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Sacred Space for Godly Play

by Jeannie Babb

light on church pew

Liturgical spaces help us come close to God

Where do you go when you need to pause, ground yourself, and reconnect with the Holy Spirit?

Sometimes I like to slip into an empty church and walk up the aisle, watching where the sun slants through the windows and lightly touching the wood of each pew until I find a place to kneel. I notice how the space feels sacred even when empty of the souls who have invested it with such meaning. A church is a people, not merely a building; yet I find holiness in this very space set aside for worship, as if the wood and stones are saturated with so many prayers from thousands and thousands of services.

Another place I find that sense of reverence is in the Godly Play space. Continue reading →

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Living into the Story

with Maureen Hagen

by Jeannie Babb

The Rev. Maureen Hagen

The Rev. Maureen Hagen

“I love living into the Advent story every year. I am currently thinking about the Prophets and what they told us about what it means to listen to God’s word.”

For Maureen Hagen, Director for the Academy for Formation and Mission in the Episcopal Diocese of Oregon, listening and living into the story leads to giving. As part of her own spiritual practice, Hagen follows 30 Days of Gratitude in November, with 31 Days of Giving each December.

A Godly Play storyteller since 2003, Hagen says her Godly Play practice informs her approach to Christian formation as a whole, and generosity in particular. Whether teaching, giving, or supporting in other ways, she spends time first in prayer, then listening, wondering, response. Continue reading →

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Godly Play as Spiritual Intervention presented at International Conference for Children’s Spirituality

Doug Watts and Ryan Campbell recently presented a workshop at the 15th INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON CHILDREN’S SPIRITUALITY, convened by the International Association for Children’s Spirituality, at Bishop Grosseteste University in Lincoln, UK.

15th International Conference on Children's Spirituality Workshop Leaders

15th International Conference on Children’s Spirituality Workshop Leaders

The theme of this year’s conference, SPIRITUALITY AND THE WHOLE CHILD: INTERDISCIPLINARY APPROACHES, matches closely the focus of the work Watts and Campbell do at Children’s Medical Center – Dallas.  Continue reading →

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What is Your Work Today?

Remember the day of your baptism.

Remember the day of your baptism.

“I like the fire.” The smallest children answer first, eyes still locked on the smoldering candles half submerged in the great glass bowl of sand. “I like smelling the oil.”

“The light’s not gone,” says someone older, “it’s only changed.”

This wondering isn’t unfolding in a Godly Play room. We’re in the parish hall, where big bowls of potato salad and coleslaw are lined up like train cars behind Southern BBQ and platters of pickles and homegrown tomatoes. We are sitting on the same rug some of the children know, but strong hands have hauled it through the corridor and placed it here in the center of everything. The little ones crowd close to the storyteller while older children and adults sit in a half moon near the corners of the rug and on the floor and in chairs like layers of nested parentheses. Continue reading →