This week’s Godly Play lesson is The Exodus from The Complete Guide to Godly Play: Volume 2 by The Rev. Dr. Jerome Berryman Told by Godly Play® US Trainer, Doug Watts.

This week’s lesson takes place in the desert box an important setting for many of the sacred stories. God was with the People as they “went out” (the literal meaning of the word exodus) from slavery into freedom through the water. 

After you’ve watched the story, you might like to ask the wondering questions again – pausing after each question to leave enough time for your child to ponder and respond, if they wish – if they don’t that’s okay! I would encourage you to accept and affirm all answers simply by repeating exactly what the child said.

The wondering questions are:

1.    I wonder what part of this story you liked best?  (Affirm by saying – “You liked XXXX best”). *where XXXX is whatever the child said
2.    I wonder what part the story is the most important? (Affirm by saying – “The most important part of the story is XXXX”.)  *where XXXX is whatever the child said
3.    I wonder if any part of the story is about you? (Affirm by saying – “The part of the story that is about you is “XXXXX”.  *where XXXX is whatever the child said
4.    I wonder if there is any part of the story we could leave out and still have all the story we need?  (Affirm by saying – “The part of the story we could leave out and still have all we need is XXXX”.)  *where XXXX is whatever the child said

After the wondering, while we don’t direct children in their work, some suggestions might be:

·       That they draw or paint the part of the story they liked best
·       That they gather some of their toys to retell the story
·       Or…..