I don't love the final layout. This is another example of "good enough." It's Friday, and I'll be away at a youth trip all day Sunday, so I'm going to have to leave this project for now and maybe revisit it at some other time.
So, some details:
Total cost: About $5, starting with a well prepared craft cabinet. What I had on hand and ready was the fabric and sewing supplies, a scrap block of pine, sandpaper, and paint. I bought the peg people and used the remainder of the beige felt from the last story I built.
Total time:
1.5 hours About an hour and a half to track down and then adapt the story.
3.5 hours Making all the story elements
.5 hour Buying remaining story elements
.5 hour Final edit of story, with all elements complete, and test telling
.25 hour Making the basket label
_________
6.25 hours
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The Hosea Ballou story
Teresa Honey Youngblood
Materials:
Hosea
figure
Father
figure
Mud puddle
White shirt
with mud on one side, clean on the other
Bathtub
with muddy water on one side, clean on the other
Universalist
church
Heart
Beige underlay, square with rounded corners, about 30" across
Hosea Ballou was the youngest of nine children. And he loved
to play in the mud.
Place Hosea figure on
the upper left of underlay, facing out. Place mud puddle next to Hosea.
He liked the way mud felt between his bare toes. He liked
the way it splattered up when he jumped in a mud puddle. He liked how mud in
different places felt different, and was different colors. And he liked how, in
the spring, mud was absolutely everywhere.
Have Hosea dance and
play in the mud puddle.
Hosea’s mother had died when he was 2 years old. His older
sisters helped care for him. One of his sisters washed all the clothes for the
family.
Put muddy shirt below,
and a little to the right of the mud puddle.
“Hosea,” she said, “please don’t play in the mud anymore.
The mud gets all over your clothes, and sometimes on the clothes of the other
children, too.”
One of his sisters washed and bathed all the children in the
family.
Put muddy bath tub next to the shirt.
“Hosea,” she said, “please don’t play in the mud anymore.
The mud gets all over your face and hands and legs and feet. And when you walk
in the house, it gets on the floor, and then all over all the other children.”
Hosea agreed, and tried not to play in the mud.
Turn shirt and bathtub
to the clean sides.
But he loved mud so much, that after a while, he did again.
Have Hosea dance and
play in the mud puddle.
He made mud pies to throw, because he liked the way the
splatted with a big Thwack! He made mud soup, and pretended to feed all his
friends and family a delicious meal. He spread the mud on his body and clothes
and pretended he was a monster.
Turn shirt and bathtub
to muddy side again.
Hosea’s sisters went to their father, who was a Baptist
preacher, and asked him to talk to Hosea.
Put father next to tub,
and move Hosea to father.
“Hosea,” said his father sternly, “you must stop playing in
the mud. Try to be good, and stay clean.”
Hosea agreed.
Turn shirt and bathtub
back to clean sides.
Hosea tried not to play in the mud. But he loved the mud so
much, that after a while, he did again.
Turn shirt and bathtub
back to muddy sides.
And again, his sisters went to their father.
For the following
conversation, touch each character on the head just before each one speaks.
“Hosea,” said his father, even more sternly this time, “you
must stop playing in the mud. Try to be good, and stay clean.”
“Father,” asked Hosea, “are you angry with me?”
Hosea’s father’s voice softened, and he smiled at his son.
“Hosea, I love you. I am a little bit annoyed, and a little bit angry. But I
still love you, and I will always love you.”
“Even if I forget and get muddy again”
“Yes, I will still love you.”
“Even if I get really, really muddy again?”
“Yes, even then, I will still love you.”
Turn shirt and bathtub
back to clean sides.
After some years passed, Hosea no longer played in the mud
so much. He did other things—played games and rode horses and read books and
talked with friends. And he began thinking a lot about God.
In his religion, they believed that God only allowed 1 in
1,000 people into heaven, and all the rest were sent to hell. So all the people
worked extra hard to be good so that they could get into heaven, and when
people made mistakes, they got very worried that they would be going to hell.
One day, Hosea went to his father with a question.
Touch Hosea on the
head as he speaks.
“Father, why does our faith tell us that only 1 in 1,000
people go to heaven, if so many more than that lead good lives?”
Touch father on the
head.
His father did not have an answer. Hosea asked another
question.
“Father, if God knows that only 1,000 people are going to
get into heaven, why does he create more than 1,000? Why does he make people
that he know will suffer and be miserable in hell?”
Touch father on the
head.
His father did not have an answer for that, either.
So Hosea, as a teenager, set out to find the answers for
himself. He read the Bible. He asked questions of other religious people. And
one day he found himself at a Universalist church.
Place Universalist
church next on the bottom row of the underlay, beneath and just to the right of
the bathtub, and move Hosea next to church.
He learned that the Universalists believed that everyone got
to go to heaven, that salvation—or being saved from hell. God’s love was open
to all. It was universal.
Place heart next to
the church, finishing the spread.
This sounded right to him, and it sounded familiar. He
thought of all the times, as a young child, that he would get muddy, even as he
was trying to be good and stay clean. And he remembered that his father loved
him—and would always love him—no matter how muddy he got.
Hosea Ballou thought that maybe all people were like God’s
muddy children, and that God loved them always, and gave them more and more
chances to clean up and try and be good.
Wondering questions:
I wonder what’s the
most important part of this story?
I wonder if you have
seen any part of this story before?
I wonder how Hosea
Ballou felt to have different beliefs from his father?
I wonder what Hosea’s
father thought about their conversations about God?
I wonder if other
people liked the idea of universal salvation, too?
I wonder if you have
ever broke a promise or made a mistake and someone gave you—or you gave
yourself—another chance?
I wonder if you have
ever felt completely and unconditionally loved, so that you knew no matter what
you did or what happened, you would always have that love?
Name each piece as you
place it back in the basket.
Heart: Universal Salvation, the idea that everyone gets to
experience God’s love, forever.
Hosea Ballou: The Universalist, Hosea Ballou.
Church: The Universalist Church where Hosea found his
spiritual home
Hosea’s father: Hosea’s father, the Baptist preacher
Tub and shirt: Hosea’s sometimes muddy tub and shirt, from
the many times he forgot his promise to try and stay clean.
Puddle: And one of his favorite places, a mud puddle.
Fold underlay and lay
on top of pieces in basket.
Now watch where I put this story away, so that you will know
where to find it if you’d like to make it your work.
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