Christingle

160 people packed into St Paul's on Christmas Eve for our Crib and Christingle service. It was great to see so many people and to be able to hear again the Christmas story. I hope you all had a great Christmas and may God bless you in 2016.

Hey Mary!

Watch this song on You Tube Hey Mary! for a retelling of the Angel's news to Mary that she was to be the mother of Jesus.

Principal Services – January - March

Happy New Year! Welcome to the start of 2016.

There is a lot happening in the next 3 months as we look at Great Prayers of the Bible and journey together through Lent and Easter. May God bless you and yours richly in 2016.

Yours In Christ,

Steve.

Service Programme

Carols by Candlelight

On Sunday night we welcomed 150 people to St Paul's for our service of Carols by Candlelight. It was great to see so many people, many of who were visiting. You are welcome to join us for any of our services. Our next one is at 4pm on Christmas eve, Crib & Christingle, perfect for families!

Supertroopers Nativity

Our fantastic Supertroopers children put on their nativity play this morning. It was excellent, great singing, lines all learnt and spoken well. Huge thanks to all involved for a super retelling of the Nativity.

Community Carol Singing

A group of us spent an hour at Sainsbury's this lunchtime singing Christmas Carols. We gave out service invites and sweets although people seemed more keen to make a donation! We raised over £55 which will be sent to the Bible Society and Embrace the Middle East. Now we are all in fine voice for our Carols by Candlelight on Sunday 20th at 7pm!

God with us

Here is a remake of one of the more famous Christmas adverts with a Christian twist. It reminds us that God is not far off, distant or uninterested in us. Rather at Christmas we remember the truth of Emmanuel, God with us. At Christmas we celebrate the greatest gift from the greatest giver. Click here to watch.

Youth on a Mission

Over the last 2 months our young people have been doing all sorts of things to bring more love and hope to this Christmas season particularly to those in need, We believe that putting the Christ into Christmas is about being Jesus to those around us. We made christmas cards and stockings, made Christmas boxes for the Samaritan's purse, helped raise money for local charities and we're currently doing an Advent Acts of kindness challenge to share more love and hope in our everyday lives and opportunities. Here are some picture and a link to the video which will show you more.

http://stpaulsoadby.moonfruit.com/youth-work-1/4586947808

School visits

Last week Foundation stage from Brookside visited St Paul's and brought their own home made decorations to hang on our tree which look lovely. They also heard the nativity story and got to explore a range of advent calendars and crib scenes.
Today Key Stage 1 came and heard the Christmas story as well as singing some carols. The year one children showed us their drawings of the nativity scene on a star, on the back they had written their favourite part of the Christmas story. Year two children had decorated a present and written on it a gift they would like to share with the world. There were many thoughtful and kind gestures including helping others, remembering the poor and spending time with family.

An exciting Sunday

St Pauls Church was packed with over 160 people at the All Age service last Sunday morning. It was a busy service with a lot going on. It was not just all age in the congregation, but all age in the music group as well.

We had the great joy of welcoming the Jones family, with their friends, for the baptism of Freya. As her parents have taken this step of faith for her, we pray that Freya may grow in a knowledge and love of Christ.

Our curate, Gillian Gamble, spoke of the giving of presents in general – a feature of life at Christmas time – with lots of interaction with the congregation (particularly the younger members) about their favourite presents. But she also spoke about Jesus, the baby at Bethlehem, as the greatest gift of all. But Jesus was not given just as a gift for Christmas; he wants to know our love, and to give us his love, all through the year.

This was also a gift service, when the congregation brought up toys they had bought specially as presents for children in refuges and homeless hostels. Gift were also brought up to be used by the Welcome Project as gifts for asylum seekers.

This was the first of the Sunday services relating especially to Christmas. We continue next Sunday at 7.0 pm with our Carols by Candlelight Service. Everyone is very welcome.

Gifts

One of the organisations that we will be helping at our Gift Service is Action Homeless. As they say: “we provide accommodation for around 100 people every night of the year at our ten supported housing projects. One of our projects, Bridge House, offers safe and welcoming accommodation for women and children who are fleeing domestic violence. Many of the families we work with have had to leave their homes with nothing and come to Bridge House to start the process of rebuilding their lives."

Pray for the homes where mothers and children are safeguarded to avoid violence. We will be sending them gifts to suit the children they are currently dealing with, so we pray that we get the details right and that every child gets something appropriate.

We pray for their protection and for the coming year.

And we pray too for solutions to the problems the mothers face.

Let the Light Shine!

The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness
    a light has dawned. Isaiah 9;2

Derek Bowering, who leads our Super Troopers (the Sunday School) has a wonderful ability to produce visual aids that illustrate Christian truths for the children. This Sunday, he provided the main materials for each child to make a manger, with a low voltage electric circuit, to illustrate the Christmas story. Only when a piece of wood carved with the name "God" was in place, did a star (lamp) light up the scene, to show that it was the presence of Jesus, God made man, in the stable that made the difference – he is the light of the world.

The verse associated with this was Isaiah 9:2 

The people walking in darkness have seen a great light;

on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned.

Whenever Derek is on duty, he provides some similar model. One child has kept all of those that he has received on a shelf in his bedroom.

We are so grateful for Derek's ingenuity and for the time that he is willing to spend to help children understand God better.

It's That Time of Year!

 We're waiting, with excitement, for Christmas – the reminder that God came as a baby to Bethlehem, to live among us and to die on Good Friday. So, this becomes a season of Carol Services. The Parkinsons Society, who use our buildings to hold their meetings have already had their service. Then, last Thursday, the Coffee Pot group held theirs. It was led by our vicar, Steve Bailey, and Kate Potter kindly played the organ for the carols.

After a light-hearted retelling of the Christmas story, using some horrendous puns relating to the names of sweets, Steve reminded us of the importance of Christ's coming to Earth in order to die for our sins.

Between every two rows of chairs, there had been a table decorated for Christmas. At the end of the service, one of the two rows was turned round so that we could meet around the table for coffee and mince pies.

The church's Main Carol Service (by candlelight) will be at 7 PM on Sunday 19 December. Everyone is very welcome. 

Baby Jesus handbagged

Baby Jesus handbagged

Christmas Starts with Christ have made a parody of one of the many adverts and cleverly asks "what are you worshipping"

Telling your Story

 About 40 people stayed on after the Bring and Share lunch on Sunday for a workshop led by James Lawrence of the Church Pastoral Aid Society, who had been the speaker in the morning. Then, he had called on us to be Salt and Light – to be God's presence in society. James now spoke about the way that we could be the connection between the lifestyle of our friends and the way of Christ. He spoke about all the barriers that discourage people from wanting to know more about Christ and encouraged us to tell our own story.

He reinforced his message by encouraging us to speak together in small groups, imagining real situations.

With Christmas coming, which reminds us how Christ came to earth to engage with its people and bring salvation, it was good to discover how we could be involved in his work.

Confirmed in Your Faith

Last Sunday, 29 November 2015, Bishop Christopher, the Assistant Bishop of Leicester visited St Cuthbert's Church, Great Glen for a service of confirmation. There were a number of candidates who wanted to be confirmed, including our own Sue Frost. There was a group from St Paul's to support her and also a group of her friends. In the service, the candidates renew their baptismal vows to follow Christ, and the Bishop then laid hands on them, praying that the Holy Spirit might dwell in them richly.

We pray that this step on her Christian journey may be one that stands out for Sue.

After the service, Sue returned to St Paul's, where she was warmly welcomed, and joined in the Bring and Share lunch that had been organised both to mark Sue's confirmation and the visit of James Lawrence from the Church Pastoral Aid society. 

Hope for the World

The Christian conservation charity A Rocha has launched an on line advent calendar called Hope for the World. You can access it by clicking here.

Given the importance of world wide climate change talks that begin in Paris on 30th November there has never been a more crucial time to be praying for the world in which we live and to take seriously our call as stewards of God's good creation.

Advent Wonder

Here is a great video from Stewardship called Advent Wonder. Click here to watch it. It is encouraging us to use Advent well as preparation for Christmas, to wonder again at the greatest gift from the greatest giver. You can sign up to receive emails from them through Advent to help your reflection in the midst of this busy time.

Connected Church

Here is the latest news from the churches we support through Tearfund. To visit the website click here.

Amid all the challenges that life throws at Lucy, there’s one crucial thing that helps her stand tall – her faith.
Today, her outlook on life is transformed. Now she confronts her difficulties with firm resolve and faces the future with hope.

‘I no longer have an attitude of dependence… I have developed self-reliance,’ says this inspiring grandmother.

She knows that her new-found confidence is down to the support of her local church, backed by our partner Pentecostal Assemblies of God (PAG). She also knows that the life-changing work they do is made possible through your generosity.

As you’ll recall, Lucy recently recovered from a bout of malaria and she’s still struggling with a kidney infection.

She needs to keep farming to be able to feed her five orphaned grandchildren and send them to school. ‘Much as I feel pain, I have to work,’ she says. ‘When I do rest, there is nobody who can do the work for me.’

Her crops have been disappointing too. Even her beans, for which she had high hopes, are ‘very tiny’. Climate change is taking a heavy toll.

Despite these setbacks, Lucy recognises that she’s making good progress. She’s proud that she produces her own food now, instead of working other people’s land. She has to work hard for it, but she’s putting food on the table and even has some produce left over to sell.

She’s hugely grateful for your support and her message for you underlines the power of prayer: ‘What gives me joy is your prayers, because whatever I have achieved has been through your prayers.’

Please Pray

• Pray that God will heal Lucy and restore her strength, so that she has renewed energy to farm her land. 
• Pray that Lucy and her family will all continue to grow to become like trees ‘planted by streams of water’ so that ‘whatever they do prospers’ (Psalm 1:3).
• Thank God that Lucy can now taste and see that God is good, as her life is transformed. Pray that many more families will know God’s love and power through the church in Ogongora. 

The Lord's Prayer

Prayer is powerful and dangerous, maybe that is why cinemas across the country have banned an advert showing the Lord's Prayer. The 60 second advert was passed by the standards agency but is deemed to be likely to cause offence. You can watch it yourself by clicking here.

One of the best responses I have read is from Bishop Steven Croft, the Bishop of Sheffield. Read what he wrote on his blog Seven reasons to ban the Lord's Prayer.

Looking Forward

The area Dean addresses those present

When the Rev Kim Ford was inducted as Priest-in-Charge of St Cuthbert’s Great Glen, it was as part of a reorganisation of Parish arrangements known as the 20/20 vision. The intention was that the Parish of Great Glen, together with the Parish of St Andrews Burton Overy and Carlton Curlieu should join in Team Ministry with the Parish of Oadby, St Peter's and St Paul's. On Saturday 21 November, members of the church councils from those churches met together in Church Langton Village Hall to discuss what the best arrangements for that team might be.

The meeting was convened and led by Tim Stratford, the Archdeacon of Leicester and Richard Brand, the Area Dean. After a time of worship, the different possible structures for the enlarged team were presented by the Archdeacon. Those present then met together in small groups, before and after lunch, to discuss the implications of those ideas, especially as they related to their particular churches.

There was widespread agreement that all the churches should either feature as Parish Churches, governed by Parochial Church Councils (probably the favourite) or they should all have District Church Councils with a single Parochial Church Council.

The Archdeacon and the Area Dean will now go away and see how the suggestions would look in practice.

It was a useful exercise and it was particularly good to get to know people in the different churches

Kingdom buisness

Last night I went to an event exploring Chaplaincy as a contemporary tool for mission. It was encouraging to hear what is happening with the Derby City Centre Chaplaincy. I was struck by a quote that was used during the evening from a book by Howard Snyder book Liberating the Church and reminded of the importance of being church for the sake of the Kingdom...

The church gets in trouble whenever it thinks its in the church business rather than the Kingdom business. In the church business people are concerned with church activities, religious behaviour and spiritual things. In the Kingdom business people are concerned with Kingdom activities, all human behaviour and everything God has made, visible and invisible. Kingdom people see human affairs as saturated with spiritual meaning and Kingdom significance.
Kingdom people seek first the Kingdom of God and its justice; church people often put church work above concerns of justice, mercy and truth. Church people often think about how to get people into church; Kingdom people think about how to get the church into the world. Church people worry that the world might change the church; Kingdom people work to see the church chnage the world.
When Christians put the church ahead of the Kingdom they settle for the status quo and their own kind of people. When they catch a vision of the Kingdom of God their sights shift to the poor, the orphan, the widow, the refugee 'the wretched of the earth' and to God's future. They see the life and work of the church from the perspective of the Kingdom.
If the church has one great need it is this: to be set free for the Kingdom of God, to be liberated from itself as it has become in order to be itself as God intends...

31 Bus Route

It has come as a great surprise, at 10 days notice as far as the residents are concerned, to discover that the bus company Arriva has axed the end of the 31 bus route which runs along Copse Close. This has left many elderly residents stranded in their houses and school pupils from Brookside School and Manor High School faced with a walk that crosses several busy junctions.

We believe that Christians are called to speak for those who have no voice. A petition against this action was therefore made available at church on Sunday, and a good group of the congregation joined the 200 people who met at the protest meeting in Manor High School on Monday 16^th November. A sad story was revealed of how the Leicestershire County Council Officers having received the statutory 56 day notice had failed to involve our County Councillors, let alone the local residents. New bus stops had already been installed before the meeting took place.

We will seek to continue to find ways in which the situation can be ameliorated.

Our Grief Is with You

Like the rest of the population, St Paul’s congregation had been overwhelmed with sadness at the news of the massacres in Paris – and also those in Beirut in Lebanon.

At our service on Sunday, the survivors and relatives of the dead were remembered by Michael Rusk, both as he led the service, and when he preached. They were also remembered when Hugh led our intercessions.
Not only is our prayer that comfort may be given to the grieving, but also that it may not be a cause of division within our society, and that those in sympathy with the assassins' aims may leave their attitude of hate and turn to the love of God.

Residents of Paris, we share your grief.

Are You Coming?

The Christmas Fayre was the first of our Christmas activities. Further activities and services over Christmas will be:

10.0 a.m. Sunday 13 December, the Gift Service

7.0 p.m. Sunday 20 December, Carols by Candlelight

4.0 p.m. Thursday 24 December, The All Age Crib and Christingle Service

11.30 p.m. Thursday 24 December, the Christmas Eve Midnight Communion Service

10.0 a.m. Friday 25 December, the Christmas Day Family Communion Service.

You will be very welcome at any or all of these services as we rejoice at the memory of the birth of our Saviour at Bethlehem.

St Paul's Christmas Fair

Yesterday we held our Christmas Fair. Thanks to everyone who worked so hard to make it happen. This year all the money raised (over £1,000) is to be split between two local charities, Helping Hands & Memphys. It was good to have representatives from both charities with us on the day so they could promote their work and we could interview them during the day.

Welcome

In her excellent sermon on Sunday, Lou our youth worker challenged us to think about how welcoming we are and what obstacles we as church might put in peoples way that hinder them coming to Jesus. She finished by quoting a church notice board which had the following on its sign...

“We extend a special welcome to those who are single, married, divorced, widowed, gay, confused, filthy rich, comfortable, or dirt poor. We extend a special welcome to those who are crying new-borns, skinny as a rake or could afford to lose a few pounds. You’re welcome if you are Old Leigh, New Leigh, Not Leigh, or just passing by.

We welcome you if you can sing like Pavarotti or can’t carry a note in a bucket. You’re welcome here if you’re ‘just browsing,’ just woke up or just got out of prison. We don’t care if you’re more Christian than the Archbishop of Canterbury, or haven’t been in church since little Jack’s christening.

We extend a special welcome to those who are over 60 but not grown up yet, and to teenagers who are growing up too fast. We welcome keep-fit mums, football dads, starving artists, tree-huggers, latte-sippers, vegetarians, junk-food eaters.

We welcome those who are in recovery or still addicted. We welcome you if you’re having problems or you’re down in the dumps or if you don’t like ‘organised religion.’ We’ve been there too!

If you blew all your money on the horses, you’re welcome here. We offer a welcome to those who think the earth is flat, ‘work too hard,’ don’t work, can’t spell, or because grandma is in town and wanted to go to church.

We welcome those who are inked, pierced or both. We offer a special welcome to those who could use a prayer right now, had religion shoved down your throat as a kid or got lost on the London Road and wound up here by mistake. We welcome tourists, seekers and doubters, bleeding hearts… and you!”

Classy Coffee Coming Soon!

Last night was the meeting of the Church Council. There were many issues to discuss; among them was the budget for next year, when we will need to raise £124,000 to cover our expected expenses.  But we thank God that he has always provided for our needs in the past, and we trust him that he will do so in the future.

Among items of, perhaps lesser importance, was a decision to welcome people with real filter coffee, rather than instant, and to get the equipment to do this.

So, once the equipment has come, do let us welcome you with a cup of filter coffee.

Youth Glow Party

Lou writes, "We had an awesome time celebrating light and hope with glow stick hunts, glow stick games, tug of war, craft and food. We also watched a couple of videos, one which reminded us of the work of World Vision with children across the world who live in fear and danger all the time. We therefore followed their lead carving pumpkins with hearts in to think and pray for those living in fear and we made £25 to send to support their important work. And we finished it all off with some Goodie bags. Top night, top people, top God! #CelebrateLight #ShareTheLove"

The Bible is an Extremely Dangerous book

This is what the Pope has written to young people in a prologue to a new youth bible launched this week in Germany. He shares his personal relationship with his old, worn out bible and reveals that he would not swap it for anything in the world.
You can read the prologue in full be clicking here.

As today is Bible Sunday we had a book stall in church selling Bible and Bible reading notes.

Gandhi said: “You Christians look after a document containing enough dynamite to blow all civilization to pieces, turn the world upside down, and bring peace to a battle-torn planet. But you treat it as though it is nothing more than a piece of literature.”

May we be faithful in our reading of the bible and may it constantly challenge and inspire us.

General Synod election results

The General Synod elections have now taken place and the votes were counted on Monday 12th October.  The results for the diocese of Leicester are as follows:

Elected to the House of Clergy (These are called Proctors in Convocation)
Alison Booker
Barry Hill
Tim Stratford

Elected to the House of Laity
Rhian Ainscough
Shayne Ardron
Jonathan Cryer

Jonathan Cryer is a member of our sister church in Oadby Parish, St Peter's,

We need to pray for them and for others who have been elected, as they take their part in the decision-making process of our denomination.

Principal Services - October - December

An introduction from the Vicar:

Mark's gospel continues to be our focus for most of these weeks. I am delighted that on the 29th November we welcome Rev James Lawrence from Church Pastoral Aid Society as our guest speaker. We are privileged to have such a passionate and gifted speaker to encourage us in our Evangelism — not to be missed!

As Christmas approaches we come again to the familiar story of Christ's birth and remember that He is Emmanuel — God with us.

Yours In Christ,

Steve Bailey

programme

Pray4Life

As Christians prayer is at the heart of everything we do. That is why I am excited about this latest prayer journey from The London Institute for Contemporary Christianity. Pray4Life is a 40 day period of prayer for people to become spiritually alive. Beginning on the 2nd November LICC will send out daily emails with a brief prayer prompt to encourage us to pray that the people around us, the people we meet regularly will become spiritually alive and open to faith.
I have signed up to join this prayer journey, you can too by clicking here.

Connected Church

At St Paul's we support the work of Tearfund through their Connected Church scheme. We have a link with PAG in Uganda. This week we received an update from them and you can read it here.

There is also a powerful 3 minute spoken word video from Miriam Swaffield who has visited the project. Click here to view her piece called 'I think I've glimpsed how we can change a nation. I hope to be sharing this video soon in church.

Youth Weekend Away 2015

Lou writes...We’re back from our weekend away, had an awesome time with some fab young people. We looked at the theme: Lost and Found, how God’s love never ends or gives up on us, whatever we’ve done, however near or far we feel, he loves and welcomes us back time and time again.

As well as our sessions we enjoyed football, basketball, baking cookies, eating cookies, crafty things, badminton, ice-cream milkshakes, music jams, zip wires, sparklers, chill time, frisbee, Uno, Jenga, games and lots of food and fun together :)

Bring on next year… the video from the weekend away will be shown in church this sunday so come along to see that and we’ve got our Youth Prayer Breakfast. All welcome - 10am This Sunday at St Paul’s church, Oadby

Harvest Gifts

Thank you to everyone who gave so generously at our Harvest service. Here is a picture of the display of your gifts. We pray that they will be a real blessing to those who receive them. Thank you God for providing us with all we need.

Harvest

On Thursday Coffee Pot held their Harvest lunch. Before eating I reminded those gathered that we thank God for the harvest, for all the good things he has given us and that all things come from God. We then sang We plough the fields and scatter. At the end of the meal Coffee Pot presented a cheque for £900 to go towards the work of Keith Waddell with Africa Inland Mission.
On Sunday we shall have our harvest festival service and continue our thanksgiving. Donations will go to the work of Oadby Food Bank and the Welcome Project with any fresh produce being auctioned off for Tearfund. Do join us at 10am as we give thanks to the Lord of the Harvest.

Students welcome

At St Paul's we are delighted to welcome anyone to join us at our services.
Last Sunday it was great to welcome some new students who have recently come to Leicester to study at the university. Some of the halls of residence fall in our parish so we are particularly keen to welcome students who live locally to come to St Paul's. Our main service is at 10am and varies week by week. Do join us, you can be assured of a warm welcome!

Spirituality Sunday

At this mornings service we focused on the different practises people use to sustain them in their relationship with God. I interviewed 5 members of the congregation who spoke about silent retreat, spiritual direction, bible reading, prayer partners and journaling. Each one shared how this allowed them to encounter God and we were privileged to hear some powerful and moving testimonies.
Thank you to those who took part. May we all be encouraged and inspired to spend time with God.
'Draw near to God and he will draw near to you.' James 4.8

Seeking Allah Finding Jesus book discussion

On Wednesday evening 14 of us squeezed into the vicarage living room to discuss our thoughts on this book which we had all read over the summer. We found Nabeel's story fascinating and were encouraged by the way the Christian faith had stood up to such academic investigation. We learnt a lot about the Muslim faith as Nabeel shared his upbringing. We were struck by the importance of dreams and that it was through dreams that God brought Nabeel to faith in Jesus. We were reminded of the value of both an intellectual understanding but also an experience of God. We give thanks to God that by His Spirit He is still at work in the world drawing people to himself.

'Grilled' by the Youth

On Sunday morning I was invited to join our fantastic youth group Tribe. Not only was there Bacon Cobs, Cup Cakes and Hot Chocolate to enjoy but lots of questions to answer!
No question was off limits and the young people asked some great, searching questions covering all sorts of topics about life, faith and living the Christian life.
You can read more on their blog https://stpaulsyouthoadby.wordpress.com/
Thanks to Lou, our excellent Youth Worker and the lovely young people for such a great morning!

Try Praying

20 million adults in the UK pray.
13 million pray at least once a month and 9 million every day.
One in three people believes God will answer their prayers.

On Sunday we gave everyone a copy of the Try Praying booklet and encouraged them to use it for the next 7 days and see what happens.

To find out more, order your own booklet or download the app visit http://www.trypraying.org/

Back to Church Sunday

This Sunday is Back to Church Sunday and we have been encouraging people to invite family, friends, neighbours, colleagues or anyone really to join us this Sunday.

Our service is at 10am and we extend a warm welcome to everyone to come and join us, you are most welcome.

Whatever your background and life story, we believe that you are precious to God and we look forward to getting to know you better.

Come and join us, we look forward to seeing you!



Film Night

Now the darker nights have returned St Paul's is able to continue its film nights.
Our next one is this Saturday, 26th September at 7.30pm.
On show will be 'What we did on our holiday' a PG film described as a heart warming, uplifting comedy for all the family.
Tickets are £4 on the door and a drink and some nibbles are included too!
Do come along and join us.

Harvest Assemblies

This week Lou and I are in Manor High School leading Harvest assemblies.
We are talking about our generous God, all the good things He has given to us and how we can share them with others to help make the world a better place.
We have used a couple of You Tube clips to highlight sharing.
The first clip is from Action Against Hunger and is called The Sharing Experiment. Watch to see what happens when 2 children are left alone with 1 sandwich and see what we can learn from them.
The second clip is called 'Would you give your jacket to Johannes?' and shows a social experiment with a cold boy sitting at a bus stop and records peoples reactions.
This Harvest time how can you share from the abundance you have to bless others, help those in need and do good to our neighbours?

Shaped by God

Archbishop Justin Welby has written exclusively a 100 word reflection for the Diocese, reflecting on the diocesan vision Shaped by God.
To read it click here.
You can also sign up to receive further reflections from a variety of writers every fortnight.

More amazing craft

Here are some pictures of our wonderful Supertroopers children and their leader who always comes up with some amazing craft activities using his woodwork skills. Today's model told the story of 2 Kings 5 where Naaman is healed of leprosy after washing 7 times in the river Jordan. The children retold the story well and made the point that it is good to obey the commands of God rather than question them. Well done everyone!