{"id":20198,"date":"2025-02-03T08:32:06","date_gmt":"2025-02-02T21:32:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/victas.uca.org.au\/?p=20198"},"modified":"2025-02-03T08:32:06","modified_gmt":"2025-02-02T21:32:06","slug":"the-wonder-of-exploration","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/synod.debug.victas.uca.org.au\/?p=20198","title":{"rendered":"The wonder of exploration"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Nigel Hanscamp<\/strong><\/p>\n

I wonder … can I embrace the gasp and giggle of little ones in worship? (a confession)<\/p>\n

The guest speaker put several precious items in front of the communion table, including clapsticks and their possum blanket or cloak.<\/p>\n

It wasn’t long before three-year-old Gemma spotted the possum blanket.<\/p>\n

She walked up and touched it, looking over her shoulder at dad as she did (permission?).<\/p>\n

I tensed: I’m sure I wasn’t the only one who wondered if touching this was appropriate.<\/p>\n

Kids walking around during the worship services isn’t unusual – in fact they are welcomed. It’s the reason their parents can feel relaxed and welcomed, and happy to bring their chattering, dancing, singing little people to church.<\/p>\n

Gemma wandered off for a little bit, then came back, touched the possum cloak again getting a sense of the soft fur under her small hands; touch, stroke, touch, look over her shoulder at Dad \u2026 and then bending over and feeling it with her cheek.<\/p>\n

The sensation of such soft and unusual texture was obviously a wonder and delight to her. I’m also sure I wasn’t the only one who wanted to join Gemma – but maybe I’m too adult and too polite.<\/p>\n

And then, quite naturally, she laid down on the possum cloak – as its owner would have done in the past. I felt again my breath catch \u2013 \u2018is this appropriate?\u2019 (internal gasp) and \u2018that is so wonderful!\u2019 (internal giggle) at the same time.<\/p>\n

Both generational and intergenerational ministry is full of these moments of curiosity, wonder and exploration that confront the boundaries of what we think is \u2018normal behaviour\u2019 – when we use all our senses to learn and worship. I wonder if that is what Jesus means when he tells me to \u2018welcome the kingdom as a little child\u2019?<\/p>\n

While I\u2019m thinking about that, I\u2019ll leave you with the mental image of a three-year-old curled up on a possum skin blanket in front of a communion table.<\/p>\n

Nigel Hanscamp is Director – Priorities, Focus and Advocacy within equipping Leadership for Mission<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A child’s delight in exploring a possum cloak is a wonderful example of learning and worship, writes Nigel Hanscamp.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":20199,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[31,33],"tags":[35],"class_list":["post-20198","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-connect","category-youth","tag-younger-generations"],"yoast_head":"\nThe wonder of exploration - Synod Main Website<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/synod.debug.victas.uca.org.au\/?p=20198\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The wonder of exploration - Synod Main Website\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A child's delight in exploring a possum cloak is a wonderful example of learning and worship, writes Nigel Hanscamp.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/synod.debug.victas.uca.org.au\/?p=20198\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Synod Main Website\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-02-02T21:32:06+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/synod.debug.victas.uca.org.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Possum-cloak.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"713\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/synod.debug.victas.uca.org.au\/?p=20198#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/synod.debug.victas.uca.org.au\/?p=20198\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/synod.debug.victas.uca.org.au\/#\/schema\/person\/cef8aa8d2a4ea1f900a1026a8a355f7d\"},\"headline\":\"The wonder of exploration\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-02-02T21:32:06+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/synod.debug.victas.uca.org.au\/?p=20198\"},\"wordCount\":358,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/synod.debug.victas.uca.org.au\/?p=20198#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/synod.debug.victas.uca.org.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Possum-cloak.png\",\"keywords\":[\"Younger generations\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Connect\",\"Youth\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/synod.debug.victas.uca.org.au\/?p=20198#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/synod.debug.victas.uca.org.au\/?p=20198\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/synod.debug.victas.uca.org.au\/?p=20198\",\"name\":\"The wonder of exploration - 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