our “play” is serious business

The Godly Play Sunday School curriculum was developed by Dr. Jerome Berryman, Episcopal priest, author, and teacher. Berryman received his theological education at Princeton Theological Seminary and is a nationally recognized lecturer, consultant, and workshop leader in religious education and the pastoral care of children. The Godly Play curriculum has been tested in classrooms since 1972. It is based in Maria Montessori’s educational philosophy and uses hands-on, direct learning and creative, active participation to engage children with their own spirituality and the Episcopal tradition.

what does Godly Play believe?

To quote the Center for the Theology of Childhood, the parent organization of Godly Play, “The goal of Godly Play is to teach children the art of using religious language to help them become more fully aware of the mystery of God’s presence and direction in their lives. Profoundly scriptural and traditional, the program nonetheless makes room for children to seek answers to their own life questions.
visit the Godly play website at www.godlyplay.org

The program embodies deep values that we share:

• Belief that children face the same existential issues that adults do
  and struggle to resolve them;
• Respect for the presence of the Holy Spirit in the lives of children;
• The power of God’s Word to define meaning and direction in our lives;
• The essential goodness of the souls of our children;
• The importance of environments for children that clearly
  demonstrate our love for them.

the Godly Play classroom

The Godly Play classroom is designed so that children can use and explore everything in it. It is a safe, engaging, loving environment where what children say and do is valued and respected. The walls of the classroom are lined with shelves, each containing baskets of stories made out of beautiful, natural materials. Children are thus surrounded by the biblical story in the classroom.

the Sunday morning experience

The morning is divided into three parts: storytelling, “work” or response time, and the feast. Children are greeted as they enter the room and prepared to be invited into deep and reverent play. They then actively listen to the story presentation. Stories are told in a meditative way, using wooden figures and other wooden objects to make the story come alive. Godly Play stories are based on the best of modern biblical scholarship. Children find the stories engaging and meaningful and remember them. After the story the teacher leads the class in “wondering” about it, asking open-ended questions that elicit each child’s thoughts and opinions.

During the “work” time children are invited to use the enrichment materials of the classroom to further explore the story. These include books, maps, and art materials, as well as the stories themselves. During this time, besides having fun, the children are linking up the religious language of the story with their own inner understanding, which helps them understand the story and makes it come alive. This makes sense, because in so doing they are entering into relationship with God – opening themselves to grace.

After work time, children gather for a feast shared as a communal meal. During the feast time much prayer, laughter, and personal storytelling is shared.

At the close of class, the storyteller says goodbye to each child individually and the child is released to his or her parents.

the Godly Play stories

There are four kinds of stories in Godly Play – sacred stories, parables, liturgical action, and silence.

The sacred stories follow the ongoing story of the mystery of God’s presence in history. Sacred stories chronicled in the Old and New Testaments include the birth, life, and death of Jesus and the coming of the Holy Spirit to the disciples. In them we find our identity and history as God’s people. Examples of the many sacred stories told in our classrooms include Creation. The Great Family (Abraham and Sarah) , Exodus, The Ten Best Ways to Live (the 10 commandments), The Ark and the Tent (the tent of meeting at Shiloh), The Promised Land (Samuel, the Prophet), Jerusalem (David, the King), The Annunciation, The Transfiguration. Faces of the Journey (the life of Jesus), The Resurrection, and Pentecost.

Parables were clearly a favorite teaching method of Jesus. Parables are not historical or fictional but symbolic and open-ended: Unlike myths, they do not create coherence but rather break reality open. Parable materials are thus flat and much less realistic than the other story genres. Children help to build the parable metaphor as the materials are laid out. Some of our parables include The Good Shepherd, The Good Samaritan, The Sower, The Mustard Seed, The Great Pearl, and The Leaven.

The Episcopal faith is a liturgical and sacramental faith. Through liturgical action presentations we learn about the sacred work or actions that bring us closer to the living presence of God. Liturgical action presentations include Circle of the Church Year, Advent, Epiphany, The Mystery of Easter, Holy Baptism, the Good Shepherd and World Communion, The Circle of the Holy Eucharist, and Symbols for the Holy Eucharist.

Silence (The Holy Spirit is here!) Children and teachers are given the opportunity to engage in serious play with each of these kinds of religious language as we tell a majority of these stories each year (and leave lots of room for silence to emerge).

Those of us who have been involved as teachers, parents, and students of Godly Play have found the program to be life-changing. We invite you to come to a classroom on Sundays and learn more!