Godly Play: The Ark and the Tent

"Wow, so einen Kindergottesdienst habe ich nie erlebt!" ("Wow, I've never been to a children's service like this before!"), said the 10-year-old boy who was attending our Godly Play brunch for the first time.

It was one of those strange Sundays where almost all of the kids who regularly attend were absent and a new child showed up instead. He wasn't used to "getting ready" and my own kids were definitely pushing the envelope a bit to see what they could get away with. So, we had to start over getting ready  several times before we could even begin the story. It's just like that sometimes . . . : )



This Godly Play story tells a short history of how and why the children of Israel built the tabernacle. It starts off with the people of God deciding that they always want to have the "10 best ways" or 10 commandments near them. God directs them to build the ark of the covenant, but like all like other mysterious and valuable things of God (like Christmas and Easter), you have to be prepared to get close to it. Hence, the people of God build the Tent of Meeting and place certain objects in it to help themselves get ready. 

As I thought about it more and more, this is a great way to explain to children the reasoning behind the elaborate rituals that Israel instituted in the Old Testament. It lays a foundation for understand what the word "holy" means later on. And there are obviously parallels with "The Mystery of Easter" and the Advent story that children with Godly Play experience pick up on right away. 

That having been said, this story must have been painfully boring the first time I told it in 2010. I'm sure the kids found the tabernacle furniture interesting, but I just didn't get back then how to be "playful" when talking about something like the tabernacle. 

This time around, I played around with what to do. Each time a new piece of tabernacle furniture was introduced, the directions said to move the figure slowly towards the object. The text said, "You can't just walk up to something so precious . . . You need some way to get ready." So, at first I let the figure move nonchalantly  towards the ark of the Covenant in a "la-la-la" sort of fashion. Then, I stopped the figure abruptly just before it reached the ark and let it stare at the ark saying, "Hmm . . .?"  And then as I let the figure walk slowly back to its place on the right to emphasize the importance of getting ready. And I repeated this each time with each new object that was added. 

This seemed to make a really big impression on the children and their Wondering was very verbal and animated. When asked what they liked best, one child answered that he thought it was cool that you couldn't just walk up to something so valuable and that you had to think up a way to prepare yourself for it. And when asked what they could leave out and still have everything they need for the story, all answered that we could leave out the part about only the priest going in, adding that they found this "dumb". That, of course, sets them up to make some theological connections about why it was once that way and, at least in our Protestant tradition, no longer is. (Obviously, in Orthodox churches, there are still parts of the church behind the main altarpiece that only men or only the priest can enter.)

Everyone wanted to play with the tabernacle during the Response Time. Towards the end, it got turned into a time portal for a stop-motion film that my son was working on before our children's service began.: ) 

I am going to try and come up with a way to tell the companion story, "The Ark and the Temple", soon. I don't own a wooden temple - they cost almost 200 Euros - but I will try to either make a model out of cardboard or perhaps just show pictures. We'll see!

Sneak Preview: The Ark of the Covenant and the Tent of Meeting

On Sunday, I'll be telling the Godly Play story, "The Ark of the Covenant and the Tent of Meeting". I've  told this story only once before, and back then I used a cardboard tabernacle that I had painted gold. I haven't had the chance to tell it since, because our church doesn't meet every Sunday and there just aren't enough opportunities in autumn when the Old Testament stories are usually told. Having decided that I'll never get to tell all the stories that I want to if I strictly follow the church calendar, I am going to tell a few more important OT stories in January before we move on to the life of Jesus and his parables. 

Since our church plant doesn't have tons of money, sometimes I ask for some of the more expensive Godly Play things for Christmas or my birthday. This Christmas, I was thrilled when my mother sent me a tabernacle! She ordered it from Worship Woodworks, which makes story materials for both Godly Play and Young Children & Worship. WW's materials are lovely and many times more reasonably priced than from other suppliers. I also like that you can just buy part of a set if you want to and not have to buy the entire set. 

While telling the story, one wall of the tabernacle is left open, so that the children can see what is inside. You can see (L to R) the wash basin, the altar of burnt offerings, the table of the shewbread, the menora, the altar of incense and the ark of the covenant. The cloths are the four coverings that were used as the tabernacle's roof.

This is a picture of the tabernacle with all four walls, minus the coverings, of course.

A view from the front with the "roof".

I am looking forward to "rediscoving" this story. When I told it the first time in 2010, I really knew very little about how to make these stories playful, and made everything way too serious. It will be interesting to observe the children's reactions this time around.

Creative Phase: The Tabernacle

The church plant that we are a part of offers a Family Brunch twice a month.  We brunch together and then I lead a children's worship service afterwards.  Last Sunday, I told the children the Godly Play story, "Die Bundeslade und das Zelt der Begegnung" ("The Ark of the Covenant and the Tent of Meeting").  The story was completely new to the children and even my son, who is quite knowledgeable about the Bible, was unfamiliar with the Tabernacle and its furnishings. 

Typically, after a Godly Play Story, the children choose their own art materials and express their thoughts on the story (or anything else they are thinking about!) to explore what they have heard or express worship to God.  There is a great discussion in German Godly Play circles about whether the creative phase can be "angeleitet" (instructional or not) and this same discussion is also going on in the Montessori world over how much an art lesson/project can be instructional.  (If it bugs anyone that I throw German words into my sentences, I can't do anything about it.  It just expresses who I am during this season of life.)  I happen to think that it can as long as the children have room to determine the course and outcome of their creation and I experiment with such in our worship service.

All that to say that on Sunday, we had an instructional creative phase based on the Tabernacle story.  I got the idea while doing an autumn art project from Deep Space Sparkle with my kids in which we painted leaves with white paint and made prints on black paper.

1. First I made stamps for the children using foam rubber and sponges based on the furniture in the Tabernacle (accidentally left out the bronze basin filled with water!), symbols for the Trinity, and a person.

(You might be wondering why I included the symbols for the Trinity.  I have been heavily influenced by Tim Keller's "Christocentric" method of teaching and I try to help the children see that the Old and New Testaments have a natural relationship to them rather than being separate entities that have nothing to do with one another.)

2. Next I instructed the children to think of a place where there they like to meet with God and paint this as a background of sorts.

3. Then, the children were encouraged to add the stamps, as many or as few as they saw fit, to their pictures.

The children, even the youngest (age 3), took lots of time with their pictures and the results were quite dramatic. (They especially loved the gold paint!)

 (age 7)

 (age 6)

(age 3)

(age 4)

I love my job!!