Croftlands Infants School

This morning Sarah and I were at Croftlands Infants School for the assembly.  As it was our first visit since Easter Sarah asked the children of they had had a good Easter holidays and if they had and chocolate left.  She mentioned this as the theme of the assembly was linked to Easter it was on Forgiveness.  So start off we sang Inright Outright which has the line which says - Jesus cares for me when He died on Calvary.  Sarah then used the story of the two little boys that we have been using for our assemblies this month.  The basic story is two boys fall out as a result of toys being broken.  However they do decide to make it up and become good friends again.  The boys did say to each other that they couldn't forgive each other.  Sarah asked if the children had ever been in a situation like that, she reminded the children that Jesus on the cross had asked God to forgive them for hurting him.  I then read a bible verse from Ephesians 4:32 which says 'we should learn to forgive'.  I also talked about Peter and how he said 3 times that he didn't know Jesus and then after Jesus had rose from the grave Jesus asked Peter 3 times if he loved him - this was like Jesus cancelling out what Peter had done.  I reminded the children of two lines in the Lord's Prayer which says forgive us our sins as we forgive those that sin against us.  To round off the assembly Sarah asked the children if they knew what forgiveness meant and a couple of children gave really good answers.  We then sang Shine and Sarah closed with a prayer.

Flookburgh School

This afternoon I went over to Flookburgh School to do the assembly.  After the welcome and talked a little about the Easter break and asked who still had eggs left.  I did this as what I wanted to say linked back to Easter.  So after singing Inright Outright I told the children the story that we have been using since the start of this term about the two boys that fall out over toys and about how unhappy they both were because the didn't or rather couldn't forgive each other.  However the story does have a happy ending as the make friends again in the end.  Having asked the children if that had ever happen to them I then talked about forgiveness and how Jesus even on the cross was able to ask God to forgive the people who had been hurting him.  He also forgave Peter who had said three times that he didn't know Jesus.  I reminded the children of the words of the Lord's Prayer that say forgive us our sins and we forgive those that sin against us.  I finished by saying that if we learn to forgive each other that we can Shine from the inside out which was a cue for a song. After the song I closed the assembly with a prayer.

Cartmel Primary School

After lunch today I went down to Cartmel Primary School for the assembly.  As it is a newer school to us I was keen to teach the children new songs so to start off we sang Inright Outright.  I then told the story about the two boys falling out over broken toys which is really all about forgiveness, since Easter this has been the focus of our assemblies.  I then asked the children if they had ever fallen out with a friend over something really silly and a number of hands went up.  I reminded the children that it is better to forgive so that friendship can remain intact and talked about Jesus on the cross asking for God to forgive the people who were hurting him.  I also reminded the children of the words in the Lord's Prayer that talks about forgiving others as we are forgiven.  Then we sang Shine and I end the assembly with a prayer.

Church Walk Primary School

This morning I went along to Church Walk Primary School for the first assembly of this half term.  After saying hello and asking about Easter and chocolate eggs we sang the first song Inright Outright which linked a little bit to what I wanted to talk about today.  I then told the story about the two boys playing with each others toys in the garden and the plane of one boy gets damaged so he then kicks his friends football into the road and under a lorry.  A big fall out happens - why because they can't forgive each other.  However all ends well after a few very sad and lonely days both boys make it up and forgive each other and become best friends again.  I asked the children if they had ever had something like that happen to them and before I could finish my sentence hands started to go up.  I explained that it is better to forgive each other and make a reference to Ephesians 4:32 - we must learn to forgive.  I referred back to Easter and how Jesus even on the cross asked God to forgive them for they don't know what they are doing.  I displayed the Lord's Prayer and pointed out the lines that talk about forgiving each other as we have been forgiven.  Then we sang Shine and I closed the assembly with a prayer followed by the Lord's Prayer.

BX 1 OT Croftlands Juniors

This afternoon I have been at Croftlands Juniors doing Bible Explorer to year 5.  As this was the first lesson I explain how the lessons would work with the hand signs and told them that I would be encouraging them to get involved with the stories.  We did all the stories and hand signs up to when Joseph goes into Egypt.  At the end a few of the children were talking to me about the lesson and about how they know some of the stories in the bible.  Looking forward to next week.

Ignite

Tonight was our first Ignite meeting after Easter.  So after the food which consisted of 8 pizza's 2kg chips and ice cream for 11 we asked the children about their Easter break.  Some had been on Christian camps and holidays and had great experiences while others had just been out for days while others rested watched telly etc.  We started the evening off with a very messy,silly, daft game which involved a Jaffa Cake biscuit - the children had to eat all the biscuit and chocolate off the biscuit leaving only the centre Jaffa bit and the first one to stick a clean Jaffa on the forehead won - fun was had by all and wet wipes then filled the room!  I then gave out copies of Psalm 23 but each copy was from a different version of the Bible NIV, CEV, BBE, MSG, AMP, NLT, GNB, ERV I then read a line at a time of the Psalm from the NRSV then each version was read out after me line by line.  We then gave out pens and a paper grid with 8 lines on it and explained that we were now going to write our own Psalm on the sheet line by line but with a twist after every line the top of the paper was folded over and handed to the person on the left and they wrote the next line and so on and so on until all 8 lines had been filled in.  On the last hand over the person would read the 'new Psalm'.  The results were fabulous and very moving, considering that they are children aged from 10 to 13 what they wrote down was awesome.  I intend to scan each Psalm and produce a little book for them all and I will try to put it on our website.  After this we looked again at Psalm 23 and went through it line by line and asked them what they thought of each line.  To end our time we asked who had things to pray for and spent 10 mins or so praying before parents came to take them home.

Leven Valley

This morning Sarah and I went to do the assembly at Leven Valley.  After Sarah had said good morning and asked if everyone had had a good Easter, she also asked if the children had any chocolate left! She explained that we would continue with the idea of Easter so to start off we sang Inright Outright.  Sarah then told a short story about two little boys that play together and shared their toys that is until a toy was damaged then the boy who's toy was broken did the same back and.... nasty words came next and then a big fall out.  The boys didn't speak or see each other for days and both felt bad - because they had both had toys damaged and they had both said nasty things to each other and they missed each other too.  One boy decided to go and try to make it up and as he was going to the door who was standing there - his old friend.  They forgave each other and became best friends again.  Sarah expanded on the story by asking if something like that had ever happen to the children - hands went up.  She explained that it isn't good if we not forgive people that hurt us and reminded the children what Jesus said as he was on the cross - Father for give them for they don't know what they are doing.  I then displayed a phrase which said...  'Forgiving helps friends to be friendly again.  Forgiving others makes us happier'  this linked with Ephesians 4:32 which says We should learn to forgive.  I then reminded the children about Peter who said three times that he didn't know Jesus after he had been arrested - then after his death, when Jesus came to be with the disciples Jesus asked Peter three times if he loved him and each time Peter said he did - Jesus was forgiving him.  I displayed the Lord's Prayer and pointed out the lines that talk about forgiveness.  Sarah then said when we do these things we can Shine from the inside out - cue for a song.  To close Sarah said a prayer and led the children in the Lord's Prayer.