OT BX 3 Low Furness School

This afternoon was the third Old Testament Lesson at Low Furness School.  It was about the time after Moses, so we covered Joshua and then into the Judges like Deborah, Gideon and Samson.  Then to finish off I did the story of Ruth which I always link to David and then to Jesus giving the reason why this little story has its own book in the Bible.

Lindale School

This morning I went down to Lindale School for the first assembly of the new school year.  The school have been looking at The Lords Prayer and taking each bit of it and looking at what it means during their Wednesday morning assemblies.  Today the part I was looking at was 'give us this day our daily bread'  So to start off the assembly we sang Great Big God I then displayed the Lords Prayer on the screen and explained what I was going to talk about.  Sarah had found a little story about a man called George Muller.  I told the children about how George was a Christian man who lived and died over 100 years ago, and that he opened up many schools and places to educate children and he did so without ever asking for money - he simply trusted in God to provide whatever was needed.  I retold what happened one morning when 300 children in one such school had no food to eat - George prayed and said thank you for the food we are about to eat - a knock came on the door it was the baker who had got up in the night for some reason and bake 3 extra batches of bread and took it to the school, next the milkman came in his cart had lost a wheel and the milk would go off if the children didn't drink it.  George trusted God for everything.  I pointed out that in the world today we have so much stuff and we say we want more but do we really need it?  I asked the children how often do they say I want this or that when really they don't need it at all.  I reminded the children that Christmas is coming and that we will be putting together a Christmas list of things we want/need.  Back to George and a song to finish off the assembly we have a Great Big God who holds us in his hands and a God that can do anything, anything at all, nothing is too big for him and nothing is too small - cue song.  After the song I closed with a prayer. 

Pennington School

This afternoon I went along to do the first assembly of this new term at Pennington School, it was also an Operation Christmas Child assembly, so I was joined by Lisa.  After singing God's Love is Bigger than a Burger Lisa introduced the theme of the assembly and showed a video clip from a McDonalds advert which has the opening scene of two children and the words Love is not a big thing, the ad continues and we watch the children grow up they are in fact brother and sister finally the boy now a man comes to get married and his sister has been their with him all the way through and they have done little things for each other the whole lives, the ending phrase then says Love is a thousand little things.  Lisa used this idea to explain that when we send a shoe box it is like love being a thousand little things.  We as individuals can't change the world but our act of love can change the world of a child that receives a shoe box.  I then talked about how and what to pack into a shoe box and explain that when we do we Shine from the inside out - cue song.  Lisa closed the assembly with a prayer.

Church Walk Primary School

Today I went along to do the first assembly of this new term at Church Walk Primary School, it was also the first Operation Christmas Child assembly of this year so I was joined by Lisa.  After singing God's Love is Bigger than a Burger Lisa introduced the theme of the assembly and showed a video clip from a McDonalds advert which has the opening scene of two children and the words Love is not a big thing, the ad continues and we watch the children grow up they are in fact brother and sister finally the boy now a man comes to get married and his sister has been their with him all the way through and they have done little things for each other the whole lives, the ending phrase then says Love is a thousand little things.  Lisa used this idea to explain that when we send a shoe box it is like love being a thousand little things.  We as individuals can't change the world but our act of love can change the world of a child that receives a shoe box.  I then talked about how and what to pack into a shoe box and explain that when we do we Shine from the inside out - cue song.  Lisa closed the assembly with a prayer.

Flookburgh School

This morning Sarah and I made our first visit of the new school year to Flookburgh School.  It was really great to see all the children and staff again following the summer holidays.  To start our assembly off we sang Be Happy.  I then showed the children a collection of objects I had taken with me things like a cycle hat, wet suit, gloves, snow shoes, hard hat etc  I got some of the children to either hold our wear the item, I asked if anyone could see the common connection between my rather odd collection of items - the answer was they all protect us in some way.  Sarah then read the account of Jesus calming the storm and I then explained the link between the objects and the story - they do all protect us and Jesus protected the disciples n the boat - and we do from time to time have up days when we are very happy and down days when we are not so happy - a bit like a storm at sea (link to bible passage) When faced with the storm the disciples called upon Jesus to help them - and so can we call on him when we need him to help us in some way.  I then explained we were going to sing Wonderful Lord which continues the theme of Jesus looking after us.

OT BX 2 Low Furness School

This afternoon I did the second lesson of Old Testament Bible Explorer with the year 5 and 6 children at Low Furness School.  We were in Egypt to start off with Moses and the children of Israel, I am trying very hard to call the people by their many names like Jacob's family, Josephs family, Hebrews, Jews, the Jewish people so that when the children hear these terms in other places they will know that they are one and the same people.  So we had Moses today and all about God bringing the people up out of Egypt towards the promised land.  We covered the Red Sea crossing, the Law, the Tabernacle and Ark of the Covenant, as well as the counting of the people, the spies sent into the land and then the forty year trek in the wilderness and finally the law a second time to a new generation of people and the death of Moses.  Next week the people move into the land under Joshua and then the Judges ending with Ruth.

St Peters

This morning I went along to St Peters for the first assembly of the new school term.  It was really lovely to see all the children again as well as their new headteacher.  I started the assembly with Be Happy, then opened a bag containing a lot of different things to wear.  Although the items were all different there was a common link between them so I asked the children to think about that as I removed the items from the bag and got some of the children to wear or hold them.  I had a wet suit, hard hat, gloves, snow boots, high viz jacket, ear defenders etc.  The common link was protection as one boy pointed out.  I then read the account of Jesus calming the storm and after explained the link between the items and the story - they all protect us in some way and help keep us safe and Jesus was in the boat and protected the disciples also.  I also explained that in life things can go really well for us and we are on a high and are happy (link to song) but there are times when we are not so high and things get us down and we are sad.  It is a bit like the waves on the sea and when a storm blows up I asked the children what the disciples did when they were in the storm - they asked Jesus for Help and he came to their rescue and saved and protected them, he can do that for us too when we are facing a difficult time for whatever reason.  I linked this to Wonderful Lord which we sang to finish off before closing with the Lord's Prayer.