A Reflection Offered by Mary Hunter Maxwell

I’ve spent the last few days trying to figure out how to capture the essence of what happened in our 1st-3rd grade classroom on Sunday, but much like the five or so years that led up to the powerful wondering that took place there - it’s hard to distill to a sound bite.

I recently did a workshop for the teachers in our church and I decided I better make sure I was practicing what I had been preaching, so I REALLY took time getting myself ready. I built the circle and set clear expectations. I let go of all the things that have been weighing me down in our room, made sure everyone else was ready, and told the Parable of the Leaven. Below are some of the things I heard during our time together:

"It looks like a pyramid but it's not quite the right shape."

"I think it looks like the place where the three circles come together, you know, when you tell the story and there are three circles."

"The father, the son, and the Holy Spirit!"

"It's like a mountain and the desert at the same time. Important things happen on mountains and in the desert."

"Is that it? The story is so short! Shouldn't there be more!?"

"I think the woman is God. God isn't really a woman or a man-- God is kind of both."

"Yeah, I was going to say the woman is God because God can be a woman too."

"When a story is about bread and God you know it is important."

"Right, like when they had the feast with friends and there was bread and wine."

"Maybe she hid the leaven in the bread at Lent and the bread was ready for Easter."

"I think the woman scattered the bread for the birds of the air."

(At this point, I went and got the Parable of the Sower and got out the birds and asked the child if these were the birds she had in mind.)

"The sower scattered the seed for the birds and maybe the woman shared bread with them."

(Here, a child retold the entire parable of the Sower, unprompted, having me get each part out and put it down on the Parable of the Leaven.)

"Maybe the sower scattered the seed and when the harvest grew up they made it into flour for the bread."

"I wonder what the Kingdom of God is like now. I wonder where it is?"

"I think the Kingdom of God is when you can be close to God, like in heaven."

"I think maybe the Kingdom of God is in Israel because even though it looks modern there now it's the place that a lot of people came close to God."

"Are these stories really true?"

"It's like when someone tells you a story-- like, an example!"

After the wondering wound down the group did really thoughtful, intentional work for the first time in many weeks. I taught some of these children when they were three and now they are third graders. While I deeply trust the process of Godly Play, it can be hard to keep the faith when aha moments and intentional work haven't been a part of the classroom for a long time.