songs for CGS and Godly Play

The biggest (or most public) faux pas I have ever made in the Godly Play community came when I mentioned teaching the children a song. Straightaway someone reminded me, "Music in the Godly Play classroom ... needs to come from the children and not be imposed by the adults on them" (Teaching Godly Play, p.89). Godly Play does not use singing "to bond the children, to quiet them, to memorize texts, interpret texts [or] to keep the teacher in control" (p.89).

I have to confess not only that I have taught songs in my Godly Play sessions, but I have probably also used them to quiet children! (A.K.A. "getting ready") Let me give those earlier quotes more context. In the same book, on the next page, Berryman writes, "From 3-6 years many of the Taizé songs can be taught by rote in unison during the feast...". (p.90) 

the Taizé cross (licensed photo by Surfnico)

So teaching music is allowed, at least to young children, and provided it's kept simple. Berryman does have a definite bias against children's songs (or a certain kind of children's song). "Seasoned and mature music ... like Taizé, does not interpret the lessons for the children but gives them a way to move closer to God, as fundamental texts and liturgical phrases are repeated over and over without interpretation." (p.90) Berryman wants children to learn "music ... they can sing all their lives and still in old age be comforted by" (p. 90). 

My Catechesis of the Good Shepherd trainer gave us concrete examples that chime with Berryman's advice. She uses a range of different music (including Taizé chants). One of her hints was to use snippets of songs, especially choruses/refrains, and especially songs used in your adult services. I was reminded of something we sang in our Communion service on Sunday. The chorus begins like this,

"Christ be our light! Shine in our hearts..."

I don't remember if this was one of the examples my CGS trainer used, but it could have been. The first time you sing it with small children, you could use just the first half of the chorus, repeating it like a Taizé chant. Some other time you could introduce the second half. 

Another thing our trainer did was to sing something, meditatively, as we were enjoying the lit candles in the Last Supper presentation. I think may have been a bit of a sung setting of the Eucharistic Prayer, perhaps words like these: O Lord, as we now celebrate the memorial of our redemption, we remember Christ’s Death and his descent to the realm of the dead, we proclaim his Resurrection and his Ascension to your right hand...

singing the dismissal blessing (with actions)

Songs I have used in Godly Play include the dismissal blessing, "Go now in peace. May the love of God surround you...". With the Faces of Easter story, I used the Spiritual, "Amen". [I've written about that here and here.] With older children I'd like to teach, "In God's green pastures feeding" (in the video below). What's important is to find a balance, leaving room for children to sing (and/or create) songs which express their own spirituality, allowing music to emerge as yet another way they can Respond to God.  

Berryman warns against "turning the Godly Play feast time into a music lesson". With a smile, I note that this video aptly illustrates the difference between worship and music lesson:

flea market furniture

Yesterday I made a pass through a local flea market. And what did I find? Two child-sized chairs, at only €4.50 each. And a few stalls later, a child-sized table for €5. The chairs are a bit banged up, and the table doesn't match the chairs, but I grabbed them for our Play and Pray area anyway. (If anyone from the congregation would like to paint them, that'll be fine with me!) 

I just left them in the car last night and unloaded them into the chapel today... whereupon I realized that they still had the price labels on them. Better bring some Goo Gone next week! The pencil tin on the table was also a new purchase, but as soon as I started to put the pencils into it, I realized it was TOO LOUD. I'll keep my eyes open for a fabric pencil case instead. 

Wouldn't you know it? One family was away at a retreat this weekend, and another couple of children ran late or something - just before the service started their mother scooted in alone and mouthed, "Sorry" to me from across the chapel.

However, that did mean I was able to focus on the Eucharistic prayer today.

• read more about Finnish flea markets in this post

heard on TV

I never teach my pupils; I only attempt to provide the conditions in which they can learn.

-Albert Einstein

last day, last supper

Today was the last day of our Level I, Part 1, training course in Leiden. I spent some of yesterday and this morning working with a partner on the presentation about the Last Supper.

I loved how she "offered" the wine to everyone

[Catechesis of the Good Shepherd (like its descendant, Godly Play), maintains a distinction between historical characters, represented by 3-D figures, and characters who are only elements in a story, such as the Good Samaritan (Jesus tells a story about him, but there is no assertion in the Gospels that he was a real person). Parable characters are "flat", both literally and figuratively. So Linda pointed out that although these Last Supper characters are chunky it would be even better if the corners were sanded off them so that they were rounder and more clearly distinguishable from wooden 2-D figures.]

We finished our day with a look at the Pentecost Celebration. I found it a somewhat dissatisfying mix of teaching and participation (being pressed for time, we had to do both at once). Yet even so, I was captivated enough to wonder whether and how to try to work it right into our congregation's Pentecost service next year - not just for children but for everyone!

Before leaving we presented some gifts - a book for our trainer and a bottle of wine for the local organiser. We're already talking about trying to meet in March for Part 2.

"Good Shepherd" wine, of course

a beautiful day - CGS training, day 5

morning walk to the parish center

sung responses at Mass

Dutch coffee break

presentation: "Baptism I"

carefully putting materials away

"preparing the cruets"

sharing our evening meal

St Luke and the Gospel story

Earlier this month I shared a quote from a sermon by Stanley Hauerwas. That sermon was given on St. Luke's Day (2007). Here's some more of what he said:

The gospel... the story of Jesus, is known only because it has been told and retold through witnesses across time and space. These witnesses, moreover, actually become part of the story such that the teller and the tale become one. Indeed the witnesses become so much a part of the story that the retelling must incorporate an account of their lives if the story is to be truthfully told. We call such people "saints"...

Today we celebrate the feast of a saint called Luke. We do so because Luke, under the guidance of the Spirit, thought Theophilus needed an orderly account so that he might know the truth concerning the things about which he had been instructed. "Orderly account" is Luke's way of saying "story".

Stanley Hauerwas (A Cross-Shattered Church, p.47)

(the story for Candlemas, Luke 2:22-38)