Sticking stars on the night sky

Exploring Christmas Together

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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