easter 2015

Sheila, over at Explore and Express  has published a post today about a new term to replace "Door Person" when talking about Godly Play in German. She explains, When a door is understood as a symbol of opening up new possibilities, it's a great name. However, the literal translation in German, T�r-Person, has very different connotations. People think of a bouncer or a guard - someone who keeps people out. When I was new to Godly Play I used to forget and call the Door Person a "doorkeeper", a word I fear can have some of those connotations of "someone who keeps people out". But then again, some of us might think of the Psalmist saying, I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God   than dwell in the tents of the wicked. licensed photo by "Emw" open doors at St Anne's, Lowell, Massachusetts I wonder what you think about the title, "Door Person".

This week leading up to Pentecost has been a week of prayer in the Church of England. Activities have ranged from novenas to 24-7 prayer rooms, from Lectio Divina to neighbourhood prayer walks. To involve my church, I scheduled a prayer activity for each weekday this week. Three of these were services at the church. But I also offered to do "themed devotions" for our two children's ministries this week. These are not children accustomed to Godly Play; most of them are not even accustomed to attending church. Our ministry includes opening prayers and some teaching about the Christian faith, but most of the time is spent on games and other activities. I chose to use part of the Pentecost Celebration from Catechesis of the Good Shepherd. This is something I learned about  back in October 2013 , and already then I was excited and intrigued about using it with others. The goal was to invite each child to a prayerful moment, one which could be understood as a prayer for renewa...