Remember the Neighborhood of Make-Believe on Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood?
Inspiration for puppet ministry from Mister Rogers
The recent documentary film Won’t You Be My Neighbor? brought to mind King Friday the Thirteenth, Lady Elaine Fairchilde, Daniel Tiger, Henrietta Pussycat, and other puppet characters created by the legendary Fred Rogers. Sometimes they chatted with a live-actor character like Lady Aberlin. But the people who moved and voiced the hand puppets stayed hidden behind the puppet stage.
Even more wonderful than those Neighborhood of Make-Believe episodes was seeing Fred Rogers’ skill and grace in face-to-face interactions with children. In my favorite segment of the documentary, Mr. Rogers and one puppet friend, shy Daniel Tiger, sat and talked with a little boy about an issue the child was worried about. The child could see that the puppet’s body was a piece of fabric covering the man’s hand. Daniel Tiger’s mouth didn’t open and close. In fact, Daniel’s whole face was embroidered in a fixed, rather solemn expression.
Fred Rogers was not a ventriloquist. His mouth moved when he voiced his puppet, so it was plain to see that the man was the one talking (in a different voice, of course) when Daniel “spoke.” That didn’t matter. A connection quickly formed between the kind man, the gentle puppet, and the audience (an audience of one, in this case), thanks to Mr. Rogers’ compassionate, conversational approach.
Was Jesus or God or religion of any kind mentioned during the little boy’s encounter with Mr. Rogers and Daniel Tiger? No. Yet that was a great example of what I call “personal puppet ministry”: a puppeteer and a puppet pal sharing God’s love with an audience of any size and any age, face to face, up close and personal.
Is God calling us to try personal puppet ministry?
You and I might never be the next Fred Rogers. But maybe we can share a little love and grace in our corner of the world, with the help of a puppet pal.
First we’d need to pick and personalize a puppet pal that suits our individual preferences and circumstances.
We’ll give our pal a name, a personality, a “look,” and a voice. Then we’ll need to learn how to perform with our pal, and lots more.
I say “we” because I hope you’ll embark on this adventure too. Your choices will be unique to you, and your personal puppet ministry will be just as special as you are!
Follow along as I post my progress. It may be slow. Like you, I have lots of other obligations that demand my time. But I’m eager to give it a shot! How about you?
Let’s share our tidbits of information, expertise, and useful resources for personal puppet ministry. Our successes and our setbacks, too.
Encouragement is a gift of pure gold to anyone stepping out on a brave adventure, so all my readers are invited to chime in with supportive comments.
Blessings,
Linda
Next post in this series: Picking a Puppet Pal
You, my friend, are amazing!
Amazing is one word for it, Kaye. I’ve heard others. Heh heh…
My “Holy GhostWriter” keeps getting me into these things, WAY outside my comfort zone. I hope when readers see me blundering around, they’ll say, “I can do a lot better than that!” and try it themselves. The more the merrier!
Well done, O good and faithful servant!!!
You continue to delight and amaze me…..I really think your Puppet Project, unlike many of the puppets, will have legs!! If you can just put this concept into the hands of all your “blizzard fans”, the rest will be history!!!
Go with God, my girl…..Oh, wait….that’s what you’ve been doing!
Thanks so much, Lida! My music fans probably wonder why the flow of new hymns dried up after I published Now Sings My Soul. Maybe “Praise God from Whom All Blizzards Flow” was my HGW’s segue from serious music into comedy, which I do love! To everything there is a season, right? I’m looking forward to what the new season brings, literally and figuratively. 😀