Which Basket Is God In?

I sat in on the kids' first Godly Play worship yesterday.  They are about three years younger than the next youngest kids there, and they were nervous about joining the circle, so I held them in my lap instead.

Godly Play is the Montessori approach to children's ministry.  According to the Godly Play Foundation, it "teaches children the art of using Christian language - parable, sacred story, silence and liturgical action - helping them become more fully aware of the mystery of God’s presence in their lives" and is "a non-coercive way to encourage people to move into larger dimensions of belief and faith through wondering questions and open-ended response time."

So.

It enchanted me, along with my fellow fringe-dwellers, the kids.  Here are the things I loved most about it.

• It grounds kids in the church year.   The lesson begins with the instructor taking out a big church calendar shaped like a clock to show where we are in the liturgical year and setting the context for what this means.

• It encourages questioning and wrestling with the text.  Our instructor, Robin, asked what about the reading the children found hard to believe.  

• It encourages engaging with and personalizing the text.  Robin also asked how the children felt that text was about them personally.

•  It allows room for the children's "innate spirituality" to flourish.   I was floored by the empathy, insight and depth of the kids' responses to Robin's questions.  

During silent "work time," each child chooses to do art or interact with one of the many stories represented in a series of baskets of wooden storytelling figures objects.  Cody picked Noah's Ark, then the Garden of Eden.  Toward the end of his play with the garden, his manner became urgent.  He turned to me and said, "Which basket is God in?"

I said what any good mother trying would say: "Why don't you ask Robin, sweetie?"

Robin didn't miss a beat.  She smiled and said "God was too big to put in a basket."