Godly Play Italia

Some Fridays I think it's ok to feel just a little smug and pleased. I've set the sunday school programme for the next 5 months and ordered Godly Play resources for the whole 5 months. This is because today I got very wet trying to buy felt in the centre of Florence (pashminas win again as substitutes but they are still more expensive).

I only know of one other person using some GP in Italy, in Italian. Sadly, the American church has stopped runing GP sessions - I had hoped to be able to borrow their resources. GP needs a good name in Italian, something that will appeal to the protestant churches because I have a feeling that "play" could be too frivilous a thing. GP itself could well be viewed as too catholic, as it has a sacramental focus and enjoys exploring traditional symbols. As I (and others that I find to volunteer) translate the language, we will need to try and translate some of the culture too --- and that is what makes working outside your own culture difficult/interesting/entertaining/embarrassing/challenging (delete according to your experience this week!)

Being creative, worshipping together

I've always found it easiest to be creative about worship when planning in a group: people give you reality checks on your weirdest ideas and develop your fledgling ones.
In Italy, we have a circuit, but it seems to be a theoretical, academica exercise - perhaps Toscana is simply too big to have a united sense of mission. But the effect is that worship appears to me to be in the hands of the pastor alone. Few Local Preachers, no Worship Leaders, no Worship Consultations and no Circuit Services that require collaboration.

So, you are invited to inspire our creative Tuesday night worship! The "brief" is below, please contribute!


Theme: All Saints/All Souls - a new look at the traditional festival and an antidote for today's Hallowe'en festivities.

Ideas so far:
Light candles in memory of someone
Ask people to reflect on their legacy (but not sure how)

Suggestions welcomed for: worship songs, prayers, prayer stations/activities

Thank you! Alison

Shredding & letting go

I finally came to terms with my top-shelf today! It was over-loaded with notes from my under-grad and post-grad degrees, and ministerial training. I have looked at them occasionally over the past decade or so, but I cannot justify putting them all into storage for 3 years. And so I've only glanced at them as I've piled high the recycling box. Shredding took place as I realised I've carried names and addresses with me from my placement churches, which is probably forbidden by the Data Protection regulations. I only hope the recycling collectors won't mind so many extra carrier bags on their rounds tomorrow.

It was strange to look back on those studies and it almost felt like a betrayal of some very excellent teachers when you finally throw out all that you tried to learn. I still have many of the books that I bought at university and those are truthfully more useful compared to unreadable scribbles taken down in lectures. Now weighing on my mind are 4 boxes of memoribilia that are stashed in the loft, perhaps it's time to tackle those as well.

The itinerant ministry is an unusual life, but ministers are not alone in needing to clear out the debris and the memories from time to time. To travel freely you need to travel light. I remember the words that Tim Clifford shared with Northwood Methodist Church about his walking pilgrimage to Santiago dell Compostela "I found as I walked that I didn't need the things that I had packed and thought were essential. All I needed I carried in my mind and in my heart." I think that I have remembered all I need from my days at university - most of that was never written down in the first place. And if I realise that I need to remember exactly what Barth or Bultmann or Moltmann thought, then there still remains the world of books; I would rather travel with their actual words and then mull over once again what I think, I don't need to read what I thought in the past because I either know it, or it is time to change my mind!