The Great Family: Father Matthew Presents

A Godly Play Lesson presented by Tami Burks, Christian Education Director of Christ's Church in Rye, New York. Part of the regular "Father Matthew Presents" series, produced by Matthew Moretz, an Episcopal priest.


For more information, check out the website of Christ's Church in Rye, NY, an Episcopal Church serving souls since 1695.
www.ccrye.org
www.fathermatthewpresents.com

Category:

Education

Tags:

• Episcopal
• Anglican
• Abraham
• Sarah
• Abram
• Sarai
• Godly
• Play
• Catechesis
• Sunday
• School
• Church
• Hebrew
• Scriptures
• Bible

[RadicalWhig]

I expected better of your church, Father Matthew. "After the great flood!???", just mentioned casually as if it were historical fact? "God came so close to Abram?" Biblical myth taught as history?!! If the 'piskies are going to put such uncritical trash into the minds of children, they are just as bad as the fundamentalists (but better dressed!).

If children are ever to be brought up in a church, it shoud be Unitarian or Quaker - anything else is deliberate mis-education.

[FatherMatthew]

I don't think she said anything about historical fact. You read that into the story. Just because you tell a story, doesn't mean you can't criticize it, which we can in our church. But these stories remain important. We tell Bible stories in church. Please don't be surprised by that.

[RadicalWhig]

Fair enough. I over-reacted. It's not exactly "Jesus Camp".

I just get very defensive about telling religious stories to children who are still at the age of believing in talking Disney and Pixar figures: it leads to taking Numbers 22 at face value (for example), which in turn can lead to biblical literalism, young-earth creationism, and growing up to vote for gun-totting, bible-thumping Republicans.

Now surely you don't want to risk that? :-)

[FatherMatthew]

The Episcopal Church is not very good at raising up biblical literalists, young-earth creationists, and numerologists. It takes too much energy, that we tend to devote to other things. But we do have Democrats and Republicans in our church. I would be worried if we only had one party. And we have a variety of cultures within us. So it is complicated. But the telling of our common story as a people has to start somewhere. And this video is one example I shared.

[FatherMatthew]

Also, look out. If you send a child to a Unitarian-Universalist or Quaker community, they might hear the story of Abraham, too!

[ilove2run89]

We have Godly Play in our Sunday School program as well. I have many fond childhood memories from it!

[DARKLILY26]

AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!­!!

[relussier]

Epitaph of Seikilos. Beautiful.

[Truthseeker424]

Col.2:8-12

[ZacharyDBrooks]

Oooh, neat. My church does Godly play!

[ddelray]

Thanks, that was instructive and amusing! Still waiting for another stick puppet show.

[kbpipes]

Thanks for such a great video. I have worked with children for 10 years now. Most of my time in poor urban areas of Dallas. I love Godly Play. I think it has a very powerful impact on children. It is a tool that was not available to me until recently. Father thanks for posting this video. It is good for others to see such a pure way to share our faith with children.

[tlh215]

Anyway, as I was saying about "Hogfather" - some of that story will make more sense if one is very familiar with pre-Christian Anglo-Saxon mythology, esp. regarding Freyr and his association with the boar (as in "The Boar's Head Carol" that is often sung at Christmas). I'm unsure if it will make a lot of sense to most Americans. :shrug:

[tlh215]

I'm not sure if I should suggest people watch a movie called "Hogfather" or not. The author of the book that it is based on is a British author, Terry Pratchett, who makes a lot of profound philosophical truths in the story about the human need for stories.

There are reasons that Divine Mystery is cloaked in story form, such as the stories in the Bible. Stories both conceal and reveal God. :)