baker and butler have had their dreams and Pharaoh has too.  Joseph has been presented before Pharaoh and told him what the dreams mean.  Following the short break we continued to tell the story with Joseph as Prime Minister of all Egypt and receiving his own brothers before him asking for food.  Concluding this story we move 400 years to tell the Moses story and how he was told by God to go before Pharaoh and ask him to let the Israelites go from slavery.  During each story part we introduced new hand signs to help the children remember the points of the story.  We concluded today with the death of Moses and the people of Israel ready once again to take over the land.  Next week Joshua and Judges.

Our Lady's School

On Thursday morning I was at Our Lady's School in Dalton.  I had a great time with them in the assembly.  To start off we sang Creator God then I talked a bit about the meaning of Adam and Eve's name, one girl gave me the meaning straight away 'the first women' her name was Eve!  A boy then guessed the meaning of Adam - 'first man'.  I then told the story of Adam and Eve in the garden and them being tricked by a snake and sin entering into the world.  Following the story I asked the children to think what the world would have been like if Adam and Eve hadn't sinned.  I mentioned a few things that perhaps wouldn't have happened.  I also said that the world would have been at peace and everyone would get along with each other and there would be lots of love in the world.  I then encouraged the children to try and think of something they could do that would show love to someone else, they could say it or do something practical - share toys, school equipment.  In fact in the school this week there have been several birthdays and the children have brought in cakes for their friends I mentioned this as one way of showing love.  To close we sang I Love You and at the end I said a short prayer.