Mary Poppins and youth ministry

By Hannah Blackwood

Use a metaphor to describe:
My role as a youthworker
My perception of one or some of my young people
My view of the world
The character of God for me and/or my young people

I’ve used the film ‘Mary Poppins’ as a basis for my metaphors.

My role as a youthworker:
My role is something like Dick van Dyke’s character; encouraging the children and everyone else to listen to and appreciate Mary Poppins, and celebrating her and what she had achieved, was achieving and was looking to achieve.

My perception of one or some of my young people
Many of my young people are like the children in Mary Poppins, starved of parental time and affection.

My view of the world
I think the we live in is very like the world represented in Mary Poppins; full of potential fun and breakthrough moments (when they went through a chalk drawing on the sidewalk into a magical cartoon world, when they had an exciting, unexpected afternoon laughing on the ceiling with Uncle Albert). Unfortunately, I believe the world is also like Mr Banks’ world: too busy to stop and feed the birds and so worried about money that no-one pays attention to what the disempowered little people really want; Michael wanted to feed the birds with his money, not invest it in the bank, but his opinion wasn’t listened to.

The character of God for me/ and or my young people
I believe the character of God is very like the character of Mary Poppins. Mary Poppins had big plans for the family she came to live with, and she knew what was best for them even when it was things they wouldn’t necessarily have planned for themselves. She was there for a short but very significant amount of time, and I believe God is often like that. He reveals Himself very clearly and we can feel His presence, but He will often then draw back slightly and let us carry on with what He has taught us and revealed to us.