Holiday Club day four

Theme for today was 'substitute' and the reading from Luke was the description of the betrayal by Judas and the arrest of Jesus. The DVD focussed on the death of Jesus with Flabby Lagoon interviewing Joseph of Arimathea.
We refrained from giving the children an exposition of the penal substitution theory of the atonement and simply told the familiar story. The worksheet from the Scripture Union material also looked forward to what happened next and tomorrow's theme is the resurrection.
It was a good morning and it passed very quickly. At the end of the morning there was only a very brief time for the usual jokes and letters.

joke of the day - what do you call a woman who stands between the goalposts? Answer - Annette.( I must tell my wife the joke - she will love it.)

second place joke of the day - what do you call a budgie who has flown in to the blender? ( answer - shredded tweet).

Perhaps I could add another joke - last night's performance by Rangers!

Holiday Club day three

Theme today was 'Jesus the team mate'. The Bible passage was from Luke 9:1-6, 10-17. The passage describes Jesus sending out the disciples on mission and then the feeding of the 5000. On both occasions the disciples worked with Jesus as part of a team and there was the reminder that we can all be part of the 'Jesus team'. The Dvd episode for today was perhaps the best yet and certainly kept the attention of the children. I am beginning to warm to the teaching dvd which is based around the BBC 'Match of Day' style interviews with Larry Spinnaker as the host. The location reporter is 'Flabby Lagoon' who is obviously based on a well known female sports reporter who is married to a former Scottish rugby international.

My team has almost completed our team flag and we are now thinking ahead to Sunday's 'Closing ceremony'.

Jokes today were of the 'knock, knock, who's there' variety. Sadly no one joke really stood out as they were all equally bad!

Holiday Club day two

Today's theme was Jesus as 'physio' and the Biblical material was from Luke 7:1-10, the story of Jesus healing the centurion's servant( and doing it at a distance). It is a remarkable story which, of course, we could not really delve into too deeply with the children.
But think of the scenario - a Roman centurion who actually has some care and affection for one of his slaves; this centurion is also sympathetic and helpful to the faith of the Jews among whom he lives;he has actually helped them to build a synagogue; he has contact with Jewish leaders and is ready to ask for their help; they react positively and seek the help of Jesus on his behalf; the centurion is humble enough and perhaps considerate enough to suggest that Jesus does not need to enter his house( think of the problems faced by a Jew who entered into a heathen Gentile's home); he recognizes the authority of Jesus and his servant is healed.
Jesus expresses his amazement at this display of faith and declares that he had not met such faith among his own people who are 'the very people who are supposed to know about God and how he works'( from the Message paraphrase).
Lots to think about in all of this and especially in the final words of Jesus about the centurion's display of faith.


Jokes for today were of the 'Doctor, doctor' variety and included the following -

patient - " Doctor, I keep thinking I am Tom Jones"
doctor - " it's not unusual"

I am not sure many of the children got it, but the all leaders did laugh or groan.

Champion's Challenge Day One

First day of this year's Holiday Club passed without a hitch and seemed to be enjoyed by all. The theme today was 'Jesus - the trainer' and the Bible passage was the parable of the two builders from Luke 6. In the spiritual preparation before the children arrived we were reminded by Sarah that God may call us to do hard things, things to which we would rather give a miss and things that will require effort of us.( it is Sarah and her sister Rachel who do all the hard up front work with the club and they do it superbly as a double act who can do both the serious and the hilarious).
We sang the theme song which I now cannot get out of my head. We made 'Olympic torches' in the craft time.
Tomorrow begins the 'personal best' challenge and my team( the Dominoes) will need to get down to making our team flag.


Joke of the day for me was - why did the premier league footballer on the transfer list cross the road - to get to the other side, of course.

Champion's Challenge

At Church we are now in the final stages of preparation for another Holiday Club week which begins on Monday 28th July. 47 children have booked in and we have a good and experienced team of leaders and helpers to make sure it all goes as it should. Harrogate Baptist has been running a Holiday Club every year for the past 17 or 18 years and some of those still involved have been doing Holiday Club every year from the start.
Champion's Challenge has a sporty theme. Each day's title uses a different sporting image to explain different facets of who Jesus is( have you ever thought of Jesus as a physio?). The Biblical material is from Luke's Gospel. Again I get to wear a t-shirt that is unlikely to see the light of day after the week is over. The Holiday Club services is the only time I turn up at church on Sunday in a t-shirt( not even when I am on holiday).
I will try to blog during the week and reflect on how my group respond to the games,teaching and activities( and on a how I am surviving!).

Great Yorkshire Show

We have lived in Harrogate for just over seven years and yesterday we finally made it to the Great Yorkshire Show. Annette and I enjoyed our day out and the weather was really kind to us. Among the attractions was a number of cookery demonstrations. One of the chefs was Tim Cottrill, an 18 year old Church member at Harrogate Baptist. It was amazing to watch him demonstrate how to prepare and cook two separate dishes while giving his audience a running commentary and snippets of good advice. He appeared absolutely cool and relaxed throughout the whole demonstration. I think he has a big future in food if he chooses to go in that direction. Hopefully when he is a famous chef at a top international restaurant he might remember the minister who baptized him!!
During our day we also visited the Yorkshire Church on Show display which was based on the theme of 'the Good Shepherd'.