From the mouths of babes

I've been busy sorting out my office following a flying shelf that emptied my books all over the room and part of that sorting involved temporarily boxing some stuff. Old photos naturally surfaced and Jack wandered whilst I was looking at some pictures of my late friend Pete Barker. I told Jack that Pete was my best friend and that he was now a star in the sky like mummy. He said to me don't worry you'll see him again. I found myself choked at this simple but true statement.

Later I was reading him his bedtime story when he asked if he could sleep on my knee. I sit on a bean bag while I read him his story so I didn't want to encourage him falling asleep on me because I'd struggle putting him into bed without waking him, but Jack being Jack pestered me, and me being me, relented and he curled up on my knee. I was soon to find out why he made this unusual request.

He started asking questions about his mummy. We began to talk about why mummy died. He asked why do people die when they go into hospital (we took Jack this week after he fell off his bike). I said not everybody dies in hospital. He said but mummy died in that hospital. Then with a quivering lip he told me he missed his mummy. He told me how seeing Peggy (my mum who has Parkinson's and is wheelchair bound) reminded him of mummy. He asked when she would die. He also said that he knew I wanted to see my mum but that he didn't because of how she reminded him of his mummy. He then told me he was looking forward to seeing his mummy again. He has such a clear concept of death and the separation that results from losing a loved one. He also seems to be aware that we will meet again in the sky when we go to meet Jesus. My heart bleeds for our little man who so clearly told me that he would always be with me. I pray God will give him peace and allow him to grieve in the best way he knows how.

Wanna see my forum?

I'm fascinated to see that when I look at site stats that this post published origiannly on 16 April 2007 continues to get many hits, so I've decided to edit it and introduce the forum that I've started with Silver Poet. This forum came about as a response to the Michael Card forum being removed from his site. Silver Poet and I were both moderators there and we felt it would be good to have a non-threatening forum that allowed people to share their experiences with God or maybe share an opinion. So here's the link Closer with God we hope you enjoy it.

Teaching or Preaching

I was sat in the local Anglican church on Easter Sunday watching the proceedings with interest when a thought struck me. I probably aren't the first to think this and more than likely won't be the last, but as a teacher I found myself analysing the service for it's content and structure, paying particular interest to the rituals and religious practices. I found a few things out.

Firstly I realised why the pomp and circumstance with various features of the service were being used. I could see the history in them. For example when the Gospel reading was read the whole congregation stood and the Vicar had three attendants. One holding a very large bible and two others holding candles either side of the vicar. It was obvious that this was designed to draw special attention to the Gospel reading, which I suppose hails back to when the scriptures were read in Latin, so that the 'peasants' would know that the Holy Scriptures were being read.

Secondly I became more aware of the responses and chants used throughout the service. Then came the revelation - it suddenly dawned on me that this was an attempt at interactive learning. But looking at the faces in the congregation it struck me that this very attempt to involve the congregation had somehow turned into a ritual of it's own and appeared to be so ingrained that the congregation merely repeated at just the right times. I remembered how I memorised parts of the Methodist Service book as a child. When I read those words I imagine the thought processes behind them as I'm sure many of the congregation too. But this idea of interactive learning stuck with me.

I wondered if the ideas in education have been explored or not in church worship. I wondered how many times a congregation has been offered to help plan a service that would help them to understand a scripture or issue of christian life. Then I wondered how could this tye of service be implemented. At school I am currently exploring personalised learning skills where students are encouraged to take ownership of their education to help teachers facilitate their learning in a manner that aids learning rather than provides mental blocks. But not only for individuals but personalised learning for a whole class. There certainly is a lot to think about and I'll be exploring this idea over the coming weeks. Watch this space!!!