1/11/2009 All Saints Sunday

Theme: Ely's own saint - St Etheldreda

At this time of the year schools may look at a variety of famous Christians in collective worship, including the saint to whom the local church is dedicated.

This year, as part of the 900th anniversary celebrations of the Diocese a book of assemblies was circulated on the history of the Diocese and you will find a copy of the Etheldreda assembly here. Etheldreda founded the monastery at Ely which became Ely Cathedral.

If you have already used the Etheldreda Assembly then tell the story of your favourite saint or Christian of note instead. You could use an icebreaker at the beginning of the worship such as having the letters of the word SAINTS on individual cards and shuffle them to make as many words as possible out of the letters.

When you have concluded the story of your saint, share with the assembly that if you read the New Testament carefully you will see that anyone who was a Christian and followed Jesus was called a saint, and probably some of them found it difficult to live what we now think of as saintly lives! Anyone can be a saint in the real meaning of the term, if they know and trust in God and believe He is with them always.

A prayer you could use to conclude is:

When I wake up in the morning, thank you God for being there.

When I come to school each day, thank you God for being there.

When I am playing with my friends, thank you God for being there.

And when I go to bed at night, thank you God for being there.