St. Paul's United Church Edmonton
11526 76 Avenue NW T6G 0K7 Edmonton, AB, Canada

Tracks Going on a footprints walk is all about being observant of the things around you. All you need to do is look for footprints in the snow and try to identi...fy who/what made them. How many can you spot? Use an animal identification book to track them back to their owner. Can you make any guesses about what the animal might have been doing when it left the tracks? I wonder what footprints you leave behind? Can you change what story they tell? Play with leaving different tracks walking backwards or sideways, hopping on one foot, carrying someone. Does it look different? I wonder what the tracks in your life look like? What clues do you leave behind? Does seeking justice and loving kindness and walking humbly with your God leave tracks? Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and love your neighbour as yourself. Luke 10:27 This is the verse leading into the parable of the Good Samaritan. (Luke 10:25-37) Imagine you came along the road after this story took place what tracks would you see? What would they leave behind to tell the story? This might be fun to act it out in the snow and track it afterwards. What tracks do you leave in how you live? God, thank you for all of the creatures of the earth. Thank you for the ways we can learn from them by seeing their tracks. Help us to live in a way that leaves tracks of love and kindness behind us. Amen.

For Remembrance Sunday, Godly Play UK trainer Alison Summerskill created a Godly Play style presentation on the Western Front, remembering the Great War. Wondering: I wonder what you liked about the story? I wonder what you didn't like? I wonder where you would like to be in the story? For work, you might choose either an individual response (to draw, write, sit in silence, play in the sand) or a group response - perhaps moving the sand and putting things in it to describe ...what our landscape is like today and perhaps taking the metaphor of the poppies or the monuments to ask "what is your work to end all wars?" or how do you make peace? ~ Rondy

Church in the Woods at Home

It's Halloween ! One of my favorite special days. Here is a very short history. Wiccans call it Samhain, children dress up and Trick or Treat and many LGBTQ+ people celebrate Halloween with elaborate costume parties. On November 1st All Souls Day you can remember those who have died. This is a rich weekend with lots of history behind it. A short history of Halloween Samhain was a Celtic festival centuries ago. Today it is celebrated by Wiccans.... At this time of year it is believed that the veil between the living and the dead was thin. It was easier to be in touch with those you loved AND it was easier for demons and evil spirits to come into the land of the living. People carved Jack O Lanterns and held bonfire celebrations to scare away the spirits and others dressed as demons to confuse them. In the 5th Century a Pope tried to abolish Halloween. In the 9th Century Catholic Pope Gregory reclaimed Samhain as All Hallows Eve or Halloween and named November 1st as All Souls Day. A time to remember those who had died. Then the traditions began to blur. People continue to dress up and carve pumpkins and remember those who have died. Fires light the coming darkness.(in the northern Hemisphere) Where once those who were poor would knock at the doors of the rich and received soul cakes, today children Trick or Treat for candy. Halloween has also become a big LGBTQ+ Festival in the past hundred years. With elaborate costumes and parties identities that have been vilified by church and culture are reclaimed. It is also a time to mock binaries of male and female, good and bad, straight and gay. In times not so long past these celebrations defied laws that made being LGBTQ+ criminal. Whatever the reasons it’s just plain fun to dress up in characters past present and future, light fires and eat candy as the dark of night grows. Have fun! See more