Rachel Fitch
Sid & Cathy Batts Pastoral Resident
As children gathered last Thursday morning for a Noah’s Ark Godly Play story, as the preschool children gather for Godly Play at their weekly chapel time, and as we all are welcomed to join the Godly Play moment during Sunday’s worship, we are reminded of the gift of ‘wondering.’
At the end of each story, Mrs. Lisa asks ‘wondering’ questions. I wonder which part of the story you like best? I wonder which part of the story is the most important? I wonder if there is a part of the story we could leave out and still have all the story we need? I wonder where you see yourself in this story? I wonder what part is about you? I wonder what it was like to know Jesus?
The questions go on. However, there is no one right answer, no set direction in which the conversation is supposed to go. You are just wondering together.
When there is time for the full Godly Play program, the story is followed by time to respond. Children might draw or create something in response to the story or they might play with another story. With this, they are invited to explore and engage in different ways.
I don’t know about you, but I know that too often I fail to approach Scripture with that full openness of merely wondering. As we continue to begin our studies, our Sunday School classes, our programs this Fall, what does it look like to bring this wondering with us? What does it look like to learn from the children in our congregation and to reclaim a bit of our child-likeness and wonder alongside? And, what does it look like to respond – engaging and exploring, drawing or creating, singing or learning about another story in response to one we’ve heard?
Whether it is noticing what images come to mind as we read a particular passage and drawing a simple sketch or noticing what hymns come to mind and singing along, I invite us to wonder with the Scriptures. I invite us to explore and engage, recognizing that we are called to make a joyful noise to the Lord, to call on the Lord in times of trouble, to rest in God’s presence, to take delight in the Law of the Lord and meditate on it day and night, so that we might become like trees planted by streams of water that bear good fruit.
