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Becky Ramsey | Author & Children’s Minister
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What is Godly Play?
According to the Godly Play Foundation, Godly Play is a creative and imaginative approach to Christian nurture.
Godly Play is about understanding how each of the stories of God’s people connects with the child’s own experience and relationship with God.
Godly Play respects the innate spirituality of children and encourages curiosity and imagination in experiencing the mystery and joy of God.
Read more about Godly Play here.
How do we do Godly Play at First Baptist Greenville?
Christians of many different denominations use Godly Play and probably do it differently, even within the same denomination. In this blog, I describe Godly Play by sharing the way our church does it. That doesn’t mean that it’s the best way or the prescribed way, or the only way, of course, but it’s the way that suits us best.
What are we here for?
We meet here to talk about Godly Play, to share what it’s all about and to discuss how to do it better.
The weekly blog posts are designed to help Sunday school teachers prepare for their Godly Play lessons, and the individual pages (see the tabs at the top of this page) share information about how we do Godly Play at First Baptist Church, Greenville, SC.
We’d love to hear from teachers everywhere, not just the ones at our church! We hope you’ll join our circle and share your ideas!
What Godly Play is Not
Godly Play is quite different from the traditional model in which the teacher tells the children what they need to know. Godly Play is not about things that are that simple. It is not just about learning lessons or keeping children entertained. It is about locating each lesson in the whole system of Christian language and involving the creative process to discover the depths of meaning in them.
The Second Sunday of Advent
Welcome to the celebration of the Second Sunday of Advent! This Sunday we move to the second card in the Advent Godly Play series, focusing on Mary and Joseph’s journey (don’t forget the donkey!) to Bethlehem.
There are several themes to explore during the time in the circle or during the create-a-gift-for-God time, if you so wish. These include:
1. Mary as the chosen mother of Jesus. Why did God choose her? What does it mean to be in favor with God?
2. Mary’s reaction to Gabriel’s news. The older children might enjoy really studying her reaction found in Luke, Chapter 1. You could even listen to The Magnificat.
3. The idea that God gives us courage and help to do what we need to do if we ask for it.
4. The idea of being part of God’s work in the world. How can each person do that? Can we look for ways to do God’s work? Be open to responding to God’s nudges?
5. Nothing is impossible for God. (What a great memory verse! Luke 1:37.)
So how do we help the children explore the story and these themes?
Here are some ideas for the Create-a-Gift-for-God-Time to add to your own.
Recreating the Story as a Gift to God
Children would enjoy exploring the story and recreating it in some way, both the visit of Gabriel to Mary and Mary and Joseph’s journey to Bethlehem.1. Put up several big easels and let the children paint the angel’s visit or the journey. (I bet older kids would like this too. They seldom get to paint on big easels anymore. You could even look at some famous artwork of Mary and baby Jesus.2. Use watercolors at the tables to paint either scene.
3. Make “life-size Gabriel-like angels!” (Who knows how big angels are!)
Use big pieces of butcher paper and have kids lie down and trace each other, sort of like making snow angels. Decorate with markers or paint or fabric. Or you could hold this idea until next week, when the angels visit the shepherds.
4. Recreate the story by acting it out. We have costumes for the younger children. Let me know ASAP if you want to use them and I can make sure they’re available. There’s a great video made by a group of children posted here. You could use that for inspiration if you like. The kids would enjoy watching it. If you decide to do this, I hope you can video it! Maybe a parent could help.
If you’re feeling really brave, have the kids take off their shoes and honor the donkey by making donkey heads from their bare feet!
5. Make ornaments for Gabriel, Mary, Joseph, and the Donkey!
There’s a great donkey one found here.
There are tons of ornaments out there for angels. Here’s a pic of one that one of my kids made out of a clothespin and felt.
The children could also make them out of clay.
I bet the children could figure out how to make ornaments for the other characters out of clothespins and fabric or tissue paper.
See more ideas on my Pinterest site, here.
Here are the Wondering Questions I’ve written for this Sunday. I look forward to hearing the children’s responses!
1. I wonder what your favorite part of the story is so far.
2. I wonder how Mary felt when Gabriel appeared before her and when she heard the news.
I wonder how she felt on the journey to Bethlehem and how Joseph felt. And the donkey too!
3. I wonder what we can learn from Mary and Joseph and the decisions they made from this story. What do they teach us about God?
4. I wonder where you are in this story. What part of this story is about you or for you?