Last Sunday - that was yesterday, 28 children came to St Barnabas to take part in an experience. There were several tents set up in the hall, filled with colour and props and staffed by costumed leaders.
The task was to experience each tent and carry something away. Each child needed a password to get into the upper room when they had finished collecting their experience in all the tents. We in the Hebrew tent were the source of the passwords. We had a few books as props, a table, and a box full of words in Hebrew with the meaning and transcription on the back of each word.
The password was simple. Each child had to pick a unique Hebrew word from the box and find the correct first letter of the word. That means getting the word right side up and picking the rightmost character. Then they could find their password - the name of that Hebrew letter - by scanning the walls of the tent where all the letters were hung - right to left of course - to match the shape.
Perhaps a half-dozen of the children found this easy since the letters were not new to them - but all succeeded and each listened to a bit of the Bible in Hebrew which contained the word they chose. Then they memorized their password and put their word in their bag and went to the next tent.
After everyone had finished, children and parents all went into the church for an episode of Godly Play. Everyone came away with sparklers.
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2 comments:
It was an exciting afternoon in the church hall, almost as exciting for the adults who were receiving the children in the tents as it was for the children who, each time they entered a new tent, discovered a new facet to the mystery they had to solve. For 2 hours our church hall was transformed into six magic rooms, each of which contained its own secret, and then, almost as magically as they had been created, disappeared.
I agree with the exciting - it was like teaching an hour's class in 2 minute segments to many people. And the magic - come and gone in a moment - but lingering in the hall... You knew something was different.
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