For almost a year now, our kids have had more leadership opportunities in worship. In fact, the 4pm Christmas Eve service was solely children led--no pageants, no showmanship, just worship. Because we teach about worship in Children's Worship, the kids have become not only comfortable leading worship but enthusiastic about helping lead it(The first Sunday of the month, kids help lead in the main worship service).
Our pastors have been strong supporters of this new vision for children in worship, giving them instruction, encouragement, and strong leadership roles. One such role was to say the prayer before and after communiion. The child leading (usually a 4th or 5th grader) stands directly next to the pastor, and while he/she doesn't actually pass out or even touch the elements, he/she is a part of the ritual. We've discussed communion at length, and these kids understand what and whom they are praying for.
Like I said, we've been doing this for a year now, and we've received much positive feedback from the congregants and parents; however, this past week, we received an email from an elder expressing her concern for the kids standing at the table. She said that it was "distasteful" for an unconfirmed child to be speaking at the table. Keep in mind that the pastor was presiding over the sacrament; the child's role was to say the prayer. Elders passed out the elements.
So what do you think? Where do we draw the line at what is ok and not ok for kids to do in worship? Is there a line? Is the line distinctly different between kids and adults? Who draws that line?
1 comment:
It seems so difficult to get people to "talk scripture" in both non-denominational and denominational faith communities. Try to engage someone in that kind of conversation (especially leaders or pillars of the community) and they go on the defensive.
I'm not sure whether people balk because their understanding of scripture is violated, their sense of tradition, or whether they just feel vulnerable because someone is challenging the status quo and asking questions.
I don't know whether people sharing why they/we think the way we do helps break down barriers and facilitate understanding or whether it causes people to build higher walls.
We don't often talk about why we do what we do - why we include the kids, why we don't. Our conversations don't generally include comments like, "The Bible says ____. How do we do that?"
We can look for children in scripture stories about the Last Supper. We can take what we know of scripture, and ask, if Jesus were standing at the Communion Table would He be offended to have a child beside Him? We may or may not find answers but at least we can have the conversation.
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