decorating the paschal candle by hand

Last year, I heard one priest from the Diocese in Europe comment that his church budget would not stretch to a paschal candle with the year on it, and that even the purchase of the paschal candle he did have was something he'd had to defend.

store display of paschal candles
(licensed photo by Gagorski, cropped by Storyteller)

Just a few days later, I came across a lovely blog post, also from the Diocese in Europe, and I thought, Here is a possible solution to those financial concerns. Bishop David Hamid wrote that in St Margaret's Anglican Episcopal Church in Budapest, they have a tradition of buying a large, plain candle and having the children decorate it.

Eurobishop: Children of St Margaret's Budapest prepare the paschal candle: Krisztus feltámadt! ... These photos show them hard at work in Sunday School on Palm Sunday and presenting the finished product to the congregation.

Decorating actual candles, or doing paper-crafts of gluing bits of paper to reflect the way a paschal candle is decorated - this kind of work is often found in a Catechesis of the Good Shepherd atrium. Leslie Swaim-Fox is one of a number of bloggers who have posted about this:

Thoughts from the Sheepfold: The Paschal Candle: The paschal candle is a symbol of the Risen Christ which speaks very powerfully to children. ... I love the words that we say with the children while they press the wax pieces onto the candle.

Leslie explains in the comments to another post that she uses thin sheets of colored wax, cutting out the shapes they will need with a craft knife. Jessica, at the Shower of Roses blog, made a more elaborate candle by using not only colored wax but also acrylic gems and gold metallic cord. Jessica has also listed several other ways of decorating a plain candle here (scroll down to "Easter Paschal Candle"). If you're not up to doing this craft but would like a paschal candle for the home, you can simply print out a design and wrap it around a candle (Jennifer at Family in Feast and Feria offers a free printable every year).

Depending on the age of the children who do this, your candle may not be as "perfect" as a store-bought one, but you will have saved money AND involved the children in a useful and meaningful way in the liturgical life of your church.

(public domain photo by Rabanus Flavus, cropped by Storyteller)

an extravagance of glitter glue

We're getting through a lot of glitter glue at Junior Church. Peter Privett advises that when stocking art materials, Check that there's material for both boys and girls. There's no hard and fast rule but girls tend to opt for drawing etc. - boys for activities that require manipulation. Too much glitter might send the wrong message. ("Designing and Building a Godly Play Classroom") Well, more than once in our classroom all the boys have chosen to work with glitter glue and all the girls have worked with clay. I'm pleased that our children do not feel trapped by gender stereotypes! 

But the thing that glitter glue has really got me thinking about is generosity and extravagance. I often say that one thing I love about Godly Play is its lavishness. We have all the time we need. I believe in the goal of providing beautiful and good quality materials, the goal that both story materials and art materials should be attractive, perhaps even the best your group can afford. So I'm surprised and unnerved by how anxious I get about our glitter glue expenditure. We seem to be getting through a LOT of glitter glue at Junior Church. 

I thought I understood the ideal of letting children explore for themselves what works and what doesn't work. But when one child started piling glitter-blob upon glitter-blob, and announced, I'm making a castle, I broke down. I said firmly that glitter glue wouldn't work for constructing upwards. If you want to make a castle, you need to use play-dough. If you want to use glitter paint, you need to make a painting. 

I keep re-playing that scene in my mind. I am struggling to find a good balance between freedom and limits, between instructing and letting the child explore. Perhaps I also need to remind myself that sometimes it's appropriate to break open a whole bottle of nard? (Mark 14:3, John 12:3)

the Response Time

[written on 8 March; scheduled for automatic posting on 16 March]

Part of the pattern of a Godly Play session is that after a lesson or story is presented, there is usually some time for wondering about it together, out loud or silently or both. And then there's time (We have all the time we need) for each member of the circle to respond to the lesson in whatever way they feel is right for them that day.

• by touching and working with the story materials
• by writing a poem or a prayer
• by sitting quietly
• by working with art materials

There's also the possibility that they may want to return to an earlier lesson or an earlier unfinished art project. A person might notice that something needs doing - sharpening pencils or cleaning the art trolley. Ideally the focus is on the process rather than the product. It's a time to just be with God, working on whatever is important for you to be doing. 

We have several very young children in our group, and I'm not at all certain that they really see a connection between the lesson and their artwork yet. I hope that will come. I trust that they nonetheless feel that they are in Godly space while they explore ways of flattening plasticine or enjoy the bright colors of glitter glue or learn how to squirt a spray bottle of cleaning fluid. 

Here's what our art materials looked like for the first month:

Since then, I've been scouring the flea markets looking for small upright baskets, suitable for displaying pencils and crayons in an even more appealing way. I was also really pleased to find little plastic trays for rolling out plasticine on and a (new but inexpensive) child-sized rolling pin.

Another great flea market find was a folding magazine rack for only two euro. It meant I could get the drawing paper, cardboard sheets, and the "work in progress" folder out of those paper shopping bags.  I think it makes the paper look much more appealing; it's easier to see the range of choice available. The only down-side is that individual sheets of paper materials can slide out through the bottom and onto the floor. But I explained that that happens sometimes and not to worry. The fact that the rack folds up means it's easy to transport back and forth every week. I love it!

Advent - at my house

We had no Junior Church today, because on the last Sunday of each month we gather together, all ages, for a child-friendly service.

This gives me a chance to go back in time and write about December, when this Godly Play project really began to get off the ground. Our normal Junior Church meeting place was taken up with Christmas activities, and we had nowhere to meet. It was suggested that maybe we could meet in the sacristy (where the priests get ready for services), or possibly in a side chapel, but with a busy schedule of Christmas concerts and carol services I was worried that we would be in the way and get distracted. But what other solution was there, except to cancel Junior Church altogether during Advent?

Why, Junior Church at my house!

The first week I kept it to a single family - two children. They walked in and made straight for the shelf of materials, touching them gently, with interest and delight. I told the stories for the first two weeks of Advent (the first Sunday in December was already the second Sunday of Advent), and they were rapt with attention. They wanted the third plaque already, but I said, No, not until next Sunday. 

I had laid out some art materials next to the kitchen table: crayons, colored pencils, and clay. Clay! CLAY! We had never had clay before at Junior Church. That was what both of them wanted to do in their work time. And then we had our first feast. I was delighted by how easy it was to get them to stop working with the clay and clean up when they knew a feast was coming. After the feast I thanked each of them for coming and said that Junior Church was over, and they could play freely until their parents came to collect them. But the wonderful mood of Godly Play lasted right through.