"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.

journeying with your partner

See-through faith just pointed me to this photo she took yesterday at our Godly Play morning, and I had to share it straight-away. This represents Abram and Sarai on their journey towards their new home at the Oaks of Mamre by Hebron. You can see the altars Abram built at Shechem and near Bethel, and off in the distance behind them, the Euphrates River and the city of Haran.

photo by see-through faith

She came to our fellowship morning on her wedding anniversary! Congratulations to see-through faith (who, a little like Rebekah, moved far from where she had grown up to marry her husband) on 23 years with her Love.

Godly Play morning for (almost) all ages

Thank you, Leslie, for writing words of encouragement after my last post (about plans for today's Godly Play event), and also to my mother, who sent an email saying she was praying for us. My prayer had been that everyone would get something they needed from it.

There were thirteen of us in the circle. We had children aged 3-5, a young teen, a grad student, parents, adults without children, married couples, and at least one pensioner. We were people born in North America, the Middle East, Eastern Asia, Africa, and Europe (including Finland!). 

I told the story of "the Great Family" (of Abraham and Sarah), using a desert bag for the first time in our classroom. This prompted at least two people to make plasticine deserts in the Response Time. 

Some people responded to the literal distances in the story and the idea of emigration, while others responded more metaphorically, for example to the idea of travelling through the desert without the refreshment and guidance of a river. One person even connected ideas from this story with insights from a recent television documentary about the Second Law of Thermodynamics! 

In the picture below, you can see that Abraham's body has been buried under the "sand". 

Afterwards, I asked the children what their favorite part of the day had been. One said working with glue. Another said helping with the feast. However, the feast was something of a disappointment to at least one child, because there was no food, only drink (a decision I'd made because lunch was to follow almost immediately). Also, the children found some of the grown-up talk difficult to sit through: notice the two children amusing themselves below by wearing their napkins on their heads:

We ended our session with a very different kind of prayer time than we've had before. I put the desert out again, and handed around a basket of stones and blocks. Everyone took a turn and put one into the sand. If they wanted to, they said a prayer after doing so, either in their heart silently or out loud. 

I think this was the most successful prayer time we've ever had in Junior Church / Godly Play: we have one child who is often very awkward about prayer, but who seemed to handle this activity just fine. 

When we got home, Vandriver asked me what my favorite part had been. I said, "Entering the room after preparing the drinks for our feast [during the Response Time] and seeing everyone doing their work - whether chatting together over plasticine, making a glitter glue painting, taking a nap, or reading about prayer."