Making Room for Everyone - Bill Gordh

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set of resources, combined with the wisdom he shares with us about children, their spiritual needs, and the “place apart” he constructs in chapel.

      The pages ahead give clear evidence of the work not only of a theoretician—Bill clearly knows his subject matter—but a practitioner. To me, what is so remarkable about this book is how much it is a reflection of what Bill does each week in school chapel. For many years Episcopal schools have been greatly blessed by Bill Gordh’s leadership. He has helped countless educators understand more fully how to “make room” for children in this experience we call worship. His diligence, serious thinking, and welcoming demeanor help make our encounter with the living God transformative, liberating, and joyful. So, too, he gently guides us in such a way that even those who are struggling with how to lead worship for children will feel supported, equipped, and even excited about what can happen in chapel.

      Thanks to Bill, and the extensive array of resources he has provided here, there is plenty of room, even in a small space and particularly for small people.

      The Rev. Daniel R. Heischman, D.D.

      Executive Director, National Association of Episcopal Schools

      This collection of theme-related folktales can be used in a wide variety of circumstances or settings: churches, Sunday schools, synagogues, assemblies, discussion groups, or wherever your imagination takes you. Some churches have story times for children within their service or in pre- or post-service gatherings. They often involve a wide range of ages and frequency of attendance. The stories presented here are wonderful for this purpose as they are tales rich in meaning that each age can take something from. They are retold to engage all the children and are valuable as one-time stories.

      Another great use for these stories is as a springboard for a group exploring one of the themes in the book. A combination of Bible stories from the earlier volume (Building a Children’s Chapel) and these tales can make for a deep discussion. You will also find this book handy when you are looking for a short story to illustrate an idea to open a presentation. Within these pages you will find stories that resonate with you and may bring up thematic uses that are not even mentioned. That is terrific. The hope is that Making Room for Everyone will become a go-to story resource for a wide variety of circumstances.

       In a School or Chapel Setting

      The context and piloting of these stories have been grounded in Episcopal schools with children. Our chapels continue to be central to the community of our schools as the children attending continue to be more and more diverse. How do we speak to each and every one in attendance? What can we do to assure that all the children feel loved and their heritages honored? Do we just continue as we have and expect the children to embrace “our” way? Do we stop having chapel? Do we replace chapel with some other gathering? Or do we look for ways to make our chapels more inclusive—spread out our arms to hug everyone?

      Since the publication of Building a Children’s Chapel: One Story at a Time in 2007 there have been a lot of changes in the world and in our schools, but amongst the things that have not changed is the ongoing need for a meaningful chapel for young children. My work continues to be devoted to stories and music to support children’s spiritual life as well as the development of early literacy skills. I have had the opportunity to work with a number of other schools besides my home base of The Episcopal School in the City of New York as well as churches and synagogues; it has been gratifying to see that this work has been helpful to others.

      In November 2018, David Madison (executive director of Southwestern Association of Episcopal Schools) and I presented a workshop at the National Association of Episcopal Schools’ biennial conference called “Chapel Challenges” where attendees entered into a lively discussion about making our chapels more meaningful and methods to have them run smoothly. An editor from Church Publishing, Sharon Ely Pearson, approached me about the possibility of a new book. What should it be about? We decided that a book involving the diversity of children attending schools and creating a more inclusive chapel could be helpful to many school chapel leaders, Sunday schools, and others working with young children. Since storytelling is my focus and folktales a great passion, a book of folktales retold for chapel seemed perfect. They would augment the Bible stories presented in the earlier volume, becoming a companion volume. Just by sharing some of these stories, we will be demonstrating that we value the wisdom of many cultures. A child hearing a story at chapel that originated where their families once lived will be a very welcoming experience. But which folktales?

      I have a personal library of almost 1,000 volumes of folktales from all around the world. Many of the books have quite a few stories; so that means thousands upon thousands of stories from which to choose. I have generally found that it takes reading through at least thirty tales to find one that seems right. Then it has to go through an almost alchemical process to become a story that will engage the children meaningfully. Still—how to choose the stories for this project? In Building a Children’s Chapel, the Bible stories are presented by themes instead of in biblical sequence. These themes are ones that many chapels focus on, specifically Stories of Self; Stories of Family and Friends; Stories of Faith, New Life, and Celebration; Stories of the Value of All Living Things; and Stories of Giving and Forgiving. These themes are still valuable and useful and can be the guide for choosing and presenting the folktales. We decided to present the folktales in the same categories as the earlier volume. This way, if you are sharing “The Good Samaritan” parable at one chapel and want to continue the theme of “Giving and Forgiving,” this new book will offer several folktales that further illuminate the theme. You can then choose the folktale or tales that “speak” to you and share one or more of them. We liked this idea and I got to work.

      I began compiling folktales from all around the world to explore this book’s themes. As I have learned from many, many years of sharing stories, a musical refrain within the story is welcomed by the children. It allows me to express the theme or action in song and gives the children and adults a simple sing-along. So as I worked on the retelling of the stories, I also wrote simple songs to go with many of them. However, if you feel you are not a singer, none of the stories needs the songs sung to be effective. Many of these stories I have told for years without a refrain. However for chapel program with more listeners than in a single storytelling class, I have found the songs work very well.

      I have tried to write in a “Storyteller’s Voice,” sometimes arranging the text to demonstrate the rhythm of the story. My hope is that you will “hear” the story as you read it. Still, reading a story is never the same as telling or hearing a told story, so you should feel comfortable finding your own “voice” to tell the story with your own words. The only parts of the story with “fixed” text are the rhymes and songs. Otherwise the words are yours! You know your children and the extent of their vocabularies. You adjust the telling with your knowledge of the children. To support your telling of the story, I have offered storytelling tips after each tale. You will also find a storytelling skeleton with the sequence of the story that can be filled in with your own words when you tell the tale. These storytelling tips will accumulate as a mini-course in storytelling.

       The Organization of the Book

      img1 PART ONE: CREATING THE FRAMEWORK

      This section is a practical guide to deciding how you wish your program to work, from the importance of telling stories to the length of the service and setting up a space for chapel. I also discuss creating a songbook for non- and early readers and incorporating the children’s artwork. By the end of Part One, you should be ready to make your own choices about building or adding to your chapel program.

      img1 PARTS TWO THROUGH SIX: FOLKTALES ORGANIZED BY THEMES

      The theme is often the basis of the story choice for a particular chapel, so the stories are grouped accordingly. As mentioned previously, these are the same themes that are used in Building a Children’s Chapel. The themes are Stories of Self; Stories of Family and Friends; Stories of Faith,

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