Primary Current Assemblies
AN AMAZING JOURNEY
By
Janice Ross
Suitable for Whole School (Church School)
Aim
To bring an appreciation of the amazing journey of the incarnation.
Preparation and materials
Assembly
- Show the picture of the swallows on the wires. Ask the children to identify the birds and when they last saw them.
Explain that some time in September they slipped away unnoticed. There was no fanfare, no farewell speech, yet probably within a few days more than one million swallows left the safety of their mud and grass nests, tucked away in farm buildings all across the British Isles, and set off on a 9,000 km flight south to winter in South Africa.
Point out the British Isles on the map and also South Africa.
Maybe you remember seeing them swooping low over the fields in August. That would be them practising to catch insects on the wing, especially the baby ones. Maybe you saw flocks of them collecting on telephone wires, as in this picture. That would be them joining with other families as they prepared to set off. Then one morning they would be gone.
- Where are they? Explain that if you were lucky enough to have had a late October holiday in the Mediterranean sun, somewhere in southern Spain or northern Africa, you might have seen some. In fact you might have seen flocks of them, because they have headed for the sun too.
Show the route they take on the map, explaining that they fly in a straight line, closely following the zero degree Meridian Line. Their route goes through France, Spain, Algeria, Mali, Burkina Faso, Ghana and Togo. Then they turn eastwards and fly to South Africa.
The journey takes about 12 weeks. They fly only during the daytime, covering up to 200 km a day, at an average speed of 30 kph.
Ask the children where they think they might be now, in November?
In the early stages food and water are usually plentiful. The birds skim across the surface of lakes and rivers, scooping up water and insects. Show the picture of the swallows flying over the waterlands.
They face many hazards including storms, lack of water and exhaustion.
- Theirs is an amazing journey. Ask the children why they would do that, travelling there and back every year?
Tell the children that an even more amazing journey is one that we will celebrate with the beginning of the season of Advent. Advent means ‘a coming towards’, ‘an approaching’. The Christmas season is approaching. There is evidence of that in the shops, on the TV, in the adverts we see in our magazines.
Advent is about the approach made by Almighty God towards his creation. It involved an amazing journey between heaven and earth. It involved God coming all the way to earth. We will listen again to the story of God sending his son, Jesus, from heaven to earth as a baby. Jesus would grow up in our world, among all its hazards, and through his life show us what Father God is like. He would bring the message of God’s love for us, all the way from heaven to earth. That amazing journey is what the Christmas season is all about.
Time for reflection
Reflection
Imagine the swallows that flew around the countryside in the summer days.
Imagine them now flying over the hot deserts of Africa, finding insects and water where they can, fighting exhaustion.
Imagine them covering vast distances every day over ever-changing landscapes, always sensing the call to fly south.
Now imagine God wanting to reach the people on earth with the story of his love. That meant sending his son a long way on a mission, starting with being born as a baby in a stable in Bethlehem.
Prayer
Dear God,
Thank you that in nature we see so many amazing things.
We marvel at the journey tiny birds like swallows make, year in, year out.
But even more amazing is the journey you made to earth to tell us of your love.
Thank you, in Jesus’ name.
Amen.
Song
‘The journey of life’ (Come and Praise, 45)
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