easter 2015

[please bear with me as I come to grips with a new photo editor!]  Today our congregation held a Christmas carol service. It was broadly inspired by the traditional Anglican service of lessons and carols , but having had an Advent lessons and carols service already earlier in December, Vandriver designed this one around the Christmas story itself. And I, thinking of Berryman's "Children's Liturgy for Christmas Eve" (and of English "crib" services), asked for a table at the back of the chapel to be set up with a purple underlay on it. Earlier in the week, and again before the service, I explained to children my plan to carry Holy Family figures from "the Advent table" to the altar during our congregational carols. I said they'd be welcome to help me if they wanted. At first nobody wanted to help. This was something entirely new to them, so I was prepared for the possibility that they might find the idea overwhelming. During our opening hymn I my...

In my last post I left out one Wondering question. Yes, I did ask all four. And the third was the only one that got answered. (Often it can be the other way around!)  I wonder which part of the Advent lesson we could leave out, and still have all the story we need? One of the adults suggested we could leave out the journey to Bethlehem. I nodded and asked whether Mary and Joseph had really had to go to Bethlehem. This gave one child the opportunity to raise their hand very high, volunteering an answer, which was, Yes because they had to write their names in the book . Ok, there was a census. But mightn't it have been even better if there hadn't been any census? pointing (like the prophet's hand) to the space for "the journey to Bethlehem" One the adults now pointed out that although Mary might not have been very happy about travelling so close to her due date, perhaps Joseph did want to go. A fair point, I suggested. It was his ancestral homeland. There are peopl...

After three weeks of Advent observed in three different countries, today I was back in Finland. As I did on Second Advent, I presented the Godly Play lesson to the whole congregation. I encouraged adults to move further forward for this, and on the floor in front of me I had a familiar group of four children.  It's a long post today. It's a long lesson! Berryman says, "Do not minimize or rush the story," but realistically speaking it is often going to be the case that one has to shorten it a little, especially the parts you've told before. This can be done, however, without rushing and without trivializing them.  So I reviewed the season of Advent, with its purple color (seen on our altar / focal shelf but not on our pulpit fall, which is always black), and the need to get ready to enter or come close to a Mystery. I reviewed the prophets, who we remember on First Advent, and the Holy Family on the Road to Bethlehem from Second Advent.  Then I told the story of th...

(I'm posting this from Stockholm Arlanda airport, and having a little trouble with editing. One photo is missing and the font keeps changing. I probably won't manage to fix those things before Tuesday!) Today I was in Madrid, on my way back from a conference in Andalucia to Finland. Vandriver found me a hotel right around the corner from St George's Anglican Church. Although I had not found time to let anyone know I'd be coming, I recognized a fellow ordinand and he asked on my behalf if I could sit in and observe the Godly Play circle. While he was off asking, I watched a liitle boy supervise the priest's preparations for the service. The GP team graciously allowed me to join them, even though it was an awkward Sunday. Understandably but disappointingly, their usual Godly Play room had been taken over with preparations for the Christmas Bazaar. Fortunately, they have a second, much smaller room, which they tend to use for older children. It contains a second Holy F...

We had a Service of the Word yesterday (no Holy Communion), and the whole congregation got a "sermon" suitable for children. I laid the altar to look similar to a focal shelf. (The underlay is in fact a chalice veil!) And I told the first two sections of the Godly Play Advent lesson. I encouraged everyone to move closer to the front for this, and almost everyone did. Only one adult chose to sit on the floor, though.  All our (Finnish Lutheran) lectionary readings had themes of Waiting &/or Getting Ready, so we wanted this lesson to lead into a meditative time of singing the Taiz� chant, "Wait for the Lord". For that reason, I swapped the order of the script a little, talking about the need to get ready for the Mystery of Christmas after I had presented the two plaques.  It took three tries to "change the light" of the second candle. This child found it hard to WAIT long enough for the flame to die beneath the snuffer.  (Many thanks to his mother, for t...

We visited my parents' church today. They had purple and pink Advent candles in the Sunday School / Fellowship group session, and red ones in the worship service. The "baby boomers" in the Sunday School group debated whether to light the candles in a circular pattern (which is what I had assumed was the only way), or in the shape of a cross. As you can see (because the pink candle will be third), the cross pattern was the one chosen. As a Finnish resident, I was pleased that we happened to sing a Hosanna song. The song, "Hoosianna", is mandatory and loved for First Advent all across Finland.  One of our PowerPoint slides reminded me of one of Sheila's art projects ,  and we even had a geography lesson!