Reflections – Pastor Nancy

Categories: Carillon Newsletter,News,Reflections

Dear Church,

As I leave you for this brief Sabbatical, I want to share the latest update from the Faith Formation team and happening related to the Prayground.  The Prayground is the space in the Meeting House in the front of the worship space, to the right of the Chancel.  You may have noticed it as a place that is decorated with origami cranes.  The Prayground, as a space, is continuing to evolve as a center for worship for those among us who learn in different ways, and require different modes of mobility for worship.  In this upcoming year, we intend for this to be the primary focus for children’s engagement in faith formation, rather than the more typical Sunday School experience.  This decision is born of a long period of discernment and observation, and is deeply rooted in our belief that fundamentally, “faith is caught, not taught.”

The case for children in worship 

The case hardly needs to be made, dear SCC, that children are equally a part of God’s growing kin-dom, as is every other child of God.  We affirm this in our baptismal vows, in our celebrations of new life, in our care for the children of the world.  Our commitment to children is an unquestionable value and essential tenet of our communal life.  If we extend this logic, we come to see that children belong in worship with the rest of the community.  As Carolyn Brown, a devoted Christian Educator puts it: “Simply being in the room and walking through the rites and rituals connects us to people of all ages in our community.”  When and where else will our children know this type of connectivity, if not in taking their place among their Christian siblings?  When children take their rightful place in worship, they also see the youth and adults singing and praying together, a sort of continuum of ages, a collection of God’s people doing the work of praising God.  In some families, Sunday worship may be the only time they see their parents express their faith in a visible way. Carolyn Brown also makes the powerful point that “the stories told and songs sung by people of all ages have a different importance than those same stories and songs told and sung with only other children.” It matters that children see and feel the lifelong and ongoing learning in faith that happens when we are in Christian community.  To this end, a child will come to know that worship is not an activity a child will grow out of or graduate from…instead it is the beginning of their lifelong place in God’s worshiping body.  This sense of fundamental belonging to a body of people and to God is a lifelong gift. 

So, how do we include children in the congregation’s worship?

While we offer the full feast of learning and growth as we always do together, we pay special attention to the feast that expects worshipers of all ages.  We create a space in the meeting house where children can move freely according to their bodies’ needs, and where resources are available for fleshing out some elements of the service.  Hence, the Prayground.  Over time, we hope to organize the space in such a way that a few half-pews will be removed to make a bit more room in that corner.  We’d welcome your thoughts as we move forward with this evolving plan! 

We hope that different people from the pews will venture to its comfortable location at various points, that adults of the congregation will take advantage of the opportunity to know one another better, and maybe even volunteer to be Praygrounds-keepers—people who help support those children who decide to make use of that space in worship.  If you feel called to learn more or volunteer in some way, please contact Pastor Matt, or Sue Irvine while I (Pastor Nancy) am on Sabbatical. 

I’ll look forward to ongoing conversation about this change when I return in early October!  Until then, I hope the first month of the Prayground’s new existence is a joyful one.

In partnership, always,

Pastor Nancy

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