Your Basket: There are no items in your basket
Your Basket: There are no items in your basket
Click on the covers above for more information and to purchase
Many teachers have found the reflective style of storytelling that has been developed within Godly Play to be a very helpful and effective way of opening up the Bible with children. For similar stories told in this style see Bible Storybags.
John lived the longest of all the original twelve disciples chosen by Jesus. He and his brother James were fishermen. They worked for their father's business, which it seems even supplied fish for the family of the High Priest in Jerusalem. He was also the youngest disciple and had a special place in Jesus' affections - he was nicknamed 'the beloved'. He was one of the inner three who witnessed some of the most intimate and amazing moments of Jesus' ministry and indeed was one of the first disciples to run and find the empty tomb on Easter morning.
Although we hear a little about him in the early chapters of the Acts of the Apostles, the record then goes silent. It seems that he may well have been busy looking after Jesus' mother according to the commission given him by his Lord from the cross. Tradition says that later he preached and pastored the young church in Ephesus and towards the end of his life he compiled his thoughtful and dramatic life of Jesus, which we have as the fourth Gospel.
Finally, he was sent into exile for his faith on the island of Patmos, where in very old age he was forced to endure being part of the slave gangs working in the stone quarries. It was here that God gave him his final work - that of recording an amazing vision which was secretly written down and circulated to Christians to encourage them as they faced the worst days of persecution under the emperor Diocletian.
The material in this story is drawn from John's Gospel, the early chapters of Acts and the book of Revelation.
For this presentation you will need the following items, choosing or making three-dimensional objects that are both simple and attractive:
Spend time with the Bible story by presenting it, using three-dimensional materials.
Gather the class in a semicircle, using a back row of benches or chairs if necessary so that all the children can see the following presentation of the story clearly.
Tell the story using the above items.
Carefully place all these items into a box or on to a tray in reverse order, ending with the felt. Tell the story simply, using the words below and focusing on the story rather than the children.
When you have finished telling the story, leave a short space and then use the wondering questions written out for you at the end of the piece.
Place on the red cloth, which should be unrolled slowly like a scroll as the story progresses, a wooden figure to represent John.
John had been the youngest. Now he was the oldest. He'd been one of the first but now he was the last. The other eleven had fallen asleep but not John, the beloved, even though he too longed for sleep.
By now John was ready to go home but his time was not yet. Some of the believers used to say that John would not go until the Master came, but John knew differently. That was not what Jesus' had meant all those years ago by the lake. Now John could look back with thankfulness on the adventure that had been his life. He'd been so young when it began yet he remembered it as if it were yesterday.
Place down a small piece of netting with a few fish in it, a strip of dark felt as a road, a small cross, a stone and a rolled-up piece of linen beside it, a flame made from felt in red, orange and yellow.
The calling in Galilee;
the travelling in Judea;
the preaching in the open-air;
the miracles and then of course that terrible day;
and there had been the running to the empty tomb;
the day the Spirit came.
Pause and then add the next items: a little bed made from some cloth with two long headless matchsticks on either side, a symbol or picture of praying hands, a chain and small open padlock.
Then the miracle at the Beautiful Gate;
the crowds converted;
the prayers that shook the house;
and the imprisonments and the miraculous escapes.
Pause then add in the next set of items: the figure of Mary from a nativity set, a wooden block to represent Ephesus, a small model scroll.
There were the years caring for ageing Mary just as Jesus had asked of him from the cross;
followed by his travelling to Ephesus;
the sermons and his writings;
the sadness as well as the joy;
The beloved had kept his beloved through all those years.
Put down a single golden heart.
Now John the elder was old; his voice and his eyesight were failing. His sermons got shorter. 'Love one another,' he used to say. 'For love is of God. By this shall all men will know you are his disciples. Love one another.'
Put down a small model circlet of laurel such as worn by Roman emperors.
But the clouds were gathering. A new emperor in Rome called himself not only master but also God. He demanded not just obedience but worship. Some of the believers crumbled under that threat. Others went into hiding. Some were killed. Surely now was the time for the return. Surely this was the moment for the second coming. But nothing happened.
Put down a piece of blue felt with an island in the middle covered with tiny stones.
Finally, they came for John - for an old man in his 80s. 'Emperor or king?' they demanded. John was the king's beloved. There was no contest. They dragged him off to the island prison on Patmos. No mercy and certainly no respect for age. Like the others he joined a chain gang in the quarry, breaking stones in the heat.
Above the blue of the sea and the island place a picture of a dark cloud.
John's strength and hope were fading. The other leaders were being picked off one by one. The Church was losing its cutting edge. The new converts were being tested by fire. These new believers had never seen Jesus like John had. Only he was left from the beginning, so he wondered whether the Church would survive? Not for the first time - nor the last - it seemed that the kingdom might just fail.
But God had one last work for his beloved to do; a work that would inspire the Church again and again in times like these; a work that would keep the light of the kingdom burning in the darkness.
Put down a tea light near on the island and light it.
John did fall asleep but it was not the sleep of death. It was a living dream. A vision of his beloved and a revelation of heaven;
of the Eternal One;
Place the figure of Christ down next.
... the One who holds the keys of death and hell and who alone can unlock its doors;
Place a key down.
... the One who is both the beginning and the end of all things and who makes all things new;
Place golden cut-outs of the Greek letters Alpha and Omega.
... the One who is the true God and Master of all; who was and is and is to come.
Put down a small fragment of parchment with the opening words of Revelation written on it.
John, Christ's beloved, shared his amazing vision scene by scene with a fellow prisoner, who in his poor Greek managed to write out the words on stolen pieces of parchment at night in the corner of their common cell. This coded message of hope survived even though its author did not and it has stood the test of time.
Jesus Christ is coming.
Jesus, who is first and last;
beginning and end.
Alpha and the Omega
Even so, come quickly Lord Jesus.
Reflective questions:
I wonder what you like best about this story?
I wonder what you think is the most important part of this story?
I wonder where you are in this story or which part of the story is about you?
I wonder if there is anything in the story we could leave out and still have all the story we need?
