Yesterday we were joined at the Church Centre by 90 year 3/4 students & 10-12 teachers/helpers from Drayton Park Primary School for a session exploring the Christmas Story. As part of their RE subjects they’d been learning about the journeys of Mary & Joseph, and the Wise Men, and had heard about the part King Herod played in the adventure.
We used the Pop-Up Nativity from the Bible Society as the basis for our session and included 4 reflective activities to help connect the story to our lives today. The Pop-Up Nativity is based on the following video (& booklet) called The Well Good News of Christmas:
After telling each part of the story we stopped and encouraged the students to reflect on it & how it connects to them. Then there was a short activity which was both practical, reflective & productive:
- reflecting on the conversation between Mary & the Angel
- think about your hopes & dreams
- write them on a paper strip
- combine the strips to make a paper chain
- reflecting on the journeys of Mary, Joseph & the Shepherds
- think about your ‘journey’ this last year
- what’s the best thing that’s happened?
- has anything sad or disappointing happened?
- write them on footprints then stick them on the wall
- reflecting on God’s guidance to the Wise Men
- is there anything you need help with or guidance about?
- write it on a star and stick it on the night sky
- if God could help & guide the Wise Men, surely He can help you too
- reflecting on how Jesus came to free us from the things we’ve done wrong
- thing about something you’ve done wrong, that you’re sorry about
- write it on your ‘Sorry!’ sheet
- then put it in the shredder as a sign that you’re sorry
- it’s now gone – forgiven & forgotten
Here are some photos which show the activities we engaged in, and what they produced. As you can see, the paper-chains, footsteps and stars are now decorating the Church. The shredding is there too – the most unusual decoration – but a reminder of God’s forgiveness available through Jesus.
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