Ephphatha

I'm back and experimenting with "Godly Play" story style.  The figures needed for this story which appears in Year B Proper 18 of the revised common lectionary are: Jesus, a Sea of Galilee, the man whose ears will be opened, and I used the words: "Be Opened!" "Opened" "Released" "Hear" and "Speak"

What does it mean to be amazed?

I wonder what would amaze you

I wonder what would make you so amazed, you would want to run out and tell everybody about it

 

This is a story about Jesus that made some people so amazed, they ran out and told everybody what had happened.

 

Jesus [place the Jesus figure in the center of the story board] was returning to the Sea of Galilee. [I placed a long triangular strip to represent the Sea stretching out to the horizon]

 

They brought to him a man who was deaf and could not speak.  They begged him to lay his hands on him.

 

Jesus took the man [place the man before Jesus] aside, away from the crowd.  He put his fingers in the man's ears; he spat and touched the man's tongue.  Then he looked up to heaven, sighed and said, "Ephphatha," which means, "Be Opened!" [place the words "Be Opened" at the top of the storyboard]

 

Immediately, the man's ears were opened [place each of the following words when they are spoken] and his tongue was released. And he could speak clearly.

 

Jesus ordered them to tell no one.  But the more he ordered them, the more they told EVERYONE.  They said, "He has done everything well; he even makes the deaf to hear and the mute to speak."

 

[pause]

 

I wonder what the most important part of the story is

I wonder what part of the story do you like most

I wonder what part of this story is most amazing

I wonder if there is a part of this story we could leave out

I wonder what part of the story you are experiencing right now

As I use the story in the middle of worship, I don't put the pieces away when the time of wondering is done.  However, if I were using the story separate from larger service, I would light a candle at the beginning, perhaps with a prayer, some breath work and silence.  At the end, I would carefully remove each of the pieces reminding the listeners of the part each piece played in the story.

I'm using free hand drawings on white paper stuck to a black sheet as a story board.