There are so many calendars that overlap in our lives. We have personal calendars of birthdays and anniversaries and memories. We have the seasonal calendars that are on paper, and then the seasons as the retail world sees them. The colors of the stores change - even just at Wawa - in anticipation of upcoming holidays. And then in this church, we have the liturgical calendar. The round and round progression through the colors and stories. I love having a liturgical calendar. Some of you who know me I like to play with liturgical colored clothing - especially tights. That behavior connects the rhythm of the church to the whole of my life, connects it to my thinking first thing in the day.
One of the questions of the Godly Play lesson is what is your favorite part. My favorite color is blue, and so I very much love being in a place where blue is the color for Advent. The lesson remembers the connection to Mary, Jesus' mother (Theotokos/Blessed Virgin) and that is of course important. More so I admit I think of interstellar space, of Christ being before and beyond time and then being born in human flesh at Christmas. I also think of the wisdom of the prophets discerning that God was going to do something new: and in those texts we see Jesus. I don't know why I think of blue as a wisdom color. Perhaps because it is my favorite color and I would like to be known as wise. However, my favorite color/season is the red of Pentecost. I have loved the focus on energy and movement and comfort and knowledge that we celebrate as attributes of the Holy Spirit: which is our focus on Pentecost.
There are many memories associated with different seasons. I wonder what memories you might have connected with seasons. For me, the memory of Pentecost is now that it is that a Pentecost was my first Sunday as a priest. And the power of God and human ingenuity that was able to get my ordaining
bishop to the church on time for the service the day before (Alleluia!). I wonder if in the years ahead I will always connect the start of Lent with the start of this pandemic, and practicing church leadership in such trying and isolated circumstances. A wilderness time to be sure.
What does it look like to respond as an adult learner to a Godly Play reflection? The wonderful facet of learning for discipleship is it can work through your best gifts and skills. If you knit - then knit a response. If you like decorating - what if you began a way to follow the liturgical calendar color changes in decor? Can you relearn a piece of music for a particular season? If you work with wood or gardening or writing - respond that way. Sometimes adult learners need to learn more about something - could some research about the liturgical calendar enable you to know more and find new ways to connect it to your life? If you do can you write it up and share it with the CCRP October newsletter? For example, if you ask the question are the colors the same in all churches - the answer might be nope.
God is inviting us into the circle of how God tells time: kairos (hey look that up). A mystery of wonder and a knowable returning cycle of redemption. I hope you take the time to respond, in whatever way you desire, to this lesson. This is my response.
Stay safe, Jesus loves you, and be so much more than kind.
ps..Thank you to Sharon for sharing her gifts of Godly Play storytelling. Thanks be to God for the hands that made that lesson and the technology to share it with you. Praise be to Jesus for the discerning work of many years of the Godly Play storytellers.
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