Spring Term 1

Bread was a staple in the diet of the Jews and throughout the Bible a symbol of God’s provision for His people in the Old Testament e.g.  Exodus 16:  4-12 God’s provision of manna which was given every day in the desert.   Christians believe they are asking God to sustain them physically, supplying their basic needs to live and to support their spiritual needs.

This half term we are in Christmastide and Epiphany until 5^th February 2022 and the liturgical colour is white/gold.  From 6^th February (until 5^th March) we are in ordinary time and the liturgical colour is green.

Set up your worship table or centre of the class circle with the liturgical cloth and take out the Bible, cross and light candle.

Say opening responses
If you have school responses or opening words for collective worship say them together or say the following:

We take out the Bible 
 –  and think about God the Father
We take out the cross 
 –  and think about God’s Son, Jesus
We light the candle
 –  and think about God, the Holy Spirit

Worship box

This week you could include
Bible, cross, candle, liturgical cloth
A symbol for prayer
Shield symbol to represent courage, trust and faith
Different types of bread

You could explore with pupils what Give us today our  daily bread might mean

You could explore together people who provide for us physically, those for example involved in food production and delivery and who might be those in our community who provide our spiritual needs

You could explore how Christians meet their spiritual needs (e.g. prayer, reading the bible, worship in church etc)

You could explore the link with this Bible verse ‘I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty’ – John 6:  35-51

You could ask pupils to think of people to be thankful for who provide what we need.  These could be added to a large outline of bread that is kept in the reflection area this week as a reminder along with the words Give us today our daily bread

You could invite pupils to say the Lord’s Prayer together and do the sign language together

You could invite pupils to sing the Lord’s Prayer using the song resource shared in the introduction

After Israel was defeated many of the people were taken into exile. Some prospered and joined the government as administrators, but they continued to worship the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Darius the king was actively considering putting one of these people, Daniel, in charge of his entire civil service. Those overlooked plotted against Daniel and, when they could find nothing to report against him, persuaded Darius to establish a new law. Flattering the monarch the law made it illegal for any citizen to make a request of any one other than him, including saying prayers. Daniel loved God and didn’t stop praying to him at least three time each day. The king had no option but to condemn him to be thrown into an enclosure with lions, an obvious death sentence. When Daniel survived, unharmed, Darius ordered that his God should be respected throughout the empire.

Make connections with Give us this day our daily bread.  Explore how Daniel turned to God in his time of need.  I wonder how Daniel showed courage and faith.

This half term we are in Christmastide and Epiphany until 5^th February 2022 and the liturgical colour is white/gold.  From 6^th February (until 5^th March) we are in ordinary time and the liturgical colour is green.

Set up your worship table or centre of the class circle with the liturgical cloth and take out the Bible, cross and light candle.

Say opening responses
If you have school responses or opening words for collective worship say them together or say the following:

We take out the Bible 
 –  and think about God the Father
We take out the cross 
 –  and think about God’s Son, Jesus
We light the candle
 –  and think about God, the Holy Spirit

Worship box

This week you could include
Bible, cross, candle, liturgical cloth
A symbol for prayer
Shield symbol to represent courage, trust and faith
A figure to represent Daniel and some pictures of or some toy lions

A gathering activity on courage  (from faith at Home, CEEO) 

I wonder what you think of when you hear the word courage?
I wonder who you think of when you hear the word courage?
I wonder if you can think of a time in your life when you had to be filled with courage? What did this feel
like?

Find a small stone and hold it in your hand
Could something this small make any difference to anything?

You could read Daniel and the Lions from the Lion Storyteller Bible

You could watch the story using one of these videos

Play Video

Daniel in the Lions' Den

• You could ask some I wonder questions:

I wonder what it might have been like to be captured and taken to a strange land?
I wonder why Daniel continued to pray to God? 
I wonder why the King’s men were jealous of Daniel?
I wonder how Daniel felt in the Lion’s Den?
I wonder what this story teaches us about courage, trust and faith?

• You could encourage pupils to write one thing they will take away from today’s story on a shield and add it to the class reflection area

A sending activity on courage (from faith at Home, CEEO) 

Use the EXAMEN prayer to reflect on courage. It has 5 steps, so you might like to count them on your fingers.

1. GIVE THANKS for something that were good today
2. ASK FOR HELP with something that scares you at the moment
3. REFLECT on your day and think about the things that have given you courage  and the things that have discouraged you
4. SAY SORRY for the times you have lacked courage, or discouraged someone else
5. DECIDE how you will keep hold of your courage tomorrow

You could invite pupils to say the Lord’s Prayer together and do the sign language together

You could invite pupils to sing the Lord’s Prayer using the song resource shared in the introduction

The people who collected the taxes in Jesus time were very unpopular. Not only did they work for the Roman enemy, but they cheated, asking for more money than they should. Tax collectors were very rich and often disliked by the people around them. Zacchaeus was no different. He was curious about Jesus, but never imagined he would sit and eat with Jesus. Luke tells us nothing of what happened, but we do know from this story in that after meeting Jesus he was different. Zacchaeus not only repaid what he had stolen but gave away lots of money too. Meeting Jesus changed the life of that tax collector, and Christians believe Jesus can help us become better people too.

Make connection with Give us today our daily bread….. I wonder how this story links?  I wonder what things you need to help you keep going when things are difficult? 

This half term we are in Christmastide and Epiphany until 5^th February 2022 and the liturgical colour is white/gold.  From 6^th February (until 5^th March) we are in ordinary time and the liturgical colour is green.

Set up your worship table or centre of the class circle with the liturgical cloth and take out the Bible, cross and light candle.

Say opening responses
If you have school responses or opening words for collective worship say them together or say the following:

We take out the Bible 
 –  and think about God the Father
We take out the cross 
 –  and think about God’s Son, Jesus
We light the candle
 –  and think about God, the Holy Spirit

Worship box

This week you could include
Bible, cross, candle, liturgical cloth
A symbol for prayer
Shield symbol to represent courage, trust and faith
Some coins 
Images of the story (link below)

You could read Jesus and the taxman Lion Storyteller Bible

You could watch the story using this video

Play Video

Zacchaeus

You could use these images to retell the story
https://www.freebibleimages.org/photos/lumo-zacchaeus/ 

I wonder why Zacchaeus wanted to see Jesus?
I wonder why Jesus chose to visit Zaccheus’ house?
I wonder how Zaccheus changed after meeting Jesus?
I wonder what we could learn from this story about courage, trust and faith?

You could give pupils opportunity to write or draw responses on an outline of a coin and place them in the reflection area this week. 

Use the EXAMEN prayer to reflect on perseverance and faith. It has 5 steps, so you might like to count them on your fingers.

1. GIVE THANKS for something that went well today – perhaps something hard that you kept going with.
2. ASK FOR HELP to be able to do hard and challenging things
3. REFLECT on your day and think about the times when you showed perseverance and when you found it hard to keep going
4. SAY SORRY for the times you have acted in a way that didn’t show love
5. DECIDE how you will share love with others through your thoughts, actions and words

In both the Old and New Testament the Bible talks a lot about God’s heart for justice and how he wants those who are disadvantaged to be treated well. Loving God means loving others and this means having courage to stand up for those that might not be able to stand up for themselves regardless of what they look like, do, or have. Sometimes this is in small ways with the people we meet, and sometimes in big ways that challenge unjust systems.  Today we are going to find out more about William Wilberforce, a man, who was motivated by his beliefs to take courage and speak out against injustice. 

In Hull Minster, you can see the font that William Wilberforce was baptised in. He became a Christian when he was 12 years old. He went to Hull Grammar School, which at that time was right next to the church. After that he went to Cambridge University where he met William Pitt the Younger, who would be prime minister for many years. They were both passionate about politics and Wilberforce got elected to parliament when he was just 21. He met John Newton, who had been a slave trader but now was campaigning to stop the slave trade. John Newton wrote hymns, including ‘Amazing Grace’ which is often associated with Wilberforce. He also met Thomas Clarkson, who was probably the most famous campaigner against slavery at that time. They worked together for many years. Wilberforce used his position as a member of parliament to introduce laws to stop slavery, Clarkson organised rallies and produced pamphlets.
William Wilberforce didn’t just campaign against slavery. He founded the Bible Society and the RSPCA (Royal Society for the Protection of Animals). He worked with Hannah More to spread the idea of Sunday School. It was his Christianity that drove him on to help make all these good things. In 1804, when another of his anti-slavery laws had been defeated in parliament he said ‘when men are devoid of religion, they cannot be relied upon.’

When William Wilberforce joined the abolition campaign, slavery was normal. People were captured in Africa and shipped over to the Caribbean islands to work on sugar plantations. The slaves were treated very badly indeed. As a Member of Parliament, Wilberforce kept introducing laws to abolish slavery but other MPs who were getting rich from slaves voted against him and slavery carried on. He kept on doing this for eighteen years. Slavery was finally abolished and the slaves freed on 29th July 1833. William Wilberforce died three days later.

This half term we are in Christmastide and Epiphany until 5^th February 2022 and the liturgical colour is white/gold.  From 6^th February (until 5^th March) we are in ordinary time and the liturgical colour is green.

Set up your worship table or centre of the class circle with the liturgical cloth and take out the Bible, cross and light candle.

Say opening responses
If you have school responses or opening words for collective worship say them together or say the following:

We take out the Bible 
 –  and think about God the Father
We take out the cross 
 –  and think about God’s Son, Jesus
We light the candle
 –  and think about God, the Holy Spirit

Worship box

This week you could include
Bible, cross, candle, liturgical cloth
A symbol for prayer
Shield symbol to represent courage, trust and faith
An image of William Wilberforce
A picture of the Houses of Parliament
An image to represent slavery e.g chains 
An image of the courts 

You could use the book A world of Difference by Bob Hartman which includes William Wilberforce’s story

How do you feel when things don’t happen as quickly as you want?
I wonder what must it have been like for William Wilberforce to campaign for all those years for changes to the slavery laws and for it not to happen? 

I wonder how he felt in the last days of his life when he heard that slavery had been abolished?
I wonder what it must it feel like to be in court accused of a crime? 

What if you were accused of a crime that you know you’re not guilty of? Or you did something that was against the law because you know in your heart that the law needs changing?
Can you think of anything happening in our world where people are speaking up and asking for change (you could link back to the theme of justice from last half term)

You could ask pupils to write a reflection on a speech bubble on something they want to speak up or speak out on to make a difference.  They could pray a prayer if they wish to asking for courage to speak up

You could invite pupils to say the Lord’s Prayer together and do the sign language together

You could invite pupils to sing the Lord’s Prayer using the song resource shared in the introduction