lessons learned (Lent)

Yesterday it struck me that the pastor and I hadn't discussed which of us might provide a children's sermon, if needed, for our service that afternoon. Inspired by Sheila's good reports of The Mystery of Easter, I rushed a cross puzzle into production.

Before I began, I read the script (from The Complete Guide to Godly Play, Vol. 4) onto a recording which I then listened to as I worked. Once I'd finished, I listened once or twice more while I physically acted out the lesson, moving the pieces around, and finally tried it without the recording, speaking the script myself. Way back in training we tried that, having one person read the script while another moved the pieces, but I'd never tried using a recording of myself for practice before!

The materials were far from ideal. I cut a cross out of cardboard packing material from our recycling pile. Having no paint to hand, I used magazine clippings of purple on one side, and white felt on the other.

Lessons learned? I liked this method of practicing the script. But I would not use felt as a covering for this cross again. You can see the white puffing out from underneath even when the purple sides are turned up. Moreover, it prevented the pieces from slotting together as nicely as I'd have liked them to.

In the end, we had no children at church and I didn't present the lesson. But you know what? For one-time use, in a pinch, I was much happier to have far-less-than-perfect materials than not to have had any at all. I enjoyed this little project as a Sunday task, and I felt good having something to offer children if any had come along.

I've heard it said, "Perfect" is the enemy of "Done". Godly Play materials should always be made with love, as beautifully as you can. Really, they should be as good in quality as the objects you use for liturgical purposes for adults (as nice as your chalice or communion trays, as nice as the Bible on your lectern). But don't let that ideal prevent you from doing the best you can.

Eastertide guest post - An Eastertide Garden

This week's guest is "Featherglen", one of the early participants in our Lenten link-up. She and her husband both work as members of the L'Arche community in Inverness. Her sidebar list of topics shows her major concerns to be her faith, her family, handicrafts, and the L'Arche Community. Featherglen's life sounds very romantic - living in the Scottish Highlands, married to a French jeweller and gardener, members of an international movement building faith-based communities with people with learning disabilities, supporting them to reach their full potential... yet her writing is honest and down-to-earth.

As a mother, member of a L'Arche Community and a church, Lent can, ironically, turn into a very full time. Although this is usually in a good way, by the time Easter has arrived and been celebrated in various ways, I'm ready for a break. However, despite not growing up in a liturgical tradition, I have grown to appreciate many aspects of such a way of worship, Bible reading, and the sense of celebrations in their appropriate times. This is sometimes also very helpful for the adults with learning disabilities that  are at the heart of L'Arche. Advent and Lent are two very important times of the year for us and we take time to deepen our relationship with God during them. I came across Godly Play when looking for ways to share the biblical story creatively, and it seemed to be instinctively right for us. One story I love in Godly Play is the Circle of the Church Year and as a family we have been very struck that 'You can't keep Easter to just one Sunday, so it keeps on for six more weeks'. I find it very liberating knowing that there's no hurry to celebrate Easter - we have all the time we need!

all photos by Featherglen, please do not re-use without her permission

 In our family we made a 'Lent garden' - a large plate filled with sand and a bare branch, along with a wooden figure of Jesus, representing his time in the wilderness. It sat on our kitchen table and we added a stone each day at dinner time. By Palm Sunday we lifted out the stones, added some soil, then replaced the stones into a path to the bare branch. We sowed some wheatgrass seeds and made a tomb from clay, giving it time to dry out. A cross was added on Good Friday.


On Easter Saturday we added in a another tray of soil for the tomb to sit on, along with a big rock (the wooden figure was placed inside). We sowed some more seeds and added jars and vases of green branches and flowers, as well as Easter candles and some animal figures.

It was all ready and beautiful for Easter Sunday breakfast, with the stone rolled away, the candles lit and Jesus was once more in the beauty of the garden, now transformed from rock and soil, a living image that 'a grain of wheat remains no more than a single grain unless it is dropped into the ground and dies'.

But this year, instead of keeping it for a week or so as usual, I decided we should try keeping it for the whole of Eastertide. It seems like a simple focus, without too much extra effort, to remind us of the Resurrection. We moved onto a table in our living room, covered with oilcloth. Each week we water it, snip the grass (my son likes this bit) - and feed it to the guinea pig (who is very appreciative!). We gather fresh flowers and leaves. It has been lovely to see a whole range of spring flowers this way and I have been surprised by how well my two boys arrange them. I have a book ( The story of Jesus by Andrea Skevington - I recommend it!) with some good artwork, propped up behind it. From time to time we read the stories of the resurrection, and we have added another figure to the garden - perhaps it is Mary?

I have made Easter gardens before, but this year, having one that stretches all the way from Lent through to the end of Eastertide, is a new expression of our journey with Jesus, that has a nod to Godly Play and a connection with the spring world around us.


Featherglen's written a second post for Sheila and me as well, which will be posted tomorrow. This next post is about the Road to Emmaus.  

Eastertide guest post: 'Jesus the King' materials

The Eastertide guest post festival continues. This week I've written the guest post, for Sheila's Explore and Express blog, although I "cheated" a little in that I didn't write about an Eastertide subject, but Jesus' pre-crucifixion Triumphal Entry. It fits into what I think of as my "making do" series, about materials.

I've met many people who think that Godly Play is all about expensive wooden figures. It's not true. Godly Play is about treating children with dignity and creating holy space. I own a few Godly Play materials that were made by official sourcers, but others that were cobbled together from flea market finds. Some I do plan to replace eventually with something more beautiful. But some of my quirky materials I would never want to replace! My Jesus the King materials illustrate this well, I think. ...Read the rest by clicking here.

from Lent into Eastertide

I would like to thank everyone who participated in the Lenten link-up, Celebrating Lent, co-hosted by Sheila from Explore and Express and me. I enjoyed reading about so many ideas for preparing for Easter, with crafts and artwork and nature...

using Montessori methods...

(Tired, Need Sleep)

and Waldorf....

(Frontier Dreams)

taking children to interact with the elderly...

(Explore and Express)

and including children in local community worship:

(Featherglen)

In addition to the variety, I've enjoyed spotting overlaps and similarities. We had photos of Lenten spirals from both The Diary of a Sower and Frontier Dreams; of Cenacles from Thoughts from the Sheepfold and My Domestic Monastery. To my post about Lenten displays I might have added the dinner table displays by Featherglen and Watkins Every Flavor Beans.

And now, whether we did all that we hoped to in preparing for it or not, another Easter has dawned. As St. John Chrysostom said,  You who have kept the fast, and you who have not, Rejoice, this day, for the table is bountifully spread! 

And Easter isn't over on Easter Monday or even tomorrow but continues for a full six weeks! Sheila proposed that, having observed Lent for all six weeks with our link-up, we should do something for the six weeks of Eastertide as well. I suggested that I'd like us to organize some guest posts now that we've connected with so many different bloggers. I've written a column for Sheila's blog and she's written one for mine, and we're also inviting others to join us. So I hope you'll continue to drop by during the next six weeks as we celebrate Easter and community with a series of guest posts.

mixed feelings

Bishop Sebouh Chouldjian washing feet (photo by Psalm Tours, used by permission)

Last year, I found it very moving to interact with a child at our Maundy Thursday service. Thinking about that this year, it struck me that foot-washing is one of the few sacramental-like rites at church that children might participate in. (Most children in our congregation do not take communion yet, and were baptized long before their earliest memories.)

So I really wanted to provide a way for children to participate in our Maundy Thursday service this year. I made arrangements with the priest well ahead of time, and agreed that I'd lead children's activities outside the chapel until the footwashing, and again from the footwashing until communion. The idea I was most pleased with was that it would be the children (and me) who would strip the altar afterwards.

photo source

Since we wouldn't be in our regular setting, I'd decided to bring only the Faces of Easter and focal shelf materials, which we'd then clear during the evening in a practice for clearing the altar, leaving only the Christ Candle. I'd also decided that since we couldn't Wonder by bringing something to the story plaque of the Last Supper, instead *I* would lay out a few things to help me tell a slightly extended version - a bowl of water and a small towel, a slice of bread and a small bottle of wine (with a little glass to pour a bit out into).

Unfortunately, with all the stress and over-time at work, I had neglected to publicize my plan to offer Junior Church for this service. It was only today that I texted the parents of the children who are our regulars to invite them. Most texted back that they'd already made other plans or couldn't come for another reason. By that point I'd already begun to realize how exhausted I was, and that I was on the verge of a fever / sore throat / cold.

So it was with great of relief and disappointment, in pretty much equal parts, that I sent a followup text to say I wouldn't do it after all unless any parent had already told their children about it. And curled up in a fleece jacket on the couch with a hot tea and the television remote control.

variations on a theme (Lenten link-up)

I want to thank Sheila at Explore and Express for the idea of this Lenten link-up for Celebrating Lent and Preparing for Easter. It's enabled us to connect with various different bloggers, many of whom were new to me. Last week I showed photographs of different responses to the Faces of Easter story, all from bloggers participating in our link-up.

This week I thought I'd like do something related - to show connections that I see between different bloggers who are doing similar things but in different ways. For some of you it's probably easy to translate an idea you've come across on-line into something that will work in your home or your church tradition, with your children and the resources you have available. But for others of us it's difficult to see how to adapt an idea. I hope these comparisons will help you to think outside the box (or "outside the photograph").

These are the photographs that got me thinking about this. The first is Holly's photo (from Three-Sided Wheel) of her Lenten mantelpiece, and the second is Sheila's photo (Explore and Express) of her Lenten nature table this year.

© Copyright 2009-2012. Three Sided Wheel-Holly Nehls

© photo by Sheila from Explore and Express

Very different - Holly's is on a mantel, out of the reach of children (although here you can see that she has also provided materials for children on the hearth), while Sheila's is placed on a windowsill. But both incorporate the seasonal color purple, and both emphasize Jesus (Holly's with the empty cross, awaiting Jesus's giving of himself on Good Friday; Sheila's with the Christ candle and also those purple puzzle pieces, which fit together into the Mystery of Easter in the shape of a cross).

If you have already read these posts you'll know that Sheila's display, although inviting, is not for thoughtless play. The small bowl contains water for remembering or looking forward to baptism. The figures in the desert represent their family travelling through Lent - each member chose his or her own figure to place there. And Holly's display, although simple, is full of meaning and story because each votive candle represents one of the Stations of the Cross, which the family recall together in prayer every Friday during Lent.

So different and yet so similar. Do they give you ideas for a way that you could prepare a prayer shelf or corner in your own home?

week 5 of the Lenten link-up

I'm a little late posting this week's update but we're now into the fifth week of Lent.  Our theme is Preparing for Easter using

• art projects,
• nature projects,
• Montessori methods, &/or
• story-based religious education.

If you would like to share your words and photos with us, just link your blog account and photo below. Please don't worry if "your idea" has already been done by somebody else. As I'll say in my next post, it can be very helpful to see how two different people do "the same thing" (or even two different but related things). 


Edit: I should have added this phrasing that Sheila's using (if it isn't already implied by this week's and last week's posts). 

By participating you allow us permission to use your photos to share highlights. We will be re-posting each week!

4th Sunday in Lent

This is the first time I've been in Junior Church since Lent began. I told five plaques' worth of the Faces of Easter and we created a wonderful assemblage to help tell more of the story.

The items brought to the circle were: the baptismal doll (because it's a baby and Jesus was a baby), the church clock, the desert bag, the Holy Family figures of the Christ Child, the Mother Mary and the Father Joseph, the Risen Christ cross, two parable boxes, flowers (like Easter lilies), the ark (not representing the ark, but either the boats that the disciples left when they followed Jesus or maybe the boat that Jesus taught from), and the Advent materials.

This really encouraged children to use story materials during our Response time. They got out the Baptism materials, the World Communion materials, the Great Flood materials, and the Great Family materials. 

On a more disappointing note, I should not have tried to show off to the visiting priest. I assured him that "we" knew several things about Lent. I know, it's not the done thing in Godly Play to encourage the children to perform like trained monkeys, and I got what I deserved, I suppose. They looked very blank, and I encouraged, What color does the church use during Lent?

One child answered reasonably confidently, Brown!

wondering with materials

It's an exciting feature of the Faces of Easter lessons that instead of opening up a time of verbal wondering or discussion at the close of each story, the storyteller says, I wonder what there is in this room that can help us tell more of the story. Look around and see if you can bring something to show more about this part of the story.

That's all. There are no more rules than that.

Some in the circle may be thrown by this and have no idea how to respond. As Berryman says, that is okay. Many children learn by watching as well as by doing.  Since most of us will present portions of this lesson at least twice during Lent, participants will have another chance on another occasion... and after all, this is an opportunity but it is never a requirement. If you don't feel like getting something, that's okay. Just enjoy what we make together.[All the Berryman quotes in this post are from The Complete Guide to Godly Play, volume 4.]

The first person I ever called upon took the instructions very literally, and brought our Bible to the circle. Which was an excellent response. Berryman had predicted what my next child did: Sometimes children get up, wander for a moment and bring something at random, without knowing why. That's okay. [Notice how often he says, that's okay. That's one of the things I love about Godly Play!] Be amazed and wonder why with them, together coming up with something relevant. Everything in the room is connected in some way.

Last year, though, I chose not to wonder explicitly about connections. I just accepted anything that was brought to the circle with silent wonder and appreciation. And perhaps a nod or a smile. My children were young, and not always very articulate. And ever since my training I've liked this special kind of Wondering for its freedom from words and freedom from over-thinking things.

And this is why I love writing this blog and reading your comments, and reading the posts that others write, especially those submitted to our Lenten link-up. It's so helpful to hear about how others put this into practice, what they like best, what they think is most important, and what they think can be left out.

photo from the So Many Joys blog

Amanda wrote a post at So Many Joys pointing out that sometimes we may need to set limits about how much it is practical to bring to the circle. Berryman suggests that a child might bring the desert box, but many desert boxes are so heavy and unwieldy that this may be too disruptive. Amanda writes about a bit of chaos that grew from large item connections to the first Face of Easter -- the entire Books of the Bible lesson, the desert, the World Communion lesson -- all big and very interesting stories to explore all out at once when we were still in our circle. I actually think that is when my headache started. Perhaps next week, I'll just have them bring one small item from the story rather than an entire story. 

Berryman proposes some Wondering Questions for use when these stories are told outside the Godly Play classroom. But it may also be entirely appropriate to ask people to think creatively and look around whatever room you find yourselves in for objects which would help to tell the story, or even to share aloud what object they would bring if it were available.

photo from Featherglen, cropped by me

When Featherglen did this, family members brought various objects, some overtly religious and others not. She writes, My beloved rummaged for a while in his overstuffed desk and brought out a beautiful big dried bean. He is gardener and this was one that came from last summer's crop. He placed it by the picture with baby Jesus. We all wondered a while about the significance of the bean, its colour (you can't see so well but it is actually a rich purple colour), baby shape and, of course all the elements of growth. 

photo from Explore and Express, cropped by me

As Sheila's experience shows, you may get unusual connections and contributions even within a Godly Play setting. Can you see what has been placed next to the plaque depicting Jesus resisting temptation?

She writes, One child laid a package of cookies and a stop sign made of sticks beside the picture of Jesus in the wilderness.  He then explained that this represented Jesus’ long fast and how hungry he must have been.  

I hope this post encourages you to try this kind of wondering if you have not done it before! Feel free to set boundaries that work for you - whether or not to ask for explanations about the objects brought, whether to limit the size of object brought, whether to restrict the objects to Godly Play materials, whether all objects should relate to one plaque or to any of those laid down...

The rewards, for you and all the circle, can be rich. As Amanda's So Many Joys post continued, I still loved seeing their connections to the Mother Mary and the Father Joseph and the Word born flesh as a wordless child. They are profound, the kids! 

week 3 of the Lenten link-up

It's the third week of Lent, and the pace of new contributions to the Lenten link-up (Celebrating Lent) that I'm doing with Sheila has slowed down quite a bit. But we'll still accept contributions all the way up to Easter. Our theme is Preparing for Easter using:

• art projects,
• nature projects,
• Montessori methods, &/or
• story-based religious education

We ask that you do include a link both to Sheila's blog and to my own (or you can use the button Sheila made, found top right in my sidebar), in exchange for us hosting this link to your own post. More details are in my original post. All contributions will be linked every week.

We've had some posts about the Lenten series of Godly Play lessons - The Faces of Easter, which I think merits a summary post of its own. I hope to get that written and published within the next day or so. [Update: you can find that here.] I'd love it if you'd be willing to share any photos showing some of the objects brought during the Wondering! Please get in touch and/or link your blog account and photo below.

two weeks into Lent

Sheila and I are up to twenty contributions on our Lenten link-up. We'll continue accepting contributions all the way through Lent. Our theme is Preparing for Easter, and we welcome posts (old or new) about:

• art projects,
• nature projects,
• Montessori methods, &/or
• story-based religious education

Please, though, do include a link both to Sheila's blog and to my own, in exchange for us hosting this link to your own post. More details about how to join can be found in my original post. All contributions will be linked to that original post and to all these updates.

This week's contributions included two craft projects which caught my eye: Leslie's (Thoughts from the Sheepfold) prayer beads and Featherglen's finger labyrinth. (The photos below are used by kind permission of the bloggers in question.)

The prayer beads have an interesting twist - you can move the beads and thus keep track of how far along the sequence you are. Leslie suggests this could be a good way to keep track of a Lenten discipline, by moving a bead each time you remember to put it into practice. 

photo by Leslie Swaim-Fox, of From the Sheepfold

Featherglen's finger labyrinth is made of wool roving, needle-felted onto a fabric base. I believe it when she says that the technique of needle-felting the labyrinth itself was a meditative exercise!  

photo by Featherglen, more pictures and full tutorial here

Lenten link-up update

We're a week into Lent, and a week into the Lenten link-up that I am co-hosting with Sheila. She's now made us a "button", which you can see on the top of my right-hand side-bar. I am thrilled with the response! We've had twelve posts linked up to us already, from eight different blogs as well as Sheila's, most of which were unknown to me before we started. It's better than I could have hoped. It's been interesting and inspiring to read about the varied ways in which families with children are observing Lent.

I was also very interested to find reference in one of the blog posts about using Godly Play in community, at L'Arche. This post from Featherglen explains that they're using the Faces of Easter materials. From the moment I started my Godly Play training I've felt (as many others have as well) that this was not something for children only. It's been a surprise and a blessing to find myself working with children nonetheless. But I always have my eyes open for those who can tell me about their experiences of using Godly Play in other situations, too.

L'Arche de Noé (image source)

Featherglen commented,

We were quite a big group - more than 25 people, so I didn't have a formal time of wondering. But there was plenty of out loud wondering during the story - that's the gift of adults with learning disabilities - no polite restraint - but rather plenty of (often) playful participation.

This was actually not in the post itself but in the comments, as a reply to me! Thank you, Featherglen, for engaging with my question straightaway and for sharing your experiences. And thank you, too, to everyone who has linked up with us.

There's still plenty of time - we're running this for the whole of Lent. So to repeat, we'd like to link up with anyone Preparing for Easter with:

• art projects,
• nature projects,
• Montessori methods, &/or
• story-based religious education

Just click on the link at the bottom of this post (the blue, Add your link button) to create a link from our party to your blog post. You should then be prompted to give the URL of the specific post you want to include (not the URL for your blog's front page), the title of your entry, and your email address. Then please add links within your own post to me and to Sheila. 

Lenten link party

What are you doing with children for Lent this year?

How do you prepare for Easter in your family?

Will you be telling the Faces of Easter story, 
about the One who was (and is) Easter?

Sheila, from Explore and Express, and I are co-hosting a Lenten Link Party, and we would love you to be a part of it! Now if you already know all about link parties, skip to the next paragraph, but since this is all very new to me I figure it might be new to some of you as well. The idea is this: if you write a blog post that fits our theme (or if you've written one in the past), we will link to it with a little thumbnail image here (and on Sheila's blog, too). In exchange, we ask you to add a link back to both of our blogs. It's all in aid of sharing ideas, discovering new blogs, and finding new readers. 


We'd like to use this theme of Preparing for Easter to link up those who work with:

• art projects,
• nature projects,
• Montessori methods, &/or
• story-based religious education

All during Lent (from Feb 22 through Apr 7), you can click on the link at the bottom of this post (the blue, Add your link button) to create a link from our party to your blog post. You should then be prompted to give the URL of the specific post you want to include (not the URL for your blog's front page), the title of your entry, and your email address. Then please do add links within your own post to me and to Sheila. Every Wednesday, Sheila and I will each post a party update. Welcome aboard!

another two-minute video lesson

If you enjoyed the two-minute explanation video for Advent by Busted Halo, you might like to know that they've done another for Lent:

Palm Sunday 2011

Today we were back in our old venue, just for a day. We pushed back the cafe tables, something I'd never really had the guts to do before, and I brought a blanket so we could sit on the floor. (Fortunately it has warmed up a lot recently, and the floor was not too cold.) We had a fairly minimalist set-up: the focal shelf plus one story: "Jesus the King" from Young Children and Worship.

I also had a more compact art supply center than usual: paper, clay (plus tools), colored pencils, and crayons:

But in other ways today was far from minimalist. The service began outside with adults and children together for the Liturgy of the Palms and a procession - led by our 13-year-old member carrying the processional cross! 


Moreover, for the first time ever we tried Junior Church bilingually today. Two pastors (both of whom had studied translation as well as theology) helped me translate the YCW story from English to Finnish. I told the English story by heart, and after every paragraph or so I read the corresponding Finnish text from paper. One Mom came to interpret some of my introductory explanations about how Junior Church and our classroom work, and seethroughfaith interpreted a lot of my other instructions, as well as looking after the younger of the two non-English speaking children when she began to need more help figuring out what to do next during the Response Time. Thank you to everyone who helped to make today work out as well as it did!  

He laittoivat vaatteitaan ja palmunoksia tielle, 

jotta Jeesuksen olisi hyvä kulkea, ja huusivat: 

”Hoosianna korkeuksissa!

Siunattu olkoon hän, joka tulee Herran nimessä!”

"Hosanna in the highest!

Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!"

Faces of Easter (Lent 5)

Today we had the plaque about Jesus' work as a teacher and friend/healer, and the plaque about the Last Supper. I did what I had proposed after last time, and invited members of the circle to bring things twice, once after each story. We are supposed to say that you don't have to bring anything, and I do. But the honest truth is that while I mean it when I say that that's ok, I'm even more pleased when they do bring something. I love the participation of it, and the unexpectedness of seeing what they will choose.

Today for the first time, everyone brought something! Some people declined in one round or the other, but in the end everyone had brought up at least one thing to help to tell more of this story. Here is what we made together:

Clockwise from top right, we have the image of the Risen Christ, our holding (prayer) cross, the Advent materials, the Palm Sunday materials ("Jesus the King"), the control card for the story of the Presentation in the Temple (Candlemas), and a parable box. (In the very top right of the picture is the control card for putting away the Faces of Easter materials.)

Telling these two stories together made it easy to change where one ended and the next began. The first of today's stories, by the script, is very short, and the second is very long. Instead of sticking to that, I extended the first plaque's story right up through Jesus teaching in the temple on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday of Holy Week (on the grounds that it tied in thematically with his work as a teller of parables). And then the second plaque was devoted to the events of Maundy Thursday. I left out altogether the tale of the widow's mite, since I needed to keep things a bit shorter for my young audience (something which Berryman himself recommends).

This hints at a very long post which I keep intending to write about how true to the text Godly Play stories are supposed to be. Already in my head it's growing into a whole series of posts. I'm daunted both by how much I want to say, and how adamant some people seem to get about it. I guess we can consider this a preface, or maybe a taster.

Faces of Easter (Lent 4)

Lots of folks visiting the blog lately have come via Google searches for "Faces of Easter". So I thought I'd write a longer post about our use of these materials this week. We had the next two stories from the Faces of Easter material yesterday - Jesus' baptism and the Temptation in the wilderness. It's a bit of a pity that our schedule has worked out so that we have two stories each week. It's been a lot for our youngest children (ages 3-5) to take in.

In the book, Berryman says that these lessons were designed for older children, but that they have been used with children as young as two years old (vol. 4, p. 53). Still, I think the fact that they were written for older children really shows. There is little action, apart from showing the picture to everyone. In the baptism story there is a small gesture to show Jesus going down into the water and coming up again, and I was supposed to draw an outline of a dove with my finger (but I was really unsure how to do so, especially in a way that would really make it clear to my listeners what I was doing). * Update: I've now realized that there is a dove in some versions of that picture.

(American materials for these lessons)

There is not a single gesture in the temptation story script... but I added one. Each time Jesus says, No, I held up my hand in a "stop" gesture (mirroring what is already on the picture). The comment in the book is that the very different kind of "wondering" done with these stories - inviting children to make connections by bringing other materials to set beside the Faces of Easter - is especially important because it provides movement and action to these stories.

Berryman does say that for very young children, the stories might be shortened (and that summaries of earlier stories should definitely be kept short). (On the other hand he also acknowledges that sometimes, as with our situation, it may be necessary to tell two or even three stories on a single Sunday.) Some are easier to abridge than others. I had left a few phrases and sentences out of the story of the boy Jesus in the temple last time, but I didn't really feel there was anything I could leave out of this week's temptation story. In discussing it with Vandriver, I've decided that next week I might try inviting the children to bring items to the circle twice, once after each story. It'll give them a chance to stretch and move in between the two narratives. And next time's stories are less connected to one another than the pairs we've had so far.

This week three children chose not to bring anything to the circle. One was a new visitor and had no idea what materials were available in the room. One wanted to bring something, but couldn't decide what - I think in part she was disoriented by the fact that we were in an unfamiliar room (and that our "shelves" were tables a bit too high for her height). But our visiting adult, also completely new to Godly Play, made a lovely connection with our baptism materials. Then I asked the children if it would be okay if I brought something (Yes!)... and I opened up the parable box and brought out one of the dangerous places from Psalm 23 to put beside the temptation picture.

To see the picture of what we created for the first two stories in this lesson, jump to this post. 

To read a little more about my materials, read this.

Faces of Easter control card

We have no Godly Play this week, because on the last Sunday of each month we have an all-ages worship service. But thanks to stf, here's a photo from last week:

In the foreground you can see the control card I made for the Faces of Easter (Lenten) materials. This lesson takes us through various important episodes in Jesus' earthly life, from birth to resurrection. [I'm trying out the plaque designs by Juliana Heidenreich. For now, I have used the free sample cards - the German GP copyright notice is printed right on each picture. In the longer run, once I know which pictures I like best, I want to pay for them properly (or ... commission my own drawings?!?).]

Something that had really struck me back in Advent was how easy the Advent plaques were to arrange. If you get them mixed up, it's easy to put them in order again, because the first one shows only one candle, the second two candles, and so forth. The hardest part is remembering to put them back in the basket "backwards" (the first goes in last, so that it is on top for the next time).

But with the Faces of Easter, a person cannot put them in order without remembering which story each picture relates to, and knowing the order in which these episodes happened in Jesus' life. So I made a control card, which I hope will work a little like a puzzle. You can see at least a portion of each card, and should therefore be able to figure out which plaque needs to be on top of which.

I wonder how it works with store-bought Faces of Easter cards. Is it easy to put them back in order?

Faces of Easter (Lent 2)

Today's lesson was about two episodes in the life of Jesus. After I'd showed pictures of them and talked about them, each member of the circle had the opportunity to choose anything in the room that would help us tell more about these parts of the story. It was also okay not to choose anything.

This is what we created together:

I say we, although I was one of the ones who chose not to add anything... except a song. While the materials were still out like this, I invited the circle to sing, Amen, Amen, Amen, Amen, Amen, and once they'd got the hang of the chorus I sang the first two verses, which are about exactly the scenes we were looking at:

guest post: flying solo

Written by see-through faith on 13 March

flying solo ....

well not quite as I had a helper over at junior church today, but as the lady who usually leads jr church and who has introduced Godly play there wasn't there I was the leader this week. Her shoes are hard ones to fill, let me tell you, but I - and the kids - had a lot of fun and met with God in great and sometimes unexpected ways!

For those of you who aren't familiar with Godly play, the idea - from my perspective at least- is to make it possible for kids to experience and learn about God in different ways in a setting that is their church - i.e. not the grown ups' place. Ideally you'd have a special room set aside for just that purpose. But we don't live in ideal worlds, and so I love the way Storyteller has gone about creating that special sacred space where it also ok - very ok - to play in the journey to discovering God.

Every Sunday she spends a lot of time hauling stuff in (and out) to prepare the space for junior church. I didn't have time (or energy) to do that - so we ran with a sort of skeleton junior church this week. The boundaries were there as usual and the mats were there and the funny thing was that we started before I knew it because the little kids each found a mat, sat down and waited and suddently it was a go :)

There were two parts that carried most impact for me

Firstly there was the careful changing of the liturgical colours from green to purple (for we are now in Lent). That meant handling the holy family (nativity) figures and explaing simply who each one was. The 'liturgy' we use goes something like this

Here is the Christ child. See how he's holding out his arms to give you a hug. He was born. He grew up. He became a man. And he died on a cross. That's sad. But that's also wonderful in an Easter kind of way. Because now the Risen Christ can extend his arms and hug every one.

The kids really listened attentively to this part -and we looked at the liturgical colours - white (with gold) and red and green - and of course purple. That fitted in well with what they'd done last week which was learn about telling the time in church (i.e. the church year)

Usually they'd then have a lesson. I'm not up to that so I read a story about the miraculous catch of fish with lots of actions and times to reflect. I wonder how they felt. I wonder how many fish they caught. I wonder what Jesus meant by fishers of men. etc.

Then there was the response time.

Again the skeleton set up this week meant they had a choice, but not an awful lot. There was no parable box for example, or the baptism set, and horror of horrors no clay (playdough) or glitter glue. No fuss -simpler choices this week.

This was the second event that impacted me most

The youngest wanted a story - not the fish story again, but the one about the nativity. (a link to what I'd said about the holy family perhaps?) And then she wanted to 'do' the story of the good shepherd herself. She carefully got the things out and set it up and sort of did it herself with me close by. It was fun and lovely ... only then disaster struck. "Where's the bread and wine?" oops! You see I hadn't found those figures when unpacking the boxes (though I found them later) so we improvised (made a loaf out of card and a jug out of shiny paper) and she carefully took the Good shepherd the five sheep and priest at the altar along with all the people. So moving!

We finished with the feast (which I at least once called snack by mistake!) and then I read another story, this time about the good shepherd a different version with 100 sheep but one which put the parable into context. They liked it a lot

As usual we finished with communion and a blessing when the priest (finally) arrived. I couldnt' remember the song we usually sing so we sang thank you for this fine day. And it was a fine day and so blessed!

But I'm very glad storyteller will be back next Sunday, so I can go back to being a participant able to respond to the message in my own way and an adult who is privileged to be present at junior church and whose responsiblities are a) turning up in good time b) toilet /washing hands duties and c) preparing the snack feast (which the parents take turns in providing)!