Leven Valley School

This morning Sarah and I went over to Leven Valley School for an assembly.  After singing God's Love is Bigger than a Burger Sarah asked for a small snack to eat before lunch, so I gave her a Satsuma.  She started to peel it and asked if anyone wanted to share it with her and a young lad came out to help, then as she ate the first piece saying how great it was she gave him the peel!  This brought a laugh and some comments from the children about what she had done.  Sarah look surprised at their reaction and repeated to them that she was sharing with the boy.  She then corrected her self and said that it wasn't the best bit and gave the boy the rest to eat.  The point was made that whenever we share things with other people we should share the best bits.  I then read and added my own bits as well the story from the Lion Storyteller Bible of the feeding of the 5000.  Following the story Sarah summed up what had happened saying that the boy shared what little he had and God used it through Jesus to feed a huge number of people and we to can be like that in sharing what little we have with other people.  Then she said when we do that we Shine from the inside out which cued us for the next song.  Following the song Sarah prayed and then as we had a bit of time left we sang God can do anything.

Our Lady's OCC assembly

This morning Sarah and I went into Our Lady's School to do an Operation Christmas Child assembly.  To start off the assembly we all sang God's love is Bigger than a Burger then I told the children that as I had been rushing about all morning I needed a mid morning snack and started to peel a Satsuma.  I did however offer to share it with someone and invited a girl out to share it with.  Having peeled it I took a piece commented on how lovely it was and promptly gave her the peel!  Much to her surprise and the amusement of the school.  I then sent the girl back to her place with some of the Satsuma.  At this point Sarah took over and explained that the fact that I wanted to share something was good but what I shared wasn't good, it was after all the bit I didn't want.  This then led to talking about sharing good things with other people like when we fill a shoe box full of goodies.  Sarah also talked about how nice it is to get presents at various times of the year and yet there are children than don't get anything.  I opened up a shoe box and lifted out the word LOVE and explained that when you fill a shoe box what you are really doing is filling it with love.  I then went through a power point showing what happens to a shoe box finishing by showing all the places boxes go to and how many we sent last year then I say a huge THANK YOU to the children.  Following this Sarah links to the song Shine in that we shine out love when we get involved with filling shoe boxes.  After the song Sarah close off the assembly with a prayer.

Broughton School OCC assembly

This morning Sarah and I travelled over to Broughton School to do an Operation Christmas Child Assembly.  We started by singing God's Love is Bigger than a Burger, then Sarah decided that she needed a mid morning snack so she started to peel a Satsuma.  She did offer to share it with someone though, so as she put the first piece into her mouth she gave the peel to her helper which made her look puzzled.  Sarah explained that she had shared part of the Satsuma with the helper, she asked if that was right - to share only the bit we didn't want - the answer was no of course.  Sarah then did share with the little girl and explained the point of it to the children.  We need to share good things with other people and not just the things we don't want or need anymore.  She asked if there was anyone in the room that had never ever been given a present - there was nobody.  As she continued she explained to the children that it is nice to get presents but there are children that never do get presents at all.  I then talked to the children about filling shoe boxes and how when we do fill the box what we are really doing is filling it with love.  I explained briefly what to do and what to put into a shoe box then followed this with the journey the box makes to get to a needy child.  I then showed pictures from all the areas that shoe boxes get sent to each year.  Sarah drew the assembly to a close by saying when we fill a box with love we Shine from the inside out which was a cue to our next song.  Sarah then closed with a prayer.

St Peters OCC assembly

This morning Sarah and I went over to St Peters to do an Operation Christmas Child Assembly.  It was great to see all the children again and they gave us a great welcome as we said hello.  To start off the assembly we sang God's Love is Bigger than a Burger then Sarah told the children that we had set off so early that she needed some more breakfast - a Satsuma.  She started to peel it and asked if anyone would like to share it with her.  Someone did and as Sarah tried the first piece and said how delightful it was she gave him the peel - much to his surprise!  Sarah asked if that was a nice thing to do she had done what she said she would do and gave him some.  Of course the answer was no it wasn't the best part of the Satsuma she did give the boy some to eat as she explained what it was about.  She wanted the children to realise that when we share things we should share the best parts of things and not the rubbish parts, this linked to shoe boxes in that we should put good things into them.  She continued and asked who had never ever had a birthday or Christmas present she reminded the children what it is like to get presents at special times.  I then talked about what goes into a shoe box and the first thing I showed to the children was the word love which I had taken out of a box.  I then continued to explain what to do with the shoe box, how to fill it and with what kinds of things to put into it.  I then showed pictures showing the journey of the box from local collection, to storing, processing , packing, shipping and giving out to needy children.  I also showed the countries to which we send the boxes pausing to point out a few things.  Sarah then continued by encouraging the children to fill a box and said that when we do it is us shining out God's love to others.  This led to us singing Shine after which Sarah closed the assembly with a prayer.

Crosthwaite School

This afternoon I went over to Crosthwaite School to do an assembly.  Sarah decided to stay home due to the bad weather.  After saying hello and explaining that Sarah was at home we sang God's Love is Bigger than a Burger.  I then excused myself to the children as I took out a Satsuma and started to peel it ready to eat it.  I explained that I hadn't finished my lunch, I did offer to share it with someone and a little boy came out so I gave him the peel, which sparked a laugh from the rest of the children.  I did eventually share half of it with him.  I then explained my actions saying that it is good to share but when we do we should share the good bits not just the leftover rubbish bits.  I then retold the feeding of the 5000 story to them from the Lion Storyteller Bible.  after the story I encouraged the children to share like the boy had done in the story and as a result all the people got blessed because of it.  I did also point out that this was a miracle and that God can do Anything which brought us into a second song.  Following the song I closed the assembly with a short prayer.

Low Furness School

This morning Sarah and I went into Low Furness School for the assembly.  We started the assembly off by singing God's Love is Bigger than a Burger then I went on to talk to the children on the theme given to us by the school which was St Luke.  So after giving a brief account of who he was I then talked about what he did and how what he did was so important, he wrote the gospel of Luke as well as the Acts of the Apostles.  We then played a bit of a game with two children.  I asked them to write a letter to someone about a celebrity they had met recently - but each time they wrote something down about the person they swapped letters with the other person, this then made for a very funny sounding letter once it was read.  The point was that details of events can sometimes get mixed up and then the account sounds funny, however in the opening sentence in Luke he tells us how he investigated everything from the beginning by talking to people that knew Jesus.  I told the children that because he had done just that then Luke's Gospel is probably more detailed than the other gospels.  I then encourage them to read some of the great stories Luke put into his gospel.  Sarah added her own thoughts to the assembly then we went on to sing the Chicken Dance song as it was raining outside and the children won't be going out to play so the song would help them to loose some energy.  I then closed with a prayer.

BX OT 5 Vicarage Park

This afternoon I went over to Kendal again for the last lesson of Bible Explorer with the year 6 children.  It covered the stories of Israel being scattered and Judah taken into exile and stories such as Daniel and my all time favourite Esther.  The children willingly joined in as we went through the stories and acted out various scenes from the stories.  They also joined in with the hand signs as we recapped the previous weeks and learnt new ones finishing with a complete run through them all at the end.  I had a great time and I felt that the children did too.