Playing

We're back into the program year so this is a good time to get back to regular posting here.

Ironic that its the program year that provides the impetus, because the first thing I have to say is about play.

The importance of play is old news of course, but I'm in the process of learning its importance personally. It's been a reoccurring theme, highlighted this summer by my neighbor's wise insistence as I prepared for vacation that I use the time to PLAY with my kids. It all fits together wonderfully with the numerous bits of insight that keep reinforcing my conviction that the gospel about becoming like little children in order to enter the realm of God's reign is deeply significant.

Sunday I saw the relevance of play again. The kids were quiet and reserved. Clearly some of what I'd planned would not work because the kids weren't comfortable enough to participate in the ways I had imagined. So I went with plan B and read a Bible story in the form of a pop up book. They slid right up close to the book and were eager to open flaps and pull tabs. Then we played with play dough. We used it as a bridge to the story and other topics of the day. But the more important aspect was that it opened up our interactions and relationships. We were talking, playing and imagining together.

So...(I say to myself as much as you)...yes, you have to be the adult, do the planning, keep the big picture and all...but make sure you let go and play...let the children teach you...don't let yourself or the children miss that opportunity.

PLAY!

Creation Stories

Work with kids gave me a great "excuse" recently to do something I'm always interested in.

I checked out a collection of children's creation story books.

Some are a pretty close rendering of the biblical story.
Some of them are creative re-tellings, obviously based on the biblical story.
Some are creation stories from other cultures.

Its been fun to read them to my kids, asking questions like
Who is God in this story?
What in this story is the same or different from the creation story (really stories of course) in the Bible?

You don't have to lead Children's Church to enjoy this kid of project.
You could easily take it on at home (whether your have kids or not).
Enjoy.

The Sheep, the Wolf & the Shepherds

I had another good experience telling a Godly Play style story (really from Young Children and Worship) Sunday.

One child really seems to have grasped who Jesus is in these stories. When the Jesus character is introduced in other terms, like the Good Shepherd, this child is quick to interject, "Jesus!"

One kid had an interesting question: When the Good Shepherd stood between the wolf and the sheep that were scattered, were those sheep his own sheep or the Ordinary Shepherd's sheep?

The issue that resonated strongest with me was that one or two kids wanted to put the wolf (who of course represented danger or worse) in the sheepfold with the sheep. One of them who told their own story with the materials worked it out so that the wolf was friendly and wouldn't hurt the sheep.

Probably this is due to the naivete of the fortunate young who have, thankfully, not yet had to come to terms with much danger, darkness, or evil. But I wonder about the idea that it is a mindset not yet acculturated to so readily dichotomize the world into the good and the bad, us and them; a mindset not so quick to assume and label.

I find it interesting that the natural inclination of these children seems to be to care for the well being of the wolf, while the theological perspective of the story is seemingly otherwise, at least at an adult's first glance.

Of course I don't want to put any children at any sort risk by not applying the wisdom and perspective of an adult to protect them from all kinds of danger. But neither do I like the idea that our Christian agenda might often be to squelch or redirect this caring response of the children.

Likewise I found myself uncomfortable with the Good Shepherd vs Ordinary Shepherd Distinction. In common usage of the term, most of us are more or less ordinary, in ways we don't always identify as bad. Is there something wrong with the ordinary? Is ordinary not good? Is ordinary bad? Is this a statement of human nature as being inherently basically bad, sinful or inadequate? It's not that I approve of the job the Ordinary Shepherd did in letting the sheep scatter or in running away when the wolf came. But is ordinary the best term for these actions of the "Ordinary Shepherd"? Is this what an ordinary shepherd would do? What other terms might be used than ordinary?

At least I think we need to wonder if the children might be onto something that we adults would do well to learn from. I wonder if their responses have anything to do with what the gospel means when it talks about the need to become as little children to enter the kingdom of God.

Math as a Spiritual Matter

If we think of one aspect of spirituality as having to do with making a connection to that which is beyond ourselves, many things have a spiritual dimension.

One of my children began asking about which numbers are real....a gazillion? a billion?....

This led to the child saying that numbers are interesting.....not regular numbers like 1 or 9 or 100, but numbers like 101. It was as if at that point the limits of the imagination were stretched to the point of fascination with that which is known to be there, but which can not quite be known.

It gives me another hint/question about what it might mean to enter the realm of God like a little child.

I got to talking at work about my child's questions. It's led to wonderful conversations. Not religious conversations per se, but conversations that, at least for me (and I can only speak for me) have spiritual impact and theological implications. This is especially gratifying in light of my post related to all the time I spend at work vs with people from church, and the idea it led to that I ought avail myself to connecting more with people at work.


Quite a lot has come from a conversation with a child. Not that I should be surprised, right?

New Connection - Born Again

Reflecting on a child's response, I became concerned that they might have misunderstood the part of last week's story that says that one who does not receieve the kingdom of God like a little child will not enter it. Did I or the text ever say "as a child" rather than "like a child"? Did they hear "as a child" and think it meant "when a child" rather then "like a child"?

Such a scary responsiblity this buisness of teaching children sometimes seems.

The brighter note here is the connection the line of thought brougth me.

It's not that one has to receive the kingdom of God WHEN a child in order to enter it.
One can recieve the kindgom of God LIKE a child at any time or age.
We can be like a child at any age....we can be BORN AGAIN.
I hadn't thought of it that way before.

So far I haven't gone back to the biblical texts to check out how well that interpretive connection holds up. But in my mind the connection seems meaningful, helpful, worth further exploration.

Christmas: Birth, Death or Resurrection?

I recently asked a child what we celebrate at Christmas.

I thought by this point in their life they would be well enough exposed to have the concept of Christmas as celebrating Jesus birth down.

The answer started out accurately...

It has something to do with Jesus.

Yes, what about Jesus?

When he got on the cross?

No...

When he came back?

No...

When he was born.

Yes.

It made me think that as an adult I take a lot for granted. I wonder how often I fail to realize the impact of the fact that kids don't have the years of context and experience that adults have.

Kids (and all of us) need the stories told over and over.

Sometimes kids understand more than I expect, and sometimes less. I have to remember to be clear and not to assume too much in either direction.

As concerning as the child's lack of clarity about Christmas is, in some ways I feel quite encouraged by the responses. If you're going to be wrong about what we celebrate at Christmas, I'd say this child had great "wrong"(?) answers: Jesus' death and resurrection.

Even if we have some details to sort out, we're onto something here.

Come to think of it, that statement applies pretty well to a lot of us.

Explain it to a Kid

I left the Ash Wednesday service thinking about how I would explain the smudges on my forehead to my children. I formulated & reformulated explanations. I tried to arrive at one that would be accurate, understandable, brief and convey what I wanted to my children.

What a tool for exploration and growth of one's faith & beliefs figuring out how to talk about them with kids can be!

Try it out! Pick any topic you want, or go with the one about the ashes.

Where did you struggle? What insights did you gain? What questions did you discover?

Processes like this can be happily invigorating or horribly scary.
Rest in God, let the Spirit lead you.