Easter followup (part 1)

Featherglen asked how my Easter presentation had gone. (Thanks, FG, for the query!)

As I explained earlier, I made a slide show to illustrate the Easter story, line by line. I used the day's lectionary reading, Luke 24:1-12, but also included some background from the previous chapter to set the scene. The pictures below illustrate these lines:

• Darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon.

• Then Jesus cried out in a loud voice, saying, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.”

• With these words, he breathed his last.

• All his friends stood at a distance; so also did the women who had accompanied him from Galilee and saw all this happen.

• The women took note of the tomb and how his body had been laid. 

• Then they returned, and prepared spices and ointments.

• On the Sabbath day they rested, as the Law required.

In the telling, each slide contained just a single picture, but during the Wondering I showed a "review" slide to help jog people's memories. I started the Wondering with a slide showing all the images from the Resurrection part of the story (the lectionary reading), but I also prepared this review slide of the Crucifixion part of the story, and switched to this when anybody mentioned this part of the story.

And how did it go? Well there were a few minor mishaps. At the second church, even though we had tested all the equipment in advance, the projector and laptop refused to talk to one another when we started setting up for the service. Fortunately, the problem resolved itself after about ten minutes of sweating ... and rebooting things over and over again. 

Other than little snags like that it went well! I did learn something useful about the Wondering... and I'll make that a separate post.

Was it a festival for you?

How was your Pentecost celebration? Did your church celebrate it like one of the three major festivals of the Christian year?

photo source: http://www.garageshopblog.org

Our preacher started his sermon by singing"Happy Birthday" to us, which reminded me of my Junior Church celebration two years ago. But it wasn't really a remarkable service compared to an average Sunday. The Cathedral, on the other hand, made it very clear that yesterday was a Big Deal, and I was thrilled to join them yesterday afternoon!

How about you?

another busted halo video

You remember the Busted Halo video about Advent? They've done several, but the first one was the one that explained Pentecost in two minutes. Here it is:

What do you like best about the Pentecost story?

The first time I prepared the Pentecost story was early in my introduction of Godly Play to the very young children in our church. Vandriver and I were not at all sure about knocking down a set of blocks as the opening to the story - the children were still learning our new, reflective storytime mood and we worried that knocking down a tower was going to send the wrong message!

Instead, I prepared a story based heavily on the Young Children and Worship version.

But I came down with the norovirus that year, and didn't do Pentecost at all.

our Pentecost materials

The next year, I found myself with the materials ready for the Young Children and Worship story but discovered that after months of telling Godly Play stories I was no longer really satisfied with the YCW script. It felt like the worst of lectionary readings can feel - less like a pericope (a self-contained unit) and more like a random chunk of text. It seemed to me to lack the shape of a story.

What I did like, though, was ending with Peter's words from Acts 2:39, "This promise is for you and your children," as I drew a little flame on the forehead of each figure, tall and small.

I did the best I could, but I felt quite dissatisfied with the telling. My wondering questions were genuine, as I asked what we might have added or left out from the story (I seem to recall that one child thought my table, representing the table from the upper room, was unnecessary).

Months later, the grandmother of one of our children came to visit and I encouraged the child to show her around the room after our session. I began slowly putting things away while they explored. At one point I overheard the child say, These are the Pentecost materials, (I was pleased since I'd only used the word about 2-3 times all year) and then - joy - the young voice continued, and these are the children.

So many Bible stories don't actually feature children in them. But the Pentecost promise is explicitly for children as well.

presenting the Ascension

If only I were doing Godly Play this year, it would be time for my favorite lesson from Young Children and Worship. I hope you'll bear with me if I repeat some of what I've written on this topic before:

The relationship between Young Children and Worship and Godly Play is somewhat murky, especially to outsiders. But it would seem that the Ascension lesson was written by Sonja M. Stewart after visiting and working with Jerome W. Berryman (and after reading Sofia Cavalletti). 

It's one of my favorite lessons. It is simple, while being both biblical and liturgical. It brings together the story of the Ascension with Berryman's "changing of the light", while also introducing (or reinforcing) the response we often give during the Eucharistic prayer to sum up the Mystery of Faith:

Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again.

(photo by stf, cropped by me)

In presenting this, I adapted Stewart's lesson in small ways. I didn't use a satin underlay, but a small linen table cloth. I showed the Crucifixion/Resurrection card from the Faces of Easter lesson to emphasize the connection with (and continuation of) the Easter story. I deliberately used the word Eastertide as well as "season of Easter". And I followed Berryman's choice of phrasing, the tomb could not hold him, rather than Stewart's God made him alive again. 

a daydream

Vandriver and I are beginning to look ahead toward the end of our year in England... and I'm finding that I don't look forward at all to returning to my work in Finland. Instead I'm daydreaming.

What if there were a Godly Play job out there? Even a part-time one. Just for one "school year". Or might there be a Montessori day care that would take on someone with no paper qualifications for child care? (I can at least provide references and background checks and that sort of thing.)

The English church sometimes advertises jobs which are "house-for-duty", meaning you don't get paid but you get a house to live in. I'd consider something like that, but I fear those arrangements are for priests rather than children's workers. 

One part of my mind says it's just a daydream. But one part of my heart says, Go ahead and publish it, just on the off-chance that somebody looks up my email address (it's on my Blogger profile page) and sends me a job offer. We'd consider relocating! 

(p.s. Does this sound like I don't want to return to working with our church children in Finland? That's not what I mean! I'm feeling un-motivated right now about my "real job".)