Worship Weblog

Mechanicsville Book Group – Second Meeting

Posted by cicw

Friday, November 6th, 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.
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The group of five settled in with cookies and coffee for a friendly discussion focused on chapters 2-5 of The Church of All Ages.
Conversation began with discussion of the meaning and differences of terms such as” being included in worship,” “participating in worship,” and “present in worship.” Clearly presence does not equal participation. Any age can be present without feeling included or being allowed to participate. The big question seems to be how to include the ends of the spectrum without losing one end or the other.

The conversation moved to a discussion over the concept of unity as presented in chapter 2. Does unity necessitate intergenerational worship or does separate age geared worship encourages unity in a different sense? Is it possible to be together and separate? What about age and stage groups? Does unity mean doing worship together or being together in Christ?
Intergenerational worship is a goal but it was noted that some of the citations of scripture used supporting intergenerational were focused on teaching and telling (p25 in text as example). This goes beyond the one hour on Sunday. A good question raised was how we can make worship intergenerational throughout life and not just for the appointed hour of the week.
A key to intergenerational worship is being intentional in including all ages.

The music director shared ways in which she is intentional to include young people in a variety of ways in worship. Suggestions included having them provide special music (vocal or instrumental) special readings, and serving as liturgists. It was notable that she does not wait for them to volunteer. She seeks them out and welcomes them to participate.

A pastor shared that spotlighting youth can be effective. One idea was a living nativity that involves many ages and is well received by all ages. People love to see young people in these roles and young people like to participate. It is also important to remember that not every person engages with every element of worship. In planning worship the leadership team tries to engage as many as possible in the worship of God.

Tags: bgmechanicsville, Book Groups 2009, intergenerational