Godly Play working groups

I am in Philadelphia after doing a core training at a wonderful hospitable church in Chicago last weekend with Susan Mallison.

I am starting a training this evening at Pendle Hill, a Quaker retreat center here in Philadelphia. I love the name of the workshop - "Playing in the Light - Godly Play for Quakers".

A group of Friends began a working group four years ago, meeting once a quarter to develop Liturgical (worship) stories for the Quaker tradition and practice. I joined them on Wednesday for their quarterly gathering. They have been working on a story on the Quaker testimonies (SPICE - Simplicity, Peace, Integrity, Community, Equality). It was an invigorating and hearty conversation. I came away envious and desirous to be in such a community that regularly and intentionally engages Godly Play practice, storytelling, reflection and listening in the circle.

I was talking to Amy Crawford, trainer in Canada, about the experience and she wisely reflected that some of the newer developing Godly Play circles - i.e. Germany, Finland, where they have had to translate and engage the stories results in a dynamic freshness and authentic wonder about this work. Amy talked about developing local storytelling guilds and learning communities. The Foundation is wanting to be more intentional about helping form continuing education resources for people who are doing Godly Play.

It has been a good reminder that I bring to the circle my own wonder and openness and comfort with the mystery of this journey.

Query: How are you, in your own spiritual practice, engaging and reflecting in ways that keep Godly Play alive and dynamic and full of wonder for you personally?

From Godly Play, An Imaginative Approach to Religous Education by Jerome Berryman (note: I think everyone who does Godly Play should re-read this book annually!)

"The key to the spoken lesson is the teacher as the storyteller. The goal of the story telling is to engage wonder, the creative process, and the awareness of our existential limits as human beings in both the speaker and the listener. This is a cooperative venture between the children and the adult teachers.
When the teacher is truly wondering, the children sense wonder in the air. It manifests itself in the playfulness present in the room. Permission and reinforcement are present to encourage it. When the teacher enters religious language with wonder, he or she shows the children by example how to open the creative process.
...The teacher’s attitude toward existential issues is also important. Experiences such as death, the threat of freedom, the need for meaning, or the unavoidable aloneness that marks us as human beings often raise the defenses of both adults and children. Awareness and permission work together to counteract such avoidance. If we are repressing the awareness of existential limits in our own lives, we will communicate that to the children. Awareness of such limits and permission to deal with them enable the children to be deeply realistic about who they are."
pp. 63 and 64

Quaker Godly Play resources:

http://www.fgcquaker.org/faithandplay/
www.quakerbooks.org (look for Faith and Play)