I love worship! But when I use the word "worship" what that word means to you is more dependent on your experience with the word that on my understanding as the speaker unless I do something to change that.
For the authors of Children Matter "worship" is a verb. Ok. They also admit that sometimes it's a noun. They talk about both but they start with the premise that children can experience worship. Children are capable of worshiping God. They are capable of experiencing and interacting with God even before they can put it into words. [CM p215-216] Sounds simple and maybe you say, "of course!" But that simple idea is critical to the foundation for our thinking about children and worship. And when you think of all that "worship" means that understanding is profound.
It's profound that, as they say, the first mention of worship in scripture is in the story of Abraham's call to sacrifice his only son, God providing a substitute. Put yourself in Abraham's situation and think about worship in that context. [CM p. 216] Why? because worship is about sacrificing our children? Is it about God providing a substitute when He asks us to give Him our children? Does it have to do with Jesus or is there a whole lot more? I don't know. It's definately something to ponder with God.
The authors say, "Even though the Bible does not provide a concise definition, Scripture is full of examples of worship and the actions involved in it." [CM p. 217] They say that many of these are verbs (action words) that appear over and over in Psalms, examples in the tabernacle, in the temple, in Revelation.
The authors make the observation that even the youngest child can do many of the worship action words of scripture. Say that again. The authors make the observation that even the youngest child can do many of the worship action words of scripture. How wonderful is that! They share Biblical examples and present day examples. The questions they pose for us to ask about our corporate worship are wonderful!
They continue to look at how we do worship*: when children are present for the entire service, children present for part of the worship service, multi-cultural worship, a separate children's worship service, "intentionally Family-Oriented worship," intergenerational worship."And they include resources! They list "Essentials for Children at Worship" across the different approaches and finish with "strategies for implementing change"- a valuable tool for leaders.
I was very surprised to hear the authors say, "[m]any churches that keep children within the worship services are part of ... denominations in the liturgical tradition." [CM p 229] I guess I usually think of upbeat contemporary services as a more child-friendly place to keep children during worship so their comment is really interesting. They also mention that children often remain for the entire worship service in faith communities representing ethnic identities other than white American. [CM p. 230-31] I think that was mentioned in Children's Spirituality, too.
They mention Thomas Groome talking about the power of preaching that helps all generations discover their individual stories and the stories of their faith community within God's larger story as revealed in the scriptures past, present, and future . [CM p. 229] That kind of preaching is worth pondering.
They speak about "full silence" and "empty silence" saying, "In a full silence children are quiet because they have engaged or entered into a story with wonder; and empty silence is when children are told to be quiet or to stop talking." [CM p. 233] As a child, hah! even now my silence won't stay quiet for long. I will fill my head with other things and zone out of and into something else. And who will know?!
These are very random ideas that jumped out at me from a very rich discussion saying how we worship matters. Children matter. How we worship with them (or without them) matters.
Thank you Scottie, Beth, Catherine and Linda. Thank you for this book and for this chapter in particular. I could wait until I finish the book to say thanks but methinks thank yous are never really out of place.
Totally random aside: "how we do worship," "how do we worship." Do they mean the same thing? What is it that matters?
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I am part of a small missional community that is rethinking Children's Minsitry and how to teach and show kids about worship. We want them to have fun, but we want it to be focused and controlled. It is one thing to put music on and let 30 kids go crazy, and it is another to guide and teach. The book seems like a good read, I will have to pick it up. Thanks for the review.
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