Bible Stories, Paper folding, and Paper cutting

Just got back from a very small storytelling festival. Megan Hicks shared her stories for children with origami which made me think of you! Maybe you already tell stories this way.

So here are two sources. Adjust as needed. Use your own skills and creativity.You may need to practice in front of a mirror.  Enjoy!

Bible Stories + Origami with  Christine Petrell Kallevig

Snip and Tell Bible Stories  with Karyn Henley

If  you've already tried activities like these, how did it go?

The Stories of Scripture: Adding to the Experience

I've posted about this before.

As you read the stories of scripture and passages to remember consider that people were day-to-day familiar with the natural images and analogies you find. It added to their understanding of the story - a teaching and learning tool in God's hand.

If you aren't already familiar with those natural images find a way! Look ahead at the stories you'll cover this season. Make a list. What pre-story scouting can you do to add to the sensory experience for your kids and ultimately to their understanding of who God is.

Maybe your kids are more familiar day-to-day with some of the images than you are. Give them opportunities to share.

Ask your kids: "What do you know about lilies in a field?" A sparrow? Sheep?

Grape vines

Rain on a farmers field

Waves on great lakes

a desert

dry seasons

floods

We know God by all the names He gives us in the scriptures but, especially as children, we learn to know God as Creator.

We don't even have to over-explain and understand all the ins and outs. Sometimes it's enough to just stand in awe of Him and all that His hands have done. Sometimes it's enough to just say "Wow!"

Pinterest is a nice resource!

A Lenten/Easter Pinterest Board

I discovered a book, written about 10 years ago, that you may have already seen. It was written for writers, storytellers, and other professionals working with people who may have difficult stories to tell. It's called INVITING THE WOLF IN by Loren Niemi and Elizabeth Ellis. Worth the read.

Interesting to think about how the scriptures tell difficult stories. I don't think of them as difficult stories but in many cases if the original story was my story (and it wasn't scripture), I might think differently...

Liturgy boxes! Whether or not you use an actual liturgy 
or not, great idea! Play with it! Make it work for your own faith community!

Simple Little Home:
Her pinterest boards are full of WONDERFUL activities for kids!

I've also been reading One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp who (among other things) talks about naming in terms of noticing and giving God thanks. She ties in not just noticing but looking for God's gifts, giving thanks is a way of naming, and in doing that we acknowledge not just the wonder of His creation but His presence moment by moment. Perhaps we do more than acknowledge but we share that moment with Him, then we can't help but worship Him . . .gratitude changes us. It's worth reading the book.

So all three books are doing their work, not the books really but the scriptures tied to the ideas.

The point of taking time with children to notice, and be awed, and give thanks for His gifts in my mind is part of worship - worship that quietly puts God at the center of every day. This circle (wheel) starts to roll of noticing the little gifts God gives us everyday, our thanks acknowledges His presence, our awareness and our relationship grows, despite the other stuff - in the face of all the other stuff . . .

Ivy Beckwith has a new book out (Jan 2010). I haven't read it but I was reading the amazon reviews.

Sidebar:

The Church of England's newsletter Going for Growth (children's ministry/youth) cites a recent survey

Children & the Lord's Prayer (survey) . They also offer a resource page to help kids explore and use the Lord's prayer.

I find myself using it more. When we were kids we prayed before bed with one of my parents or grandmothers: "Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep, keep me safe all through the night and wake me with the morning light. God bless..." And you go through the list of every living creature you know. The longer the list, the longer you have before you have to go to sleep. There were probably times when I prayed "If I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take." There may be other verses.  With our (now young adult) kids, we prayed Thank You prayers and we prayed for people. They learned the Lord's prayer but didn't use it in our evangelical/charismatic church every Sunday. They don't know it well.

Sometimes I prayed the Lord's prayer at night near the end of elementary school. I knew it because we prayed it in church every Sunday. And we went to church every Sunday.  A traditional Presbyterian church, soon to celebrate 225 years. When we actually started to look for a church when I was in my late 40's, early 50's I realized it was something I had never done. The Lord's Prayer (with a few differences) was one of those things that remained the same from church to church, denomination to denomination. A common denominator, if you will.

I've been praying the Lords' prayer more out of church in the last five years than ever before. Less "name-it-claim-it". More "Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." Did you ever wonder what that must look like from where God sits?

One Thousand Gifts
by Ann Voskamp, a book worth reading! Her blog and website offer ways to cultivate thankfulness for all ages.

Google "quiet book" and find lots and lots of wonderful ideas!

Consider a weekly or monthly craft night for moms, teens, college students, grandmas. Make quiet books! Bring a page you've already made to show & tell or bring a page to work on. Figure eight pages. One page per week.

Give them as gifts. Make them available in the sanctuary during worship. Nice for car trips. Nice for nurseries or preschool rooms.

Sometimes the incentive of working in a group helps make it happen!

Some of you really enjoyed it when I was reading and commenting on books. If you're interested, Ken has some book commentary at Children's Ministry Today and Tomorrow. He's currently actively involved in children's ministry.

A thought provoking twist to an old question at Children's Ministry Today and Tomorrow. I like it!

[I always thought "yesterday" was in the name of your blog, too. . . shows how observant I am!]

If you go to Child Theology on Facebook. Go to Wall and you'll find these rather interesting topics to explore more...

Roots of Empathy.

Unconditional Parenting. Jade Lundgren's comment (scroll to the bottom) perked my interest. Ok...she posted in 2008. Am I behind or what?

And in the forum you'll find book reviews!

A Bible Games site for you. Enjoy!

Check out worshipping with children.

I routinely search the referrals on my site meter to see where people come from and/or what they are looking for.

Here is a resource site that I may have posted long ago but they have a FB page: The Child Theology group. Lots of post-ers. Lots of followers. Downloads.


Happy Resurrection Sunday weekend, people!! Now, off to find out what's happening w/emerging kids on FB. . .

Thoughts about justice. Worth reading at Celtic Odyssey.

This is just for fun. Lent. Easter. 'Tis the season.

This is a site with old pictures from Children's Bibles. Someone came looking for "the teaching boat" which I thought was a neat phrase for the boat Jesus taught from. Here's another page from the same site.

I'm going to post this and then go look for sites for Bible Art.

Take your familiar holidays, read the familiar passages the way a storyteller would, without visuals and props and let the story (God's Word) do it's work. Or read it and then gather images that people have created over the centuries and flip through from the oldest to the newest and see what you see. See how the artist interpreted the story but also see how people's cultural perspectives changed. What stayed the same. What changed? What part of the story did they focus on?

Lots to ponder at the Cory Center website.

But let's take it a step farther. Here's a challenge for you...

Did you ever search the scriptures for stories or passages about people who got mad at God? Who were they? Why were they mad at God? Did God respond? If so, how?

Did you ever search the scriptures for stories about people who were grieving? Can you think of stories or passages in the scriptures about people who were very very sad? Why were they sad? What happened? Did God respond? If so, how?

Today we have sports. Are there sports in the scriptures? If so, what? If not, what did people do to stay "fit"? What was fitness all about? How did they balance and fill up their lives? What would a typical day or week or year look like?

Not looking for right or wrong answers here. Looking for observations. Read and search God's stories for the obvious, not for some deep dark secret. Use your eyes and ears, your mind and your heart. See what God will show you...Do it with your church leadership. Do it with grown-ups or parents. Do it with teens. Do it with children.  See what God will show you...