Godly Play Meets Every Sunday (Sept to June) at 10:00am in the Undercroft
Godly Play begins Sunday September 13th @10:00am
If you wish to have your Child or know of others who would like their children to attend Sunday School at Ascension please fill out a registration form available in the back of church and will soon be available on this page.
GODLY PLAY: The Divine and the Playful Dance
Children play a central role in the life of the parish. We believe that the formation of our children is one of the most important things we will ever be called to do as a community of faith. In September of 2006, Godly Play, an innovative children’s curriculum developed by the Reverend Jerome Berryman several years ago, was instituted as the curriculum for our children ages three through twelve. The Rector states that “in my many years of participating in the spiritual formation of children, I have never encountered a more child focused program than this. It assumes an innate, that is to say a God-given, spirituality in children that will flourish if engaged in an open and loving manner.” The essential idea in Godly Play is to create a sacred space in which children are invited to engage the stories of our faith, the great and sacred myths of creation and deliverance of God’s people as well as the stories of Jesus’ life and the parables he told. The pedagogical style is less about indoctrination than about formation. As the stories are told, children are allowed to wonder about them, to enter the stories in whatever ways they can, and to experience the truths of the faith in an open-ended life giving way rather than in an emphatic and exclusivist manner.
Using an approach that is reminiscent of the Montessori technique of teaching, each story has an accompanying set of visual and tactile props that bring the narrative alive. For example, in telling the story of Jesus as the Good Shepherd, the leader uses a group of sheep within the safe enclosure with one wondering outside. When the figure of Jesus is moved outside the enclave to reclaim the one who is lost and slowly returned to safety, the message is clear that goodness and safety are God’s intention for all people. At the end of each story, the children are invited to wonder about the story, to verbalize feelings and thoughts that they encountered in the telling of the story. At the end of the story “I wonder,” the teacher says, leaving space for the continuing love and action of God in the world and in the lives of the children.
After the Godly Play session, children join their parents in the nave for Communion. We encourage parents to allow children to receive Communion as soon as they show interest in doing so. Waiting until one fully understands the mystery of the Eucharist would mean that none of us ever had the joy and transformation of this vehicle of Grace.