The Feast is at the core of every Godly Play community. It plays an important role in the life of a little community of people. Yet, as the adults preparing the environment are getting ready, our focus often stays fixed on the story materials. Let’s take some time to put a magnifying glass on the Feast.
Keep it green! After telling the Creation story in our second year of Godly Play, it became apparent as we passed the trash can around that we were presenting an unintended, unspoken lesson. We had just spoken of the light, water, dry land and the creatures that inhabit it, and it was good, but we were about to dump an entire small trashcan of napkins and paper cups somewhere out there. We decided then to “go green.” Our checklist of a “green feast” was this:
- set of green napkins (cocktail size), made by a woman in our sewing guild (we also have purple, with hopes of adding other liturgical colors)
- some small tumblers from a restaurant supply store
- tiny plastic bowls from the dollar store for food like goldfish or pretzels
- a wicker laundry basket for used napkins
- a plastic wash basin for the used cups and bowls
- a plant to receive the unconsumed water.
That was eight years ago and we’ve been green ever since! Gladly, we have kept some trash out of the landfill, but even more of a delight, we recognize a new unspoken lesson. Somehow we have managed to convey permanence, intention and value on the Feast just by not throwing away the sacred objects that help contain it. A response from a boy on a day I didn’t have the napkins washed and we used paper, “What happened to our napkins that don’t tear?” When asked recently what the Good Shepherd’s green underlay was, a child replied with joyful surprise, “It is a giant napkin for Feast!”
It is their work, too.
We’ve also recognized that the actual preparation of the Feast, can be fully owned by the children. We have set up a child-sized table with sealed bins of pretzels, goldfish and animal-crackers and small pitchers of water that the children can have full access. Feast preparation has become simply another piece of work to choose in the classroom. It frees the Doorperson to become fully available for as-needed art response assistance, as well as gives the children the validation of serving the community. Now, of course, there are days when no one is interested in doing the work of Feast preparation, in which case the doorperson fills that responsibility.
Slow food in a fast world. Sometimes I wonder if Feast is the only meal that the children get that is slow, intentional and rooted in thanksgiving and caring conversation? We can’t deny that we are surrounded by a fast-food, fast-paced culture and for many families (including mine) that can become an easy habit. Feast not only models the liturgy (the work of the people) of the church, but it models the liturgy of the family. The central two ingredients in the recipe of the Feast are giving thanks and sharing our lives.
We celebrate the long-time, built-in spirit of thanksgiving and community in the Godly Play feast. These are the golden, unspoken lessons children will keep with them, even when the car finds its way to McDonalds. It could also be a flash of insight they feel when they gather around other tables, at home and church, and know that God is here, too.