By popular demand (okay, two or three requests), I’m posting the services I conducted at Harpursville United Methodist Church and Ouaquaga Methodist Church yesterday. I did most of the talking, but I was admittedly outshone by tenor Tony Villecco, who graced both churches with a solo of “Because You Loved Me First,” and by the debut appearance of my new puppet pal, Moochacha. As far as I know, no one in the congregation whipped out a cell phone to record video of the proceedings, but my trusty digital voice recorder did supply audio.
The order of worship is reproduced below, with links to audio of individual elements. If you prefer to listen to a single audio file of the prayers, scripture readings, and sermon (no music, no puppet), click HERE.
My Personal Puppet Ministry saga continues! If you missed previous posts in this series, you can catch up here: Puppet Grace Picking a Puppet Pal
Click on the link below to listen to an MP3 audio recording of today’s post.
The transcript follows, with a few photos for illustration.
Audio: Picking a Puppet Pal-Part 2
Picking a puppet pal for personal puppet ministry, continued …
Thanks for joining me again on my personal puppet ministry journey. As I explained in a previous post in this series, personal puppet ministry is what I call a solo puppeteer and his/her puppet pal sharing God’s love by chatting back and forth in front of an audience, basically playing the “role” of themselves. Future posts will get into performance and ministry topics. Right now, I’m just getting started, and the first step is coming up with my puppet pal.
In my previous post, I narrowed down my search to the general category of hand puppet. Then the idea of converting a stuffed animal toy into a one-of-a-kind hand puppet really appealed to me. Luckily, a few good candidates were already sitting around the house, including the little teddy bear, brown cow, and collie dog pictured above.
A puppet pal to crow about
My favorite is the black crow. It has big googly eyes, dangly yellow feet, stubby wings, and a big yellow beak. Right away, great ideas rolled into my head for ministry skits and scripted conversations that could be custom-made for a black bird puppet pal. The possibilities are pretty exciting.
But what about the construction? Could the stuffed crow toy be remodeled into a workable hand puppet?
My Personal Puppet Ministry saga continues! If you missed my previous post, you can catch up here: Puppet Grace
Click on the link below to listen to an MP3 recording of today’s post.
The transcript follows, with a few photos for illustration.
Audio: Picking a Puppet Pal-Puppet Types
Picking a puppet pal for personal puppet ministry
Thanks for joining me on my latest ministry adventure. I introduced the concept of personal puppet ministry in a previous post. This post will cover the first practical steps toward starting my personal puppet ministry.
Personal puppet ministry = one puppeteer + one puppet pal + an audience.
I’ll round up the audience later, when I’m ready to perform. For the moment, here I am, the one puppeteer. But the other half of the equation is missing. Where’s my puppet pal?
I don’t have one, not yet. So the next step for me is to pick and personalize a puppet pal to perform with. On to the puppet pal auditions!
Let’s consider some types of puppets that are out there and talk about design choices that might work well for my personal puppet ministry, or not so much.
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.
Clyde (the puppet) with Bill (the handsome bearded guy) wearing the Ho!Ho!Ho! hat featured in “Clyde Teaches Jeff a Christmas Lesson”
Got a quirky kid who wants to serve the Lord?
Or, are you a quirky grownup looking for a fun ministry?
A puppet pal might be just the ticket!
My quirky son, Jeff, was eleven years old when he launched his personal puppet ministry with Clyde, a furry gray critter puppet who found us at a yard sale. Their performances were more like conversations between buddies than typical puppet plays. Instead of hiding behind a curtain, Jeff was “on stage” with Clyde. The pair chatted back and forth about the situation du jour and learned faith lessons in the process. Audiences laughed and learned right along with them.
My Personal Puppet Ministry saga continues! If you missed my previous post, you can catch up here: 
