Revisiting worship and children in community

A few weeks ago Jaded CM posted some comments about a book he's reading. He finishes his post saying, ". . . the Sunday morning education of children (and adults for that matter) must be embraced and continued. But it cannot be embraced alone for its own sake or for the sake of teaching moral lessons. It needs to be embraced within the worshiping community who creates this community into a place of authentic spiritual development through deep messages found in Scripture." Then there are comments and Fresh Dirt asks, "How do we do that?"

I could write a very long comment on his blog but I think this is an important question. It brings us back to an unanswered question, "What is worship?"

It appears that the "church" as expressed by our current generation is striving to integrate all the different dimensions of being a faith community into something more "holistic" (for lack of a better word) than communities in the past. In some cases that looks more like separate ingredients mixed and baked into a cake - the separate ingredients lose their individual identities. In some cases it looks more like different colors and textures of thread woven together crossing each other over and under in different patterns to create a fine piece of cloth or tapestry.

First we ask, "What is worship?"

Then we ask, "What does a worshipping community look like?" Is it liturgical? Is it freedom in the Spirit? For me, worship is relational but, in the first commandments, it's also required . Jesus, of course, says it too but the "how" is not well-defined.

Do we need to put the stories of scripture in a larger context? For me, the context is, "What is God teaching us about Himself and how do we apply it?"

We could ask, "What is He telling us?"

We could also ask, "What is He showing us?"

"They're the same," you say.

Are they?

Then, there's religion and there's faith. They aren't neccessarily the same thing.

I was once part of a community whose identity was that of a worshipping community. It was a very non-traditional community. They had their own Sunday liturgy just more open-ended than pre-determined. It was also understood that as a regular member of the community, you would spend time alone with the Lord every day and worship Him - sing, read scripture, dance alone with the Lord. 10 minutes, more or less- at least 10 minutes.

I also know people in very traditional liturgical communities who have chosen a liturgical community because the liturgy enables them to worship God from their heart in a way that more contemporary worship didn't.

People in both communities share their worship life with their children through example, through their family involvement in communities that share their faith values, through education that takes place in their faith community.

They see the scriptures differently. One is more conservative. One is more liberal. Interesting- the liturgical church is more liberal.

But the questions remain: What is a worshipping community? How do we become a worshipping community? How do we teach and train our children in a way that allows them to take the scriptures into life and apply it?

Is our goal obedient children? Children who seek after God? Children who call on the name of the Lord? Children who embrace the spiritual disciplines of the church? Children who can recite the catechism and apply it to their lives? Children who believe God and put their faith in Him day after day after day for a lifetime?

If we're driven to succeed, what does "success" look like in Christian Education? When we meet God face to face, how will we know we've succeeded?

I think it's rare for people to take the time to ask the questions. It's rare to go back, re-define and agree on the language required to answer the questions.