Ascension Day

Happy Ascension Day!

Ascension day is one of the most uncelebrated days in the church, but the fact that Christ, ascended in his human body and is sitting at the right hand of the Father until he returns has such important theological implications. Today I've been pondering the fact that he kept his human body , such an oblation of our humanness.

I've been throwing pictures of Godly play on the blog now and then, but would like to do a better job explaining it and showing how one does it. First, I should say that much of the 'godly play' in our home isn't scripted as Jerome Berryman, the founder of godly play, wrote it. We have a small table on the landing upstairs where we change the cloth with the church year and have figures, accessories, blocks, and children's bibles/books available. For me, in our home, it is truly about creating a place to play with the biblical story - recognizing that Truth is not fragile and if cars enter the story - all the better!

On important days in the church calendar I try to do a story telling for Jonah and then leave the pieces accessible so that he can play with the story as he wants to through the day/week.

So today we did the story of the Ascension.

What you need: 11 figures for disciples, one figure for Jesus, two figures for the 'men dressed in white who appear, some wool roving or other stuffing fiber that looks like a cloud (I used an organic bamboo stuffing below), a felt cross, a felt tomb with a little stone, bible, white cloth, (optional bowl/basket and green cloth to cover it to make the hill).

note: I was beginning to write where to find these resources, etc. but am realizing that it needs to be a separate post, which I will try to do soon.

First you lay down the white cloth and explain that it is white because we are still in the six weeks of Easter. Easter is such a great mystery it spills into six more weeks.

Then you lay on the cross and remember that Jesus died. You lay the tomb on and put the stone in front of the opening, remembering that Jesus died and was buried. Finally you open the tomb and remember that he rose again. (Notice how you are teaching creedal truth through this opening.)

(This is where if you want to cover a basket or bowl with green cloth to be the hill you may.)

Count out eleven disciples in a circle (on the hill if you are using one). It was forty days after Jesus rose from the dead and he gathered his disciples on top of a hill. At this point Jonah and I read Christ's words to his Disciples from the Bible (among them the great commission - check out the end of all four gospels and acts 1). With a younger child you may want to paraphrase.

Then a cloud came down and Jesus ascended into heaven (Jonah loves doing this part!)

Two men appeared with the disciples and told them that Christ would come back in the same way that he had left. (I read their words from Acts one with Jo.)

Now is the time for wondering. Ask questions like "I wonder how this story made you feel. I wonder how Jesus' disciples felt. I wonder why this story is important. I wonder if there are any parts of the story you particularly liked." Sometimes, at home we do the wondering, sometimes we don't. I just follow my instincts on where Jonah is at this point. Sometimes just talking about the story is better.

Carefully put the story away in the bowl/basket/box/bag while the child watches, this way they will know how to put it away after they have played with it. Tell them where you will leave it and that they may play with it, as long as they return the pieces when they are finished.

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We were planning on meeting friends on top of a nearby hill for a picnic and the story again tonight, but the weather turned cold and Rowan is a bit under the weather, so we had a picnic in the living room. Jonah was so sad over missing the picnic that we decided to make a cake to tell the story with instead. (The cake was the whole-wheat carrot cake from Feeding the Whole Family baked in a dish with slanted sides. It was super yummy, healthy and easy!)

Here is Jesus ascending from our hill cake!