Worship Weblog

Glenside Book Group – First meeting

Posted by cicw

Tuesday, September 15th, 2009

Book Groups

We invited 34 book groups across the U.S. and Canada to meet and discuss The Church of All Ages and its implications for their worship, and to share their notes here.
Learn more

Our group has eleven participants:
Dianne, Tom, Marian, and Jeanne from St. Luke’s (Catholic), Rosemarie and Erik from New Life Presbyterian, Laurel and Bob from St. Peter’s (Episcopal), and Rick and Betsy from Trinity Presbyterian, plus discussion leader Larry from Westminster Seminary (also Trinity and St. Peter’s).

We will meet at each of our churches and the hosts will lead us in opening and closing prayers according to their tradition. This time, we met at St. Peter’s and used the Book of Common Prayer services for early evening and compline.

We shared our involvement with intergenerational worship and education in our congregations. Tom and Bob work with children and youth who serve as acolytes for the liturgy and Jeanne helps children do the liturgy; Betsy and Laurel have taught children and organized spiritual formation programs for youth while Marian heads a private Catholic elementary school; Dianne is a choir member and cantor, working with various age groups, and Rosemarie is a worship leader/musician at her church; Rick is a chaplain in a retirement community and Erik is a children’s pastor; Larry has focused on college students and adult education, and was the chaplain at Westminster for several years.

We also shared our memories of worship when we were six years old. The Catholics remembered Latin Masses, with only the Gospel, Homily, and hymns in English. Rick and Larry remembered Baptist services, simple hymns, and altar calls. Betsy, commenting that she could read the words of the hymns and follow in her Bible, recalled that even when she didn’t understand everything it impressed her that “this was something bigger than ourselves; it was about God.” She also remembered Dutch peppermints! Laurel remembered the Great Litany in Lent, pageants, and music.

We began to explore The Church of All Ages, especially the biblical values in chapter two. We discussed the question, “Which age group do you think feels most overlooked or left out?” noticing that the 20s and early 30s complain about this at St. Luke’s and Trinity (but the complainers actually stay around; the silent ones just leave until they marry and have children). At New Life, where the music is “contemporary,” it’s the older members who feel overlooked.

We’ll meet next on October 8.

Tags: bgglenside, Book Groups 2009, intergenerational