17 July 2012

"streets" of gold

I'm aware that my posting has slowed down a lot recently. I so appreciated Leslie's recent comment saying that she was behind in her blog reading - at least that was one person who hadn't been frustratedly checking in here asking themselves whether I was ever going to post again!

On Sunday I carried out an assignment relating to my ordination training - to construct a creative liturgy, appropriate to your own denomination for a main service. I chose the theme of "Salvation History", drawing upon the set reading of Ephesians 1:3-14. At two points I tried to involve the children in using fabric to change the atmosphere: I asked them to help me swathe the congregation in dark blue tulle to represent the chaos and waters spoken of in Genesis 1 so that we could meditate upon the time before Creation (Eph 1: 3-6) and later to lay down strips of sparkly golden material under people's feet, representing the heavenly streets of gold (Rev 21), for a reflection upon the End of Time (Eph 1: 10 & 14). 

photo kindly taken by Rami Rekola
This was, shall we say, a qualified success. I would have needed considerably more fabric for one thing (we had a lot more visitors than usual), but more importantly, I did not take the time to explain properly to the children what I had in mind. I should have done a little practice with them ahead of time, especially since two of them arrived nice and early this week. I also should probably have asked the (older) visiting children whether they would have liked to help as well. Still, I keep reminding myself that this is the whole point of training - to learn from one's mistakes.

3 comments:

  1. Sheila17 July, 2012 20:39

    Creative liturgy - I love the idea of that! Sounds like your "qualified success" was a lot of fun and involved a lot of people. I'm sure there was no one dosing that morning.:) . . . Also, I admire your ability to be self-critical and think through what you might do better next time.

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  2. Leslie07 September, 2012 04:02

    For the record, I've been very impressed with your blogging this summer, and all of your creative activities! I, like Sheila, appreciate your ability and try, learn, try again! You rock! After a very quiet summer on the blog, I'm trying to get back in the habit and am just starting to feel the desire to blog again! Thanks for inspiring me!

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  3. Storyteller09 September, 2012 00:15

    thank you both :)

    I'm overdue for writing up my report on this service... I can't believe it was all the way back in mid-July that it happened!

    ReplyDelete

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