Wonder in Godly Play

by Rev. Rebecca Edwards

Those of you who heard my first sermon at Good Sam already know that I love Godly Play, and I am so happy to have ended up at a parish that uses this curriculum for its youngest members. There are many great things about Godly Play, but what I love best is that it encourages children to "wonder" about the stories of God. 

This fall, parents will find short blurbs in Good Sam Notes and the e-news telling you about each week's Godly Play stories and how you can continue the discussion with your children at home. 

So I want to tell you more about the role of wondering in Godly Play and how you can wonder at home.

The focal point of every Godly Play session is the story. In Godly Play, we tell the stories of God using tactile materials – Godly Play is loosely based on Montessori education. Some stories involve relatively simple materials, like a series of colorful pictures, while others are more complex, incorporating the ever-popular "desert box" or building structures like the temple.

During or after the telling of the story, children are invited to wonder about what they have just seen and heard. This time of wondering in the circle is not about imparting information, but about exploration of the deeper meaning of the story in the child's life. Jerome Berryman, who originally developed Godly Play, explains it this way: "[T]here is a great difference between transferring units of knowledge – such as "biblical facts" – and what happens during the wondering. Wondering opens the creative process and draws both the lesson and the child's life experience into the personal creation of meaning."

Wondering "questions" differ according to the type of story. In the fall, the children will hear sacred Old Testament stories in Godly Play 2. The wondering questions take place at the conclusion of the story, and they are the same each week: "I wonder…what part of this story you like best? …what part is the most important? …where you are in this story? ….if there is any part of this story we can leave out and still have the story we need?" (You will find these questions printed in the Notes for you to clip out and save.) 

These are easy questions to repeat at home with your children. They may not have had a chance to share their answers during Godly Play, or it may take them several hours – even days – to be able to vocalize what they have been wondering about the story.

As we move into the winter and the parable stories, wondering takes on a different form. With parables, wondering questions will be incorporated into the telling of the story – as objects are drawn from the parable boxes, the storyteller will say: "I wonder what this could really be?" After the parable is told, there will be several more wondering questions that are specifically related to each parable, like "I wonder if this character in the parable has a name?" or "I wonder if the person was happy to see the birds?" etc.

While the stories are told from year to year following the same general script, the belief in Godly Play is that we can always return to these sacred stories and wonder about them in new ways. Again, Mr. Berryman says: "It is easy to recognize a story you have heard before and that is good. What is not easy is to find what you have never noticed before. The children need to be challenged with the idea that these stories can't be worn out. They are never empty or all used up. There is always something new waiting to be discovered." 

Wondering seamlessly incorporates thoughts and feelings, and there are no right or wrong answers. Because children grasp this instinctively, they are far more adventurous wonderers than grownups, and it can be deeply spiritual just to observe the connections they make. 

After reading this explanation of the role of wonder in Godly Play, I hope you can see why a question like "What did you learn in Godly Play today?" limits the full range of emotional and thoughtful responses children may have had to the story. While they will learn more about the people and places in the Bible, those "facts" are far less important than their internal processing of their relationship with God. If you replicate wondering questions at home, based on suggestions in Good Sam Notes, you will surely be amazed at your child's wisdom!

So, I wonder…what marvelous insights emerge when you dare to "wonder" with your child at home? Let us know!