One morning in Church just before Christmas …..Professor Nutty having been invited to speak started his Christmas lecture ‘Black holes in space’. – It was the wrong lecture! Barbara Cotterell interrupted – and he started again on the correct lecture for the Year 6 pupils from our school. ‘Bubble-gum and fluff’ - he seemed to say illustrated Christmas!. After a kerfuffle, it seemed No One understood the connection! So, placing carefully the plumping parts that were attached to his university scarf in the custody of a pupil, he began his explanation. ‘Bubble gum is like the real thing of Christmas, the story found in the Bible, that Christians believe, and fluff, well it’s like all the traditions and fuss of the Christmas season that get stuck to it and is not part of the real bubble-gum. And sometimes it’s possible to ignore the story and it’s meaning because it’s covered in the fluff of Christmas.’ The Professor then illustrated this by telling a dramatic and emotionally heart-rending tale about how his bubble-gum chewing challenge had been once been ruined by fluff.
Having recovered from the lecture the children were asked to play a game in which they had to decide whether the picture on a Christmas card was part of the real Bible story or was just fluff. The mince pies they had made previously returned to church cooked (Thanks to our Friends in The Pastry Box in the High Street), they would be eaten later. The two-hour programme was designed to tell the Christmas story and reflect upon its meaning for Christians. Each child had a workbook, with quizzes and word searches, and a place for them to make a summary of the Bible passages that were enlarged and placed around the church. They looked at Christmas traditions, had lots of fun, took part in a rap about Mary and Joseph, jumped in unison on our 60 disposable refreshment cups before binned them. Wow it was a busy full-on programme, with some crazy moments but it had a more reflective side to it as well, it was called ‘Christmas Unwrapped’. It was a great pleasure to run it, thanks to those who came to help. Now, there is an Easter Year 6 schools programme…..
with acknowledgement to the school for the photos
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