The Purple Martin Blog

I Wonder: Nurturing Curiosity
While Celebrating Individuality

By Reverend Flo Oakes
Reverend Flo is the upper school religion teacher at ESN.

“I wonder.”

These are the words I use most often at the end of our lessons in both my religion classes at ESN and with the children in my congregation who are under my pastoral care. At ESN and in my church, we use a montessori inspired methodology called Godly Play that was developed by Episcopal Priest, Jerome Berryman. Godly Play invites children to engage with stories from the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament, the Parables of Jesus, and even stories in our more recent history about people like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. or St. Francis. After the story, I ask the children wondering questions:

  • “I wonder what part of the story you liked best?”

  • “I wonder what part of the story is the most important?”

  • “I wonder what part of the story is about you?”

  • “I wonder if we can leave out any part of the story and still have all the story we need?”

These are open-ended questions–I am truly not fishing for “right” answers because there are no right or wrong answers to these questions. I love it when the kids say things that let me know they feel the freedom to really play with a story and to offer their insights and critique.In the space we share together, we are spiritual equals–their voices are the voices of little prophets, philosophers, and theologians. And while I come from the Christian faith tradition, all traditions contain wisdom for us to glean from and share with each other as we journey together in love and solidarity in the world. All students, no matter their religious or non-religious identity, are vital to our community and each voice is equally important.

What we all have in common is an innate spirituality that is with us from birth–that is, our connection with ourselves, with others, and with something bigger than ourselves. We might define that as God or the Divine or Love or even the Universe, but whatever language we use, cultivating this spirituality is crucial to the developing child. Burgeoning empirical research in the field of psychology and child development shows that spirituality is biologically innate (born into a child) and critical to the development of resiliency and meaning making as children develop and grow and learn to make meaning in the world.

My hope for ESN, is that it would be a place where children are allowed to be curious and to have the space and stillness to explore their existential questions and to share the good, beautiful, and true things they notice in their lives and in the world around them as they are treated with the dignity, agency, and respect they deserve. Children are our very best teachers, and I am so grateful to learn from them this year as we wonder together.

In love and hope,
Rev. Flo