By now you might have already heard, the Christian Education (CE) Ministry decided to give Godly Play a go at Fauntleroy. Always on the search for a meaningful curriculum that engages young minds in the foundations of our faith, Godly Play (GP) meets those requirements and more. Instead of giving concrete answers, it offers up “I wonder” questions to help curiosity bloom and allow for the freedom to explore faith. With some planning, collaborated effort, and in the spirit of optimism, we plunged into Advent not knowing where God would take us, and now we are making plans for Lent.
In Advent, the adventure that ensued had a lot to do with the team effort of several individuals. Carol Gilderoy worked hard to supply supplemental materials and organize support. Adult volunteers & teenagers provided necessary supervision from week to week. I, David Wells, learned and presented the Advent stories in the style of Godly Play. Parents brought their kids. And the kids engaged earnestly with each lesson. They easily adapted to this Montessori style of Sunday School as we old stories about the prophets, the holy family, the shepherds, and the magi. It was exciting to explore the Mystery of Christmas with these young minds and get to know what they were curious about. Being relatively new to Fauntleroy, it also provided me with an opportunity to get to know these wonderful kids a little bit better.
While there were many flickers of light throughout this journey, I’d like to share some by reflecting on the words our leadership used to bring us through the Advent Season:
Surprise – I was surprised by some of the questions I got from the kids. One was why we celebrate Advent this time of year instead of when he was more likely born in the spring? Thankfully, I had some background knowledge that I pulled out of the depths of my distant college class but did get stumped on a few others and told the kids as much. Luckily, GP doesn’t require its storytellers to know everything and sets up a foundation of discovery and encouragement. When I asked the kids questions, I was also surprised by the responses. There is a wondering question in GP that asks if there are parts of the story they could leave out. When we got to the holy family, the kids said we could leave out Joseph! I wonder what will surprise the future teachers in the season of Lent?
Listening – While I was telling the stories, even during longer pauses, the kids were waiting to hear what came next. In their questions, eyes, and body language, you could tell that each one was able to follow along and think about what was happening. There were some wiggles here and there, but the attention was focused in on the day’s lesson. It was thrilling to have them hear the Advent story in this way. While it was great to see them listening to the story, I enjoyed listening to their questions when I modified the lessons to give them a chance to ask questions. Pausing to hear what they’re thinking about, is a gift.
Humility – I have perfectionist tendencies. From the set up to the telling of the story, I knew going into this that we’d have to adapt Godly Play to try it here a Fauntleroy. Thankfully, the trust I was able to put into others as well as myself made room for God and enough humility to adapt to the needs of the kids. I messed up. I forgot my words. And it was okay. The message was shared, and the kids got to dig into God’s Word.
Possibility – Lent! We’ve invested in another seasonal set of Godly Play with the same principles of engagement. The reception of the kids was so encouraging that we’re really looking at making this a seasonal and/or full approach to how we do Sunday School. With Advent and Lent now available, we have the opportunity to teach these lessons again. The possibilities are endless. The Christian Education Ministry is really excited to see where this curriculum could take us as a congregation.
Thinking of what it means to be a congregation, I couldn’t help but reflect on the Sacrament of Baptism. In a baptism, parents and godparents make individual promises to raise a child in the faith and then the whole congregation also makes promises to the parents and child. Here are the words we usually share with each other:
Leader: Congregation of Fauntleroy Church, do you, who witness and celebrate this sacrament, promise your love, support and care to this person/couple and their child as they live and grow in Christ? If so, please say, “We promise our love, support and care.”
People: We promise our love, support and care.
We promise our love, support, and care. That simple statement says so much. It has the potential to surprise us, make us listen, humble us, and bring possibility. Right now, Sunday School could use some extra support. We need your help to see if Godly Play is something that could work well at Fauntleroy, and Lent is right around the corner. I would like to invite anyone reading this blog post to consider joining in this journey with us. Using the words of Advent and the questions of Godly Play:
I wonder what would surprise you?
I wonder how you could listen?
I wonder what would humble you?
I wonder what new possibilities you might see?
