The Complete Guide to Godly Play Volume 3, Jerome W. Berryman An imaginative method for nurturing the spiritual lives of children Parable of the Deep Well Parables ISBN: 978-1-60674-209-9
Introduction This Godly Play presentation is part of The Complete Guide to Godly Play, a collection of over one hundred Godly Play stories and Godly Play support materials available from Church Publishing Incorporated. It is part of a comprehensive approach to Christian formation that consists of eight volumes. Together the lessons form a spiral curriculum that enables children to move into adolescence with an inner working knowledge of the classical Christian language system to sustain them all their lives. Developed by Jerome Berryman, God Play is an interpretation of Montessori religious education. It is an imaginative approach for working with children, an approach that supports, challenges, nourishes, and guides their spiritual quest. It is more akin to spiritual guidance that to what we generally think of as children s education. It involves children and adults, as mentors, moving together toward fluency in the art of knowing how to use Christian language to nourish their moral and spiritual development. Godly Play assumes that children have some experience of the mystery of the presence of God in their lives, but that they lack the language, permission, and understanding to express and enjoy that in our culture. In Godly Play, we enter into parables, silence, sacred stories, and liturgical action in order to discover the depths of God, ourselves, one another, and the world around us. If you are not an experienced Godly Play mentor, we strongly encourage you to first download and digest How to Lead Godly Play Lessons, available at: www.churchpublishing.org/godlyplaydigital. How to Lead Godly Play Lessons will explain the background of Godly Play, its methodology, and clear guidelines for its use. You will need this grounding before attempting to lead a Godly Play presentation, such as this one, or establish a Godly Play program in your church. There are additional Godly Play resources available from Church Publishing Incorporated at the site from which this lesson was downloaded. You will find these at: www.churchpublishing.org/godlyplaydigital. All of the stories can also be found within the printed eight volumes of The Complete Guide to Godly Play found at: www.churchpublishing.org/godlyplayprint. You will also find a number of books by Jerome Berryman about the spirituality of children as well as the Godly Play method at www.churchpublishing.org. In addition, you can learn more about Godly Play at the website of the Godly Play Foundation, found here: www.godlyplayfoundation.org. The Godly Play Foundation also offers Godly Play training for those interested in The Complete Guide to Godly Play, Volume 3, 2 Introduction
becoming Godly Play mentors and/or starting Godly Play programs in local congregations. Beautifully crafted materials for telling Godly Play stories are available from Godly Play Resources. Visit them at www.godlyplayresources.com. Enjoy the wonder of Godly Play, and blessings on you and the ones you lead in this transformative experience! The Complete Guide to Godly Play, Volume 3, 3 Introduction
Parables Parable of the Deep Well A Rabbinical Parable about Parables How to Use This Lesson Enrichment Presentation: An Enrichment Lesson enriches or deepens one or more of the Core Lessons. This kind of lesson goes over the same material in a Core Lesson but from a different angle. Parable: A parable is a metaphor that uses short narrative fiction to reference a transcendent symbol, which in the Gospels is generally the Kingdom of Heaven. The Godly Play approach to parables includes six guiding parables in gold boxes, parables about parables, side-by-sides, the parable cards, and the parable games (which include all the Parables of Jesus and his I Am statements). The materials are generally flat as opposed to the three-dimensional materials used for the Sacred Stories. As an Enrichment Lesson in Volume 3 of The Complete Guide to Godly Play, this lesson may be presented at any time, preferably after children have heard other parables. It is part of a comprehensive approach to Christian formation that consists of eight volumes. Together the lessons form a spiral curriculum that enables children to move into adolescence with an inner working knowledge of the classical Christian language system to sustain them all their lives. The Material Location: Parable shelves (on one of the second shelves, below the gold parables from the Gospels) Pieces: Wooden box, one well, one container of golden threads, and one bucket Underlay: Light brown or tan felt square with rounded corners (approximately thirty-six inches or ninety-one centimeters square) Background From time to time children ask what parables really are. To help them find their own interpretation of what a parable is, another parable can be proposed. You might say, We have a parable about that, and present this parable to the child. You also might want to present it to the group as well. The Complete Guide to Godly Play, Volume 3, 4 Parable of the Deep Well
This parable has its roots in the traditions of the rabbis. You can find more information by looking up Midrash Rabbah on the Song of Songs 1.1.8, as quoted in Hear Then the Parable, by Bernard Brandon Scott (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1991) or consult the great translation of the Midrash Rabbah by H. Freedman and Maurice Simon (London: Soncino Press, 1999). Notes on the Material Because this parable is not a parable of Jesus, you will find it in a plain wooden box on the second shelf of one of the Parable shelves. In the box is an underlay of light brown or tan felt approximately thirty-six inches ( ninety-one centimeters) square. Inside the box is also a round well. In a small box are many golden threads, lengths of gold cord about four inches to five inches (ten centimeters to thirteen centimeters). (If they are shorter, they will be hard to tie together.) You will also find a small bucket, small enough to be able to be lowered into the well. Special Notes Please be alert that there are two possible endings to this. We recommend using both, especially with older children. The Complete Guide to Godly Play, Volume 3, 5 Parable of the Deep Well
Sacred Story (Old Testament) Transition (Desert Box below) Sacred Story (New Testament) Pentecost + the Saints (Heroes) Easter te ll e r S t o r y- Kneeling Tables (small tables below) Focal Circle of Children Parables Parables Christmas Lectern Pulpit Painting Trays + Drawing Boards Stool Supplies Work- in- Progress Altar Tabernacle Sacristy Cupboard Rug Box Credence Table Circle of the Church Year Wall Hanging Where to Find Materials The Complete Guide to Godly Play, Volume 3, 6 Parable of the Deep Well
Movements Go to the Parable shelves and get the plain wooden box. It is on the second shelf. The original six gold parable boxes (the Parables of Jesus) are on the top shelves. Bring the box back to the circle and place it before you in the middle of the circle. Sit back and look at it for a moment. Slide the box beside you. Open the lid and take out the underlay. Place the underlay in front of you so that it is rather crumpled up. Words Watch carefully where I go so you will always know where to find this lesson. This is a parable, but it is not one of the parables of Jesus. We keep them in gold boxes. This box is plain wood. Many of you have asked what a parable really is. This is a parable about that, among other things. Hmmm, I wonder what this could really be? It is rather brown, but it has no real shape. I wonder what could be so brown? There is no green or blue here at all. Hmmm. Pull out the well, but do not name it. Wait. Hold it in your hands. Be at ease with silence if there is any. See if the children will help you build the metaphor. Place the well in the middle of the underlay. Place the little bucket anywhere on the underlay. Bring out the golden threads, but do not name them. Scatter the golden threads (cord pieces) across the underlay. Sit back and reflect on what is there, then begin. Let s see if there is anything else in here that can help us get ready. Oh, look. Here is... something. Hmmm... Let s see if there is anything else. Oh, look. Hmmm... Here s more. I don t know what they are, but there are lots of them. The Complete Guide to Godly Play, Volume 3, 7 Parable of the Deep Well
The Deep Well (Storyteller s Perspective) Movements Sweep your hand across the brown underlay. Lean out over the well and look down into it. Touch your face as if you just felt the refreshing coolness. Lean back and ponder this. Words There was once a great desert. In the middle of the desert was a deep well. It was so deep that people could no longer reach the water to drink. They could not even see the water in the well. Sometimes you could feel the damp coolness rising from it, but there was no way to get the refreshing water from its depths. People cannot live in the desert without water. It is hot and it is easy to get lost. The wind changes the shape of the sand. There is nothing green to give shade, and nothing for people to eat, so everyone hurries across the desert and dirt to get away from this danger. One day a person crossed the desert. When the person came to the well, the person took their time. There was no hurry. The person looked at the well and the little golden strands in the desert. The Complete Guide to Godly Play, Volume 3, 8 Parable of the Deep Well
Movements Pick up the little bucket and look at it. Turn it around and then put it back away from the well. Move your hand across the desert and kick at some of the strands with your fingers. Tie about six or seven of the threads together as you talk. You then tie the long strand to the handle of the bucket. Hold up high the strand with the bucket attached and begin to lower the bucket into the well. Let the cord collapse and go into the well; the bucket cannot be seen since it is shorter than the side of the well. Pour the water from the bucket into your hand and taste some. Pass the bucket around the circle. The children are invited by your gesture to also taste it. When everyone has had a taste place the bucket with the strands tied to it next to the well. Words The person picked up a rusty object, but no one could remember what it was for. It was like a big cup you could carry, but where would a person get any water to put in it? The person looked again and kicked the golden threads. They seemed out of place. What were they? Other people thought they were silly and went on their way. This person took time to really be there. The person went back to the big cup with the handle and then to the deep well. Then the person began to walk around picking up the golden threads and tying them together. The person lowered the bucket into the well and drew forth the refreshing water. The person tasted the water and was changed. Here, you can taste it, too. When the person went on the way, the bucket and the many strands tied together were left, so the next person could also taste the water. Now, I wonder what the water from the well could really be? The Complete Guide to Godly Play, Volume 3, 9 Parable of the Deep Well
Movements Words I wonder where the desert could really be? I wonder if you have ever crossed that desert? I wonder what the deep well could really be? I wonder if you have ever come close to the golden threads? I wonder what the golden threads could really be? I wonder why the person stopped and wondered? I wonder how to wonder? I wonder why? Untie the golden threads and scatter them. Now, what about this ending: When the person went on the way, the little golden strands were untied and scattered again, so the next person could figure this out, too. I wonder which one of the endings you like best? I wonder which one is the most important? I wonder what part of the parable is especially about you? When the wondering is finished, put the story away. Replace the box on the Parable Shelves. Return to the circle and begin to help the children decide what work they will get out. I wonder if there is any part of this parable we could leave out and still have all the parable we need? I wonder what your work will be today? You might make something about this story, or another story that you know. Maybe you want to work with something else. There are so many things you can choose from. Only you know what is right for you. The Complete Guide to Godly Play, Volume 3, 10 Parable of the Deep Well