In some church calendars today is Good Shepherd Sunday. Our pastor's sermon included a section about how the word pastor is from the Latin word for "shepherd". And it reminded me of a Godly Play moment that I experienced earlier this Spring.
I was in the circle, listening to someone else tell the stories of the lesson, Knowing Jesus in a New Way. There are a lot of parallels between this lesson and The Faces of Easter. Both are a series of episodes which can be presented week by week or all at once. Neither set of materials includes figures to be moved around, but rather a series of pictures placed on an underlay which is unrolled further with each episode. Both end not with verbal wondering, but with an invitation to find something in the room to bring and place alongside the story materials, "to help us tell more".
The stories in Knowing Jesus in a New Way are the resurrection appearances of Jesus. One episode of the lesson is the last story from Matthew's Gospel, where Jesus gives the eleven disciples the Great Commission. The Godly Play script ends like this.
As they walked back south to Jerusalem, they knew they had been followers, now they were to be leaders. They had been sheep, now they were to be shepherds.
Jerome W. Berryman, The Complete Guide to Godly Play, Vol 8, p. 114
As I listened, it struck me quite forcibly that the same is true of me. I have been formally training for ministry for almost three years. At the end of June, Lord willing, I will be ordained as a deacon in the Church of England. I will resign from my present job (I gave notice already at the end of December), and Vandriver and I will move to England where I'll take up the post of "assistant curate" - a three-year, on-the-job, ministerial training post. The expectation is that I'll be ordained as a priest in 2015.
Our storyteller told all seven episodes, so we had to choose not only whether to get something to bring into the circle, and what that would be, but also which picture we wanted to expand upon. For me that day, the decisions were easy. I brought the priest from the World Communion materials, and carefully placed it next to the disciples.
You quoted: As they walked back south to Jerusalem, they knew they had been followers, now they were to be leaders. They had been sheep, now they were to be shepherds.
ReplyDeleteHow true this is for all of us who teach, not just you who are in the professional ministry of the church. Thanks for visiting my blog and leaving your lovely comment.
:) Thanks for visiting again, Faye. You are right, there are many transitions like this: from being supervised to being supervisors, from being pupils to being teachers, from being daughters to being mothers. That could be an excellent Wondering topic for discussing the Great Commission!
DeleteHow easy and comfortable and safe is the sheepfold, but the gate is left open - how hard it is to become a shepherd and lead the sheep confidently
ReplyDeleteYou're right - it can be hard! I take comfort in the assurance that, "those whom he calls he also equips". :) Thanks for reading and for commenting!
DeleteBeautiful materials
ReplyDeleteI've attended Godly Play training, and have been running sessions as a homeschool coop for a few months now. Getting ready for Easter soon, but I am intrigued about Knowing Jesus in a New Way. Where can I find material on it?
ReplyDeleteI'm so sorry to have lost track of your comment for a while. These stories have been published in the relatively new "Volume 8" of the Complete Guide to Godly Play by Jerome W. Berryman. Godly Play® Resources (part of the Godly Play® Foundation) also sell a DVD with these lessons on it, but I haven't seen that myself.
DeleteThanks for visiting the blog, and my apologies again for my delay in answering your question!