The Parish Magazine December 2023

8 The Parish Magazine - December 2023
the parish noticeboard — 2
STAY in October
St Andrew's Youth
STAY on Sunday
We continued our water theme in October by looking at stories of Noah’s Ark, Moses being drawn out of the
Nile by Pharaoh’s daughter, and God parting the Red Sea to save the Israelites. While thinking about Moses
we included a prayer activity when the young people took a ping pong ball and a Sharpie marker pen that they
used to write on the ping pong ball what they want to ask for God to rescue them from. The balls were placed in
a tray of water and we prayed over them about the things they need rescuing from. It was very powerful to see
how honest the youth were.
The following week we looked at the parting of the Red Sea and, having seen an experiment on Taskmaster,
I thought I’d use it to make the point of God saving his people. We had a plate of red dyed water (the Red Sea),
lit a tea light and placed it on the plate (the pillar of fire) , then placed a large glass jar over the candle (God's
protection). The water was sucked up into the jar, leaving the plate dry like the ground the Israelites walked on.
STAY on Monday
We met once in October and thought about the next STIR card in the pack: ‘Why is life so full of suffering and
injustice?’ We watched two videos — one about bullying and one about the war in Ukraine. We thought about
why bad things happen and what we do in response to suffering, and then wrote the things on plasters what
we have had said or done to us that hurt. Next smashed a plate and stuck it back together with the plasters as a
type of lamenting activity. The plate represented the world and the plasters us. Even though we suffer, God calls
us to bring the world together, to live in peace and to love without return.
STAY in Schools
The schools work for October involved an assembly, two days of mentoring and two Christian Union (CU)
meetings. The assembly was about service and challenged the students in their attitude to serving and how
much they do things for others without reward or return. The mentoring supported students who are finding
parts of life a little tricky and in the CU meetings we played lots of games and thought about how Jesus treated
the woman at the well in John 4:1-42. We discussed some points about Jesus being a massive rebel, such as:
— In those days, men did not speak to
women, it was a big no no.
A Parish Primary School Assembly
— Jews didn't associate with Samaritans
but here is Jesus, a Jew, talking
publicly with a female Samaritan.
— Jesus showed her respect, care and
didn’t judge her despite her lifestyle
and choices.
— Lots of people where she lived had
shunned and disowned her.
Jesus didn't!
For the October half term
awesome activities chosen
a football match at the Re
we bounced our way round
High Wycombe and we we
Bowl in Bracknell. Every a
and everyone had great fu
STAY on Friday
Our weekly youth club has
parish and surrounding co
the PS5 & Xbox rooms, ba
youth club runs every Frid
school years 7-13 and the 4
LZ7 Charity Bik
The start of October was a
tubes, Red Bull, flapjacks a
into schools through musi
teenagers that they have a