about parables

Storyteller: I noticed that as soon as 4-year-old came into the room, you said, "There's a new parable box!" I wonder how you knew that it was a parable?

4-year-old: Because it's gold.

Storyteller: Why should the gold be a signal that it's a parable?

4-year-old: Because it's from Jesus.

guest post: remembering a parable

Written by see-through faith on 23 May

Saturday was our wedding anniversary. 23 years.

We woke up together but spent the morning apart. Hubby busy with stuff around the house and I – I cycled over to our all age Godly play morning.

It was fabulous. Storyteller opened up the story of the great family of God in a new and exciting way.

But before that there was a heart stopping moment for me. As part of her introduction to the session storyteller explained to the group that all the stories in the room we had already had this year except for the one we were about to hear that morning. One of the young members of junior church raised their hand and repectfully reminded us that there was one story storyteller hadn’t heard! Because stf (that’s me!) had put in a new parable box the week before.

photo by see-through faith

That was nice.

But then the heart-stopping moment all teachers dread … One of the adults asked. Oh … can you tell us what parable it was?

silence

(I’m sitting there thinking … wrong question … I never gave the parable a name. How awfully embarassing for the child. How awfully embarrasing for me.)

But I was wrong.

The three little children (all 5 and under) looked at where the box was placed and then at me and then with very little prompting they remembered – and started to tell the story to the grown ups.

They remembered the story of the tiny little seed, so tiny if I had it on the end of my finger you wouldn’t be able to see it!

which was planted by a sower

and it grew

and grew

and grew

until it was a huge shrub

as big as a tree

photo by see-through faith (taken from the children's viewpoint)

and the birds of the air

came

and made their nests in it.


Then it was time to quiz the adults as to what parable that actually was. That was the fun part. (grin) You see there is more than one parable about the Kingdom of God which talks about seeds and sowers and birds, but only one in which the birds of the air make their nests.

That parable is – of course!- the parable of the mustard seed.
(You can find it in Matt 13:31-32)

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."

upcoming event

Here's a copy of an invitation email that went out to our congregation this week:


Dear Church Family,

As many of you know from Sunday announcements this month, you are invited to a fellowship event on Saturday the 21st (morning and lunchtime).

10-12: Godly Play session for everyone ages 3 and up, followed by lunch. Children under 3 and their minders are welcome to fellowship together in the coffee room while the rest of us are doing Godly Play (please bring quiet toys).

You are welcome to come to lunch whether or not you come to the Godly Play session (and vice versa), but we do need to know numbers by Thursday evening, so please reply to this email to say whether you'll be coming to Godly Play, lunch, or both (and let us know if you plan to bring other friends or family members, and whether anyone has any dietary restrictions).

**Please come on time. If you arrive after the story has begun (after the door to the "Sali" is shut), then we ask you not to interrupt the GP session but to join the folks in the coffee room instead.

Some of you got a taste of Godly Play on Easter Sunday. It began as a Montessori approach to children's Christian education, but it is now used for all ages, even in work with the elderly and in prison ministries. It involves exploring Bible stories using your senses as well as your mind. You don't need to pretend to be a child - just relax and be yourself. Some of what we do may seem childish, but each person can experience the event at his or her own developmental level, spiritually as well as physically. I will never ask you to share more than you want to - silence is respected and enjoyed in Godly Play!

Our session will go like this:

- Gathering together

- Sacred Story presentation (an oral narrative, with visual materials to help you focus)

- Wondering together (a time to reflect upon the story with simple, honest discussion)

- Individual responses (including art, prayer, or working with story materials)

- Returning to the circle (time for a little more discussion if desired, and a short time of prayer)

- Blessing song / Dismissal

I've been looking forward to this for weeks - I hope you can come!

love, Storyteller

busy with other things

Many, many thanks to "see-through faith", who dealt with Junior Church this week while I was busy with a family reunion (four generations, gathered from four countries) and wedding.

And thanks, too, to Sarah Frechette, for capturing some of our family time in photos for us.