Summer Term 1

This half term we are in Eastertide (which ends on 4^th June 2022) and the liturgical colour is white/gold.  Each week we encourage you to

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

If you are using this for class worship, you can choose items to go in a box that are taken out at the beginning of the worship.  We encourage including a Bible, cross and candle along with the liturgical cloth in the colour for the season of the church year. 

You might want to have a symbol for the Lord’s Prayer that stays in the box all year, alongside the symbols we provide that highlight if we are exploring an Old Testament story, a New Testament story, a story Jesus told or an example of an individual.  For this half term you could use the person taking an oath symbol to represent truth and wisdom.  You can then select items relevant for each week’s story. 

You could set up a reflection area this half term using one of the resources below that provides creative ways for pupils to reflect or pray.

Thinking about wisdom

Consider putting Bible verses and quotes about wisdom up around your reflection area and encouraging pupils over the next few weeks to respond to the following question:

If you could choose one wise saying to pass on to the next generation, what would it be?

Here are some quotes and bible verses you could use

Christians believe that prayer allows them to talk directly with God and praying to God is like having a conversation with a friend.  It is a two way process, sometimes talking and sometimes listening – there are no rules about how or when.  Sometimes in our conversations, we can get selfish and make it all about us.  Jesus’ friends, the disciples, asked Jesus how to pray and Jesus helps his friends to get the most out of their conversations with God by giving them a model prayer – often called the Lord’s Prayer. Christians around the world today still use the Lord’s Prayer to help them pray.

The Lord’s Prayer is made up of seven prayers; three focussing on God and four thinking about our concerns and needs as people.  It starts and ends with the reminder that God is in control of everything but still loves people like the perfect parent. The middle lines help people to think about how they can live their lives as light-bringing people. This means following God’s ways, saying sorry when they mess up and forgiving others when they hurt them. The prayer recognises that this is not always easy but God’s Spirit can help people if they trust him for everything, every day.

You could use some ideas from this collective worship

This half term we are in Eastertide (which ends on 4^th June 2022) and the liturgical colour is white/gold. 

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
Symbol for truth and wisdom
Quotes and bible verses that will be displayed in the reflection area

Overview for the teacher

Everyday we make hundreds of choices, from little ones like what colour cup to drink from, to big ones like which secondary school to go to. Christians believe that sometimes what we want and what God knows is best for us and those around us are different. 

Christians believe we can think of it like a choice between two paths. One, that is our way, which could lead us into darkness and all sorts of trouble. The other, God’s way, which leads us into light and love. Being wise and choosing God’s way is not always easy, especially if friends and others want us to go their way, but this line of Jesus’ prayer reminds Christians that God can help us to make wise choices based on truth.

Explore the concept of wisdom with pupils

You could use these ideas from Barnabas in Schools:

Wisdom isn’t the same as knowledge. It isn’t something to be learned as a curriculum subject. So how do we gain it?

Wisdom is about how we handle our good and bad experiences of life. It is about how we use the knowledge we have. It is about our choices. What helps you make a wise choice?

Wisdom isn’t about giving opinions but about acting wisely once you have weighed up the possibilities. Wisdom acts for the good of others and not for purely personal gain. Wisdom earns respect because it is focused on long-term thinking. Who do you think is a wise person and why?

Wisdom is about being prepared to listen to the advice of others, thinking before you speak and choosing silence over words. Wisdom involves considering others, deliberating over the issues, reflecting on the long view and taking into account all possible consequences. How good are you at doing these things? What would help you do better?

Display the Bible verses and quotes about wisdom up around your reflection area and encouraging pupils over the next few weeks to respond to the following question:

If you could choose one wise saying to pass on to the next generation, what would it be?

Pupils could add their first response based on their learning and thinking from today’s collective worship

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

Saul started out as a good king but soon he was choosing his way, not God’s, and things were going wrong for him. God chose David as his successor because he knew that David loved him and tried to follow his ways. Saul inevitably became jealous and tried to hunt David down. 

I like this story because it is a little bit rude, but the point of it is that David chose God’s way over the way that would give him immediate power. He trusted God and held on to the truth that God had shared with him, enabling him to make a wise choice. Saul recognises David’s wisdom when he realised that he had to chance to kill him but didn’t, saying ‘David, you’re a better person than I am. You treated me with kindness, even though I’ve been cruel to you’

This half term we are in Eastertide (which ends on 4^th June 2022) and the liturgical colour is white/gold. 

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
Symbol for truth and wisdom

Read 1 Samuel 24

You could use this video to tell the story

Play Video

David Serves Saul (1 Samuel 24)

Make connections with what pupils remember about David from the autumn term when we explored the story of David and Goliath

Make connections with ‘Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil’ and what we learned about being wise last week

• You could ask some I wonder questions:
• I wonder what part of the story you liked best?
• I wonder what part of the story was the most important?
• I wonder who showed wisdom in this story?
• I wonder what we can learn about wisdom and doing the right thing from this story?

You could use this reflection activity from Prayer Spaces in Schools and connect it to the story of David and Saul: https://prayerspacesinschools.com/resources/the-beatitudes-wisdom/ 

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

1. GIVE THANKS for something that was good today
2. ASK FOR HELP with something you need to do or an action you need to take that needs wisdom
3. REFLECT on your day and think about the people around you who show wisdom and help you make the right choices
4. SAY SORRY for the times you have made the wrong choices
5. DECIDE how you will practice wisdom 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

It is likely that much of the information Luke used in his account of Jesus’ early life came from Mary. Each year at Passover time Jesus’ family would travel from Nazareth to Jerusalem to celebrate the festival in company with other families from the area. When Jesus was around twelve years old he went missing on the return journey. He could not be found amongst their relatives and friends and so Mary and Joseph retraced their steps.

Eventually they found Jesus sitting amongst the religious scholars, asking searching questions and listening to their answers. When challenged by his mum Jesus responded by suggesting the Temple church in Jerusalem was just where they would expect to find him, calling it his father’s house. Although Mary did not quite understand, it was one of those family memories that she treasured. Luke points out that Jesus was an obedient child who although God still grew in height and wisdom just like us.

This half term we are in Eastertide (which ends on 4^th June 2022) and the liturgical colour is white/gold. 

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
Symbol for truth and wisdom

Read Luke 2:41-52

You could read The Boy in the Temple from the Lions Storyteller Bible

You could use this video to tell the story

Play Video

Jesus in the Temple (Luke 2)

Make connection with ‘Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil’ and what we have learned so far about wisdom

I wonder what this story and Jesus example teaches us about wisdom?

I wonder who we learn from?  I wonder who we listen to, to help us make wise choices?

You could use the following reflection questions as pupils sit quietly
I wonder if we can we think of a time when we have not acted wisely and have hurt others by the things that we have said or done?
I wonder if we have ever used our wisdom to help others?
I wonder if we have ever acted in a wise way, rather than in a thoughtless way? 

I wonder how we could act wisely this week?

Dear God

Thank you for today’s story and thank you for the people who hep us to make wise choices.  Help us to make wise choices this week and listen to the guidance of others.  Amen

The gospel writers tell us that Jesus applied the traditional laws given to Moses in a new way, cutting through the traditions which focus on what things looked like, and emphasising the importance of changes in the attitude and behaviour of each individual. He told the story of two housebuilders to show the importance of acting on what he had to say.

One builder ignored the need to build on proper foundations with the consequence that a sudden storm undermined the structure and the building collapsed. In contrast, Jesus said, those who not only heard his teaching, but applied it were like sensible builders putting down a firm foundation to ensure the building would survive the fiercest of storms. In this way Jesus encouraged individuals to engage with the God-given rules for living practically and actively.

This half term we are in Eastertide (which ends on 4^th June 2022) and the liturgical colour is white/gold. 

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

A symbol for truth and wisdom

Some lego bricks, a solid surface and a tray of sand ( to use as props when telling the story)

Read Matthew 7:24-27

You could read The Two Houses from the Lion Storyteller Bible

You could use this video to share the story

Play Video

The Parable of the Two Builders

You could use ideas from this collective worship plan

Give each pupil an outline of a brick.

Talk and reflect together about solid and wise foundations we can build on.  You might want to start by exploring your school vision and any school values you have,  for example trust, compassion, justice and explore together why they are ‘solid’ and ‘wise’.  Encourage pupils to write some of their responses on a brick and display them in the reflection area

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

This half term we are in Eastertide (which ends on 4^th June 2022) and the liturgical colour is white/gold. 

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

This week you could include

Bible, cross, candle, liturgical cloth

A symbol for prayer

A symbol for truth and wisdom

An ammonite

Some photos from the photo pack

You could use this resource pack to share the story of St Hild.  You could use this to plan a series of collective worship or even plan a curriculum day or class project.  If using for one collective worship you may want to focus in on day 4 on wise leadership.

As she lay dying, looked after by her community, these were her last words :

“Preserve the peace of the Gospel among yourselves and also with ALL others.”

So many things Hild had learned herself during her lifetime had come through very difficult
experiences in life – she never had it easy. Kings and wars had come and gone, she often had to hide or
escape from them, family killed or lost, starting new communities from scratch, religious leaders
arguing over church matters. Yet her very last words tell you what her whole life was about :

“Preserve the peace of the Gospel among yourselves and also with ALL others.”

Hild was known for being a great, wise leader and teacher of both women and of men. She helped each
one she met to live well and to serve God as fully as they could, whoever they were. And through it all,
she called on God for wisdom, courage and strength to continually live out the good news, the ‘godspel’
of peace and share it with all others.

“Preserve the peace of the Gospel among yourselves and also with ALL others

I wonder what words would tell others what my life was about…and yours…?

Encourage pupils to put some of these words on the cut out of an ammonite and display in the reflection area.

You could use one of the prayers or responses from the resource pack