Of Course You Missed the Sermon

Rev. Snyder told me once that during the time his children were small, his wife didn't hear his sermons for years.

I'm pretty sure she was at church.
I'm pretty sure any parents reading this don't need me to explain why she missed the sermons.

I hope you know that if you miss Aron's sermons, much of the time you have the good fortune of being able to read them on his blog.

His Easter sermon is there and is well worth the read.

Godly Play Materials

In response to my comment in a previous post about how well kids are responding to the Godly Play style stories, in spite of materials made with paper & scissors, a reader asked further about the materials. Here are a couple pictures and some info.

This picture includes Jesus (purple figure in center) talking to Zaccheaus in the tree. They are by Jericho (left of the tree) on the way to Jerusalem (on the right end of the purple underlay).

Most of the stories use a felt underlay. I've been making these easily enough.

The figures used in the stories are supposed to be wood. The Young Children and Worship book has patterns for them. Not having the skills to make them of wood, I've compromised by making them of tag board & construction paper, or depending on the item, plain old corrugated cardboard from used boxes. Stories often call for other items as well...special boxes, baskets, candles or other more story specific things.

Last week I used artificial leaves from a stem purchased at a craft store and squares of cloth cut from my stash of scrap material at home. (I knew there would be a use for it sometime, right?)

This week I've managed to use craft store items (wood, paint & modeling clay) to make a table, plate, cup and loaf of bread that I'm pretty happy with.

However I'd say my cardboard "backdrop of the upper room" leaves something to be desired. But, at least on a basic level it will serve the purpose. It doesn't have the beauty & quality probably called for...but it will have to do. (Can somebody who understands this stuff better explain why I can't get an empty line between paragraph above and the one below?!?)

The stories in Young Children & Worship are not all the same as the ones in Godly Play. I have not found the materials for Young Children & Worship available to purchase (even though Godly Play Resources sells the Young Children & Worship Book.) Godly Play does have materials available for purchase. Some of them I think are better obtained in more cost effective ways. Others my sensibilities about expenditures have kept me from ordering for other reasons, though eventually I anticipate I will order some of those that would be the most challenging to make or otherwise obtain.

Purchased: Children's Bible

After borrowing the Read and Learn Bible from the Resource Center for Churches, I decided to buy a copy.

My children each wanted their own. My oldest tried to claim sole ownership of the one I bought. But I'm maintaining that it belongs to all of us. I want to use it too (not only for my work at church but personally!)

A few of you may know that my idea of in depth Bible study is pretty hard core. Don't mistake that to think that I don't think it's great to being able to sit down and read a huge chunk of the Bible (basic versions of major stories that is) in one sitting. I'm also happy to find this resource of child friendly versions of stories. It will make my work as a parent and at church easier.

My oldest child has a ton of paper scraps in it marking stories to read. I think that's great.

What do I like about this Bible?

• My kids' excitement about it.
• The pictures aren't dry and musty looking. Neither do they exceed my cutesy tolerance threshold.
• The text is visually appealing. It's is a modest amount in large print. Enough to tell the story. Not so much as to make one hesitant to delve in.
• The stories are told in ways that I think are basic & accessible without excessive embellishment or interpretive commentary.

My main complaint to this point: I would prefer more gender neutral language.

The technicalities:

• The text is a paraphrase using the Contemporary English Version and the King James Version.
• It says it's oriented to kids 5-8 (or 4-7 depending where you read.)
• Published by Scholastic with the cooperation of the American Bible Society in 2005.

This Stuff Works!

Again this Sunday I was impressed with the results of using a story from Young Children and Worship or Godly Play. My experience and training in these curricula are limited, my materials are mostly home made out of cardboard and paper...and still I see such interest and response from children!

I was able to give a couple kids a lot of time to work with the story materials themselves after I told the story about Zacheaus. They are eager to do this. One child used the materials to work through the story again without using the words. The other child largely made up new scenarios with the materials. The most poignant of these in my mind was when the child had someone say to Zacheaus: "Do you know why people don't like you? Go that way," pointing toward Jesus, "There is a man who will love you."