From the assistant

On January 17th the Sunday School teachers met at Anne house for a chili dinner and discussion about upcoming Sunday School lessons. As part of our discussion, we looked at Godly Play material for three parables: The Good Shepherd, The Good Samaritan and the Mustard Seed. We all had fun playing with the “toys” that used to teach children the lesson in an interactive, engaging way. This fun led to discussions about the theology of play, something advocated by the designers of Godly Play.During our meeting, we reflected on what is play by looking at the difference between play and pseudo play. These definitions were based on reflections on basic qualities of play as described in Catherine Garvey’s book, “Play.”

Play

Play is pleasurable

Play has no extrinsic goals

Play is spontaneous

Play requires engagement

Play nourishes such activities

as creativity, language
learning and learning
social roles

Pseudoplay

Pseudoplay is numbness, a restless but hollow simulation of life

Pseudoplay is parasitic. It destroys the life of the host to maintain its own survival

Pseudoplay is obsessed to attract others to claim their energy

Pseudoplay is detached, but tries to appear involved. It disguises itself to maintain dominance.

Pseudoplay exploits others for their energy to gain a sense of being alive. Instead of nurturing and supporting creativity in others, it can only rob others of their creativity.

Although the Godly Play book uses Garvey’s definitions, the course designers avoid a specific definition of play. However, they appear to have defined their theology of play within the context of the theology of childhood. From the Godly Play book.”A theology of childhood explores the theme of Jesus’ dictum that if we hope to be mature we need to become like children. Almost nothing Jesus directed our attention to about children involved speech, so one clue about entering the Kingdom is that it is not about symbolic referencing, or “getting the words right.” Since play is part of our nonverbal communication system we need to consider it as part of what is needed for educating people about becoming mature Christians.”pg 40 Volume I — How to Lead Godly Play Lessons.I will have these kits at church later this week and for a few weeks so if you’re interested in seeing what the “toys” look like, as well as some of the books, let me know!We also decided that this format for a Sunday School teaching meeting worked well. So, let’s plan the next meeting for February. It appears that Thursday nights works well. Feel free to comment on this blog.