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Recently the re-formed Open the Book

team gave their first assembly (or their
premier as Becs Meteau called it) at
St Mary's School. Thank you to everyone
who prayed for us.

We chose to retell the story of The Storm
on the Lake, because we are aware of
the various reasons the children have to be worried if they listen to
the news - war in Ukraine, the climate emergency, the cost of food
and the energy crisis, besides the normal things that children have
always worried about.

As part of the story Jesus sits by the lake and tells the crowd, “God
is your Father. He dresses the flowers in beautiful colours, He
makes sure the birds have enough to eat. But you are his sons and
his daughters. Don’t you think he can clothe and feed you too? So
trust him and stop worrying your lives away.”

Later the message is repeated after Jesus calms the storm when
he turns to his disciples in the boat saying, “You didn’t need to be
frightened. You didn’t have to worry. All you had to do was to trust
me. See, everything is calm.”

We were touched by the welcome we received from the school. All
the teachers stayed to watch the presentation and the new
headmaster was impressed with the clear message at a level the
children could understand and was relevant to them. The children
listened well, even the
youngest ones, and the
small group of older
children who helped us,
enthusiastically created
waves or rowed the boat.

We couldn't have done
without them!

Continued over . . .

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