Worship Weblog

St. Augustine Book Group – Second Meeting

Posted by cicw

Tuesday, November 17th, 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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At our last gathering, we reviewed our reading of chapters 4-7 of The Church of All Ages. We had general consensus that, as much as is possible, all liturgical ministries should be available for all age groups. As well, resources need to be in place so that church staffs may be able to respond immediately/quickly to those who offer themselves for ministry/service. The need to capture the desire of those who want to be involved is evident. In training those who will be serving in any liturgical ministry, it is important that we form them to be ministers of Christ, helping them avoid the tendency to be in ministry so as to “be in the spotlight.”

Another part of our discussion had to do with, from our experience in the Catholic Church, how the present generation of parents is less equipped to catechize and form their children. Thus, the parents are not able to help their children come to an appreciation of the role of worship in faith formation, nor are they able to explain the various signs and symbols used in Catholic worship. Storytelling, that is inherent in all liturgy/worship, is in many ways being lost, too. Our active listening and contemplation of the sacred stories of our faith are important aspects of forming future generations in the faith. This will help us move the subject beyond intergenerational worship to intergenerational faith development.

Tags: bgstaugustine, Book Groups 2009, intergenerational