Godly Play: Exodus

Looking through my archives, I was shocked that I'd never written about this story before. "Exodus" is one of the core stories in Godly Play that you tell year after year. Even in middle and  late childhood when many enrichment stories have been added, the children continue to hear this story.

The materials for "Exodus" include the desert bag (or box), two pieces of blue felt, people of God figures, and "Matzah-like" unleavened bread. (If you are Jewish and reading this, please forgive me for not having real Matzah in my basket!)

"Exodus" continues the theme of "hide-and-seek" found in the story of Abraham and Sarah. Where is God when his people are suffering as slaves in Egypt? 

The desert is also a character in its own right in these stories. Many important and even wonderful things happen there. But we don't choose to go there on our own. We only go through the desert when we have to. So the desert is both a physical place and an existential one. 

Gestures, like words, are used sparingly in Godly Play. Below is one of the most famous gestures in the Old Testament stories. 

"And God came so close to Moses, and Moses came so close to God, that he knew how to take the people through the water to freedom."

"Now all of the people were free on the other side. They were so happy they just had give to thanks to God, and Miriam led the dancing!"

One child drew the picture below with chalk pastels on sand paper during the Response Time. She explained that the people of God are coming through the waters at the bottom of the picture, and that Pharoah (the figure at the top) is pursuing them with his horses and chariot. It's so rare that a child draws something related to what they have just heard, that I had to share it. Obviously, she needed to think about it more. 

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