August 27
Beloved families of Good Shepherd,
Peace be with you! I had the great pleasure of participating in an International Godly Play Virtual Summit earlier this afternoon. Over one hundred Godly Play practitioners from around the world gathered together to share wisdom and to sharpen our practice of Godly Play within our respective communities. The Chair of the Godly Play International Council, Jorge Sierra Canduela, gave the keynote address about the importance of building sacred spaces to support the spiritual lives of children. Canduela said, “From a young age children’s lives are filled with spaces where their worth is defined by what they learn, how they act, or what they produce.” He went on to say, “there are few places for children to sit in the joy of wonder, silence, and creation.”
Canduela said that our work as parents, caregivers, and ministers is to build a world where “every child has access to sacred spaces where they can make meaning and find purpose in their spiritual journey through story, wonder, play, and imagination; where they are valued just for who they are and are invited to explore that.”
We are very blessed at Good Shepherd to have the sacred spaces for children to explore the mystery of God’s presence and to learn the Christian language system to process their experiences of God. These sacred spaces are safe environments where children are valued for who they are and not for what they produce for the adults in the room. I am so grateful to our Godly Play Consultant, the Rev. Cynthia Insko, for preparing three beautiful Godly Play chapel spaces for our children to learn the stories of our faith and to wonder about God with curiosity and awe. Our preschool age children (Green chapel group) meet in Room 256 within Good Shepherd Day School. Our kindergarten and 1st grade children (Red chapel group) meet in Room 204, which is a new sacred space called “The Contemplative Chapel”. Our 2nd-4th grade children (Blue chapel group) meet in Room 201, which is located across from our church library. Our 5th grade children meet for “Take 5” children’s chapel in the Youth Suite with our Youth Minister, Zac Blankenship, and his team of adults “Sheps”.
We are excited to offer a new children’s chapel rhythm for the new program year:
1st Sunday of the month: Godly Play story
2nd Sunday of the month: “Music Sunday”
3rd Sunday of the month: Godly Play story
4th Sunday of the month: “Play” Response of Art or Story
5th Sunday of the month: Godly Play story
And, we are delighted to resume our Moms’ Ministry gatherings on the 2nd and 4th Tuesdays of the month beginning September 9, 8:45-9:45 am. This fall we’ll explore the sacred stories of the great mothers of our faith, such as Mary, the mother of Our Lord Jesus, Sarah, Ruth, and Esther! To join our Moms’ Ministry group, go HERE.
We hope to see you this Sunday!
Many Blessings,
Patty