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Stone angels

curly wurly ladder

giant ladder to heaven

 Sheila explains the 'signing'


Jake after he ate his ladder

Awesome story



Messy Church - 28 January 2018

Report and photos - Jim Paterson

Mealtime for the group

The first Messy Church for 2018 took the theme 'Stairway to Heaven', based on Jacob's dream in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven,
and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. Jacob had left Beersheba to set out for Harran, stopping for the night because the sun had set.

Above the 'stairway' stood the Lord, and he said: ‘I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying. Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south. All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring. I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.’

Jacob was on a long journey, running away because he and his mother deceived Isaac, his father, into giving him a blessing that was rightfully due to his brother Esau. This is a story of forgiveness.

Our craft activities included

A Rock or a Pillow

We placed some large rocks and some soft cushions on the floor. The children tried laying their heads on the rocks and on the cushions, telling us
the differences. ‘The hard rock had sharp bits that dug into my head' was typical response. Whereas ‘I liked the pillow. It reminded me of my comfy bed at home' .

We talked about how, in the story, Jacob is in the desert and when he goes to bed he uses a stone as a pillow. We wondered what it’s like only to have that as your bed. What about homeless people who have to live with this every day?

Ladder Hopscotch

A ladder was marked out on the floor and we threw a beanbag 'up' the rungs of the ladder. Hopping up the ladder to reach the beanbag we repeated the throw until we reached the top. If the beanbag fell off to one side is wa slike snakes and ladders, back to the start.   

We talked about how Jacob had a dream where he saw a ladder going all the way up to heaven with angels going up and down it. What did we think that meant?

Angels

We made angels using card, feathers, paper and glue. When they were dry they were ready to 'fly' to the Giant Ladder.

Giant Ladder

Staying with the 'ladder' theme a group built a ladders from cardboard rolls and we slung it over a rafter in the hall. It was very high, and we pinned some Angels to the rungs, some going up, others coming down.

We thought about how big the ladder Jacob saw would have to be, to go all the way from heaven to earth. Then asked ourselves which person in the Bible is the clearest ‘ladder’ between heaven and earth?

Changing People

Using paper people cutouts we decorated one person as a happy person, and the other as a sad, mean one. Sticking them back-to-back on a stick we turned them round as we told the story of Jacob.

We talked about how, at the beginning of his story, Jacob wasn’t a very nice man. He lied, cheated, and tricked people. But as God changed his heart with a dream, he turned his life around to be how God wanted him to be. Was there anything in our lives we needed to change to be how God wants us to be?

Curly Wurly Ladder

We must have a craft that can be eaten at the end.  We used a 'Curly wurly' chocolate bar stuck into a 'fairy cake', trying to make th echocolate 'ladder' stand up). Put candy floss at the top to create clouds. Either wet the back of the jelly baby ‘angels’, or spread some icing on them, to stick them to the ladders as if they’re moving up and down between heaven and earth.

We talked about how, in Jacob’s dream, there was a constant flow of angels going up and down between heaven and earth. This wasn’t a physical ladder – Jacob didn’t see it while he was awake, but God showed him something he would understand. How would we describe angels coming and going between earth and heaven today? Maybe a lift? Maybe an escalator?

Sheila Anderson led the celebration time in the church, with Neil Cape playing the part of Jacob, complete with stone pillow (ouch! that looks sore for his head). With the help of song and actions we got involved with the whole story.  

After a closing prayer we headed back to the church hall for a meal of meatballs, chips and vegetables, followed by cake and juice. A great time for families to chat amongst themselves swapping their experiences of Messy Church.

March Messy church will be on Sunday 25th February

For  more information on Messy Church contact
Joan Cape 674276 capefamily@talktalk.net

Published - 30 January 2018

Penicuik: St. Mungo's Parish Church (Church of Scotland). Scottish Charity No SC005838