Burligton School

This morning I went to Burlington School to do the assembly.  I started by singing Inright Outright with the children as this was going to link in a way to what I was going to talk about.  After the song I explained that the song talks about Jesus cares for me when he died on Calvary - which is what we thought about at Easter.  The story I was telling them was about Pentecost which is 50 days after Easter Sunday and as it is Pentecost on Sunday I thought a recap of the story would be good.  After telling the story using a Big Ministries Book I explained a few things about it like how Jesus had made a promise about the Holy Spirit, how the disciples had to wait, how they had seen Jesus go back up into heaven (which is 40 days after Easter Sunday)  Now it all happened, the disciples received the Holy Spirit and Peter stands up a talks to thousands of people about who Jesus was and they join the disciples.  The holy Spirit gave the disciples what they needed to do God's work, I encouraged the children with the idea that we do at times need to wait for things but also God can give us whatever we might need to deal with situations as they arise like he did with Peter.  After this we sang So Many Ways and I closed with a prayer.  I was asked at the end about the Holy Spirit and God and are they the same.  I explained briefly about the Trinity but then asked the person to think about water, Ice and steam - God is like the rock solid ice, Jesus like the water that flows as he moved on the earth and his love flows and the Holy Spirit is like the steam which we can't always see but we know is there.  Three things but the same.

St Peters School

This morning I was at St Peters School doing the assembly.  I started by singing Inright Outright with the children as this was going to link in a way to what I was going to talk about.  After the song I explained that the song talks about Jesus cares for me when he died on Calvary - which is what we thought about at Easter.  The story I was telling them was about Pentecost which is 50 days after Easter Sunday and as it is Pentecost on Sunday I thought a recap of the story would be good.  After telling the story using a Big Ministries Book I explained a few things about it like how Jesus had made a promise about the Holy Spirit, how the disciples had to wait, how they had seen Jesus go back up into heaven (which is 40 days after Easter Sunday)  Now it all happened, the disciples received the Holy Spirit and Peter stands up a talks to thousands of people about who Jesus was and they join the disciples.  The holy Spirit gave the disciples what they needed to do God's work, I encouraged the children with the idea that we do at times need to wait for things but also God can give us whatever we might need to deal with situations as they arise like he did with Peter.  After this we sang So Many Ways and I closed with a prayer.

Low Furness School

This morning I was at Low Furness school for the assembly.  The theme was Respect for Sacred Objects.  So to start off the assembly we sang So Many Ways to Praise the Lord then I started to talk about things that I hold dear to me like my collection of Bibles.  I showed a few of them to the children explaining as I did that they are just books like any other book but it is what's inside them that make them special to me - it is God's word on paper.  I displayed a bible verse from 2Timothy - Everything in the Scriptures is God’s Word. All of it is useful for teaching and helping people and for correcting them and showing them how to live. 2 Timothy 3:16.  I explained that scripture is the words in the Bible and mentioned that the Jews have it on scrolls and they are so special to them that they don't even touch the words with their fingers as they read them, they use a pointer called a Yad.  I also displayed the verse - Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.  Psalm 119:105 and explained that we can use the Bible to guide us like we would use a torch on a dark night.  I also said that at times we can read the Bible and read a story we have read before and nothing but then sometime later read it again and WOW! something jumps off the page and God speaks to us.  God inspired many people to write the Bible by telling them what to put down the 2 Timothy verse tells us that.  I said God can Do Anything cue for a song.  After the song I said a prayer to close.

Church Walk School

This morning I went to church Walk Primary School for the assembly.  It was great to see all the children again, several of them were quite excited when they saw me setting up.  After singing God's Love is Bigger than a Burger I did the assembly we have done in several schools now on Respect.  I showed the video clip of Nemo being disrespectful towards his dad.  When the clip had finished I asked the children what it was that Nemo had not done and a little boy from the Reception class put his hand up and said - he didn't listen to his dad and didn't show him respect - perfect answer.  I went on to talk about how in the bible there are people that show respect to God and other people and sadly there are stories of people that don't.  I reminded the children that Nemo had to face the consequences of his actions in that he was caught and put in a fish tank.  I also told them about Moses getting the 10 Commandments and how they are all about respect 4 about respect for God and 6 respect for others.  One of them says respect your father and mother, so that you will live a long time in the land I'm giving you Exodus 20:12.  I explained what the verse means to us today and how we should respect everyone.  To finish we sang Shine then I said a short prayer.

BX OT4 Croftlands Juniors

This morning I was at Croftlands Juniors for the 4 Bible Explorer lesson with the year 5 children.  It was an action packed time covering the first kings of Israel as well as the Samuel story to kick it all off.  The lessons gives the children a brief outline of what happen during this part of the bible, I mainly focus on the high points with a few low points.  It all ends when the country divides following the death of Solomon into Israel in the north and Judah in the south.  I point out the number of kings each country has over the next 400 year period and the fact that not one king in Israel follows God while only 8 in the south follow God.  Next week we finish our time with the exile and return.

BX OT4 St Peters

This afternoon I was at St Peters for the fourth Bible Explorer lesson of the Old Testament.  It was the time of the first kings of Israel.  The stories started with Samuel and on to cover Saul, David and Solomon.  I talked about the highs and some of the lows of each of the kings reigns before the big low of the kingdom dividing after the death of Solomon.  Next week we look at the exile of both kingdoms Israel first and Judah second, then the return of Judah.  We'll also cover the story of Queen Esther.

Lindal and Marton School

Yesterday Sarah and I went to do the assembly at Lindal and Marton School.  Yesterday being the 4th of May, the school decided to have a Star Wars Day - so a lot of the children had dressed up as characters from Star Wars.  As we introduced ourselves Sarah said she had never done an assembly to Darth Vader, Luke Skywalker, Chewbacca, Princess Leia and Stormtroopers.  To start off we sang God's Love is Bigger than a Burger then we introduced the theme - Respect.  Sarah talked briefly about it before introducing the film clip from Finding Nemo.  The clip showed Nemo swimming out into open water to touch a boat despite his father telling him not to do it but Nemo continues to swim and then touches the boat.  Sarah asked the children what it was that Nemo wasn't doing - showing respect came the answer, she also asked what happen next in the film - Nemo was caught in a net and put into a fish tank.  I then explained that in the Bible there a lots of stories of people that showed respect for each other as well as for God, and there are stories were people didn't have respect at all and they like Nemo had to face up to the consequences of their actions.  There is one story in the Bible of a man who was asked by God to lead the people and to help him God provided him with some guidelines or rules - commandments.  His name was Moses and God gave him the 10 commandments to help the people to live a long and happy life.  Four of the commandments are about showing respect towards God and six about respecting people.  There is one that says Respect your father and mother, so that you may live a long time in the land I'm giving you Exodus 20:12 I displayed this on the screen and then explained what the last part meant to the people Moses was leading and what it can mean to us today.  I also explained that we should respect everyone we meet.  Sarah then said that when we do that we can Shine out God's love - cue for a song.  After the song Sarah closed the assembly with a short prayer.