You are storytellers and peacemakers, light bearers, and people of God, who are creating the part that hasn’t been written yet.
Transitioning Out of Godly Play
The following blessing was written for children transitioning from the Godly Play environment into the next stage of faith formation. Parents were invited into the circle for this important milestone. As the blessing was given, children held pieces from the stories mentioned: creation cards, parable boxes, the risen Christ, the bread and chalice, the Bible, and the dove. Each child was given a wooden, Godly Play person of God inside of a gold, cardboard jewelry box, and a copy of the blessing.
An Adaptation for Remote Transition
This post is being publish during the COVID19 pandemic, but the blessing can still be used! You might drop off/mail/provide a pick up opportunity for the small gold boxes. If you are live-streaming worship, consider offering the blessing one Sunday during the live-stream with a brief explanation to the congregation. If you are worshiping or offering Godly Play via Zoom, you might have different Godly Play mentors read the different sections of the blessing. Perhaps you could ask a few families to create some art work for the stories mentioned (creation, parable, the risen Christ, the bread and chalice, the Bible, and the dove). They could hold up the art work during the blessing or display it afterwards.
The Blessing
As you make your journey, may God come so close to you and you come so close to God that you know all of God is in every place- in all of creation.
May you always carry with you the gifts given to you before you were born by the man who said such amazing things and did such wonderful things that people still know him in every season, in every mystery, in the bread and the wine.
Remember that you are forever part of this sacred circle, where the Spirit moves among us like a dove bringing comfort, strength, and power. You are storytellers and peacemakers, light bearers, and people of God, who are creating the part that hasn’t been written yet.
You can download a PDF of this blessing here!
Christine V. Hides is a the Director of Christian Education at Kenilworth Union Church, and author of the blog, Bless Each One. As a commissioned deacon in the United Methodist Church, she is called to develop faith formation resources that nurture imagination and participation in God’s vision of peace and justice.
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