Bioneers

I mean seriously- has everyone registered for Bioneers?



Because it's like Burning Man but without the playa dust. At the end you compost everything instead of Burning it.

I think Thomas Berry is going to be there this year!

SpiritPlay- Washing Trays

Today was the first day of SpiritPlay- the UU adaptation of the Montessori-based “Godly Play” developed by one of my heros Jerome Berryman. First- I was amazed and delighted when my co-teachers agreed to join me. We were all a little daunted by the amount of prep and set-up required. The idea is that there is a “prepared room” so that the children are empowered to find what they need to do their work. This means there’s a huge amount of preparation need for the first class, but then little changes from week to week except the story. The teacher also has to be prepared. There are certain phrases that are used, places to be, hand gestures and ways of handling conflict that are particular to this method. There’s a way everything is to be done, to help give the children a sense of mastery. Because really the curriculum, like most CRE curricula, is just story, craft and snack. What makes this different is that we are trying to create a scared space where we can engage directly with religious language. The radical assumption is that all humans are engaging their existential reality no mater what their age.

This morning the co-teachers and I gathered early, after I spent a night of telling the Genesis creation story to myself over and over, remembering to look at the wooden pieces that represented each day instead of making eye contact with the children, and remembering to hold space between each day and not rush on.

I had thought the long descriptions of clean-up supplies that are present in the Montessori classroom to help children take care of their own spills seemed really long and complex, and I was willing to let it go. But at the last minute we made a quick run to the kitchen for buckets and sponges and were back in time for the children to enter. And so this morning the children did more-or-less engage with me in a quiet wondering space. I was touched and delighted each time they were willing to play along. The biggest fun, however, was clearly the clean-up. How fun to have your own sponge in a bucket marked “trays” to clean off your tray. How fun to have a special bucket marked “hands” to wash your hands in. Some of the younger kids spent more time washing up than making art.

I wonder what will happen next week? I wonder if 4 weeks of SpiritPlay could leave something lasting with the children, the teachers, or the church school?

Heat wave retrospective

The AC in my office was out last week, and I completely lost the ability to multitask until it was fixed. The only thing left working in the system was the thermometer on the thermostat which cheerfully let me know as we crossed 90. As my mind turned to mush, I had to remind myself every few minutes what I was working on. Heat is like kryptonite to me it turns out.

The following Sunday I preached to a droopy crowd who were too hot to laugh, but I give them kudos for coming and for staying awake in what must have been 90+ degree.

As we come out the other side of this heat wave, I am reminded that a decade or two ago the whole church office closed down during the summer, because it was simply to hot to work here. I think about the financial and environmental costs of running a full facility through the summer months. If Richard Heiberg is right and we are approaching the “end of oil” I wonder if our children and grandchildren will think to themselves, “why don’t we close down offices, churches and schools in the dog days of summer? It’s just not worth the cost to keep them open.”

Blog Neophite

So a member of my congregation says he'd like to hear more about what kind of thinking goes into the work of a minister.

"Really?" I think. "I find it fascinating, but it seems to be kind of a conversation killer at parties."

"What about a blog?" he helpfully suggests.

I wonder to myself how that's different from the newsletter articles or sermons I already write.

Then last Saturday night as I'm editing my sermon I think how I'd love to e-mail the whole congregation:
"A cup of coffee to anyone who can figure out how the form of this sermon is different from my usual sermon form." But you can't really clog your congregation's in-box with e-mails like that.

Understanding descends on me like a blaze of glory.
That's what blogs are for.

The answer, for those of you playing at home:
Usually I preach in the
Opening illustration- "here's the thing"- "but there's another way of looking at it"- "so in the end it’s really a synthesis"
form
whereas this was more of a ladder or list form
Introduction- 7 rungs (one for each principle) - conclusion

See, Fascinating!

Thanks for the idea.