Crosthwaite School

This afternoon Sarah and I were over at Crosthwaite School for the first assembly of 2014.  It seemed strange saying Happy New Year when we are at the end of the first month of the year!  We started with God's Love is Bigger than a Burger then I told the Joseph story and did all the different shirt changes etc as we have done at other schools this month.  At the end of the story Sarah asked the children about what the brothers were feeling when they saw Joseph - jealous came out.  Then she asked how does that make us feel, sad, angry, annoyed, unhappy came from the children.  She went on to say that it all turned out well for Joseph in the end but we should think about what the brothers did to Joseph and instead of being jealous we should celebrate what our friends have and share with them what w have.  To make the point a little clearer Sarah told the children that we are all special to God no matter what we look like which was the cue to our next song Touch a Finger.  after the song I said a short prayer.

St Peters

Our first assembly of the day has been at St Peters.  Sarah and I drove over there this morning armed with a treasure map and a metal detecting device ready to search for the lost treasure of Blue Beard the local pirate.  So after singing So Many Ways to Praise the Lord I retold the famous story of Blue Beard and his treasure that at one time was hidden on Piel Island until it was move to the main land.  I explained to the children that I had come across a treasure map some years ago while reading a history book that I had bought from a local shop.  I had a few calculations to make and set off pacing the floor until I was in the middle of the children, then with my metal detecting device I located the exact spot when Sarah stopped me.  She started to read from Matthew 13:44-46 about the man who discovered treasure went out sold everything and bought the field.  Then I pointed out that under the school hall there was no treasure, but I explained the parable to the children in that Jesus wants us to follow him and do everything we can to follow him like the man selling what he had to buy the field.  This lead into me talking about the chorus from Be Happy about running the race.  So after I said what I did we sang that song.  Sarah then closed the assembly with a prayer followed by the Lord's Prayer.

Low Furness School

This morning we were at Low Furness school and the theme for the assembly was Going for Goals.  So after singing So Many Ways to Praise the Lord, I told the story of Blue Beard the local pirate.  I told the children that many years ago I found a map in an old book and this set me on the trail of Blue Beards lost treasure.  The map pointed to the location of the treasure and I had calculated and measured that it was somewhere under the school.  With my compass in hand and a metal detecting device I worked my way into the children sitting on the floor turning this way and that until the beep, beep, beep of the metal detector pointed to a spot on the floor.  By now all the children were up and looking at the spot on the floor as I said that I would go and get the pick axe and spade - then Sarah stopped me and read out a bible passage from Matthew 13:44-46.  I needed to explain that there was no treasure but I focused on what Jesus said about the man who found a great treasure and another who found an expensive pearl both men sold all they had to acquire the treasures.  What Jesus was saying is that we should do our best to follow Jesus because our treasure is waiting for us in Heaven.  Sarah then explained this point a little more to the children and I led them in singing Be Happy as that talks about running the race and following Jesus all our lives.  We then closed with a prayer.

Croftlands Infants

This afternoon I went into the infants school at Croftlands to do an assembly for them.  I introduced them to God's love is Bigger than a Burger - some children knew it from holiday club others joined in.  I did the story of Joseph for the children acting as if I was Joseph.  During the story I mentioned jealousy a few times ready from when I asked them at the end what the brothers were.  I then talked a bit about how jealousy is not nice and how we should try to avoid getting jealous in the first place, instead we should celebrate with our friends when they get new things.  I reminded the children that in God's eyes we are all special.  To finish we sang Touch a finger and then I said a prayer.

Croftlands Juniors

This morning I went along to Croftlands Juniors to take the assembly.  It was the first visit of 2014 to the school.  Only the year 5 and 6 children were in the assembly as the rest go off swimming.  I started the assembly with God's Love is Bigger than a Burger then did the jealousy talk which is linked to the Joseph story as we have done in all other schools this month.  The children then responded to my questions about jealousy so I encouraged them to celebrate what other people have rather than becoming jealous, which can lead to anger like it did with the brothers of Joseph.  I also reminded the children that we are all special to God which led us into singing Touch a finger.  I then closed the assembly with a prayer.

Broughton School

This afternoon Sarah and I went over to Broughton school to take an assembly.  This is a new time slot for us so it seemed a little strange at first as we would normally be saying good morning instead of good afternoon.  We started by singing God's Love is Bigger than a Burger before I went onto tell the Joseph story as we have been doing in all our schools this month.  I changed my shirt a few times and settled for the waist coat.  I took on the part of Joseph and referred to the other shirts I had tried as castoff's from my brothers.  I talked about the dreams and how the other brothers got a bit jealous of me which led them to do what they did.  After the story Sarah picked up on the jealousy theme and expanded it a bit with the children saying that it is not nice to be jealous of what other people have because it can lead to all kinds of other unpleasant feelings or even anger.  She linked this idea to Christmas and how after Christmas we can sometimes get jealous when we find out what other people got as presents.  She also told the children that we are all special to God which linked with our final song Touch a finger.  AT the end I closed the assembly with a prayer.

Pennington School

Following our assembly at Church Walk School we went up to Pennington school and did the same assembly for them.  However we started with God's Love is Bigger than a Burger.  I then took on the role of Joseph following a few shirt changes to get into character.  I recalled the story from Josephs point of view and used the waist coat I had decided to wear as a prop during the story.  After the story was over Sarah pulled out a few points from the story to talk about mainly though she talked about being jealous of what other people have.  She linked this with Christmas and how we can sometimes feel a bit jealous after Christmas when we find out what other people got.  Referring to the story she talked about the brothers reaction to Joseph and how they weren't nice to him.  To conclude she told the children that we are all special to God no matter what we have got or what we look like.  This was a link to the next song Touch a finger.  Following the song Sarah closed the assembly with a prayer.