Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Going against the flow - being different

(Key stage 2 and 3)
Christmas Fayre. Everyone is going one way. You are going other way. It is hard.


Dinghy at beach. The tide is going out. You paddle hard. If not, the air sea rescue ambulance will come and you will look a bit of an idiot. You went with the tide.

Sometimes we need to make a stand and go against the flow.

You go to the cinema with friends and your mother said you must be back at seven but the film ends and your friends say let's go round to someone's house. You have a decision to make. Do you go with the flow or do you say, "sorry. I've got to go home".

There is a story in the Bible about the King called Nebuchadnezzar. King Nebuchadnezzar was ruler of the Babylonian Empire. Story of Shadrach, Meshack, and Abednego (my shack, your shack and the bungalow).

It's very hard to be different, especially if you're going to be fried alive if you are different.

But God was so important for shaped rack, Meshack and Abednego that they were going to make a stand – even if it meant they were thrown into the fiery furnace.

Story of Father Kyrill: We met Father Kyrill in the theological college in St Petersburg, when my wife and I were living there for two years. He was the spiritual father of the seminary. He had been battered and smashed by life. He had been sentenced to 10 years of hard labour (on three different occasions) in Soviet labour camps, simply for responding to the love of God in a society which said that God did not exist. He could have become so hard and bitter. But he wasn’t. Despite the suffering, he had begun to love, to forgive and to give, and his face was literally radiant.

Dead fish float with the current; living fish swim against it.


Monday, October 18, 2010

Harvest assembly

An assembly that can be used for KS1,2 and 3, with adaptation

You will need the letters HARVEST written on different cards.

At the beginning of the assembly, invite 7 children to the front to hold the cards (jumbled up), and ask the other children to tell you what word they can make from it.

As you speak, ask the children with the letters to spell the words, and for those whose letters are not being used, to stand to one side.

God has given us a beautiful and abundant EARTH.
There is actually enough food for everyone to EAT
God provides for us in many ways. He gives us the products to make clothes (ask what items of clothing can be made from the word HARVEST: HAT or VEST)

But something is wrong. While we HAVE so much; indeed we have so much that a great deal ends up as TRASH, VAST numbers of people in the REST of the world STARVE.

(You may wish to add some statistics: eg. one third of the world is overfed, one third underfed, and one third seriously malnourished)

God gave us a good EARTH, with enough for all people, if the resources were used wisely
God also gave us a HEART, to love him - who has given us the earth - and to love other people.

But we don't. We put ourselves first.

So here is a simple test. Imagine you found a £10 note in the street. There is nobody around. There is no point taking it to the police station. What would you do with it? Be honest.

Who would keep it?
Who would keep it and possibly invite some friends to Shake-away or Macdonalds?
Who would give most of it away, when they heard of someone in need?

We did nothing to deserve that £10. It was pure chance. But most of us would keep it for ourselves.

That is the same situation that we find ourselves in. We did nothing to be born into a relatively wealthy society. We might give away a little, but most of the time we keep our resources for ourselves.

So how do we change?
We will not change by simply having someone like me telling you that you have to change.

It begins when there are real TEARS - when we realise just how selfish we are.
We recognise that we need someone to SAVE us - because we cannot change ourselves
We need someone who loves us and who can give us a new HEART - so that we begin to love.
Because it is when we love that we will freely choose to SHARE