Worship Weblog

St. Augustine Book Group – Third Meeting

Posted by cicw

Friday, December 11th, 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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We discussed the last chapters of the book. The talk was more like “rambling thoughts.”

• We agreed that adults too often have a tendency to assume they know what teens and young adults want and need. When adults “dummy down” those thoughts, we short change our teens and young adults to the point we presume what the holy is for them.

• Congregations/Parishes need to find ways to bridge the gap so that the pastoral needs of young people are being addressed. Maybe there’s a need for a “Junior Parish Council” or allow a teen to have a seat on the parish/congregation advisory board.

• Concerning the concept of “vertical language,” there needs to be a way that such phrases are OK for all to say. In the culture we are in and the recent issues of clergy sex abuse, etc., we need to find a way for such language to be OK and not seen as suspicious.

• We all agreed that, in the end, “it takes a village” for the church to be able to communicate and celebrate the presence of the Holy One among us in all ages and cultures.

• Whatever may be decided by parishes/congregations on intergenerational worship, we must be intentional about it. It must be a determined effort to work towards as a regular aspect of life in the particular faith community.

Tags: bgstaugustine, Book Groups 2009, intergenerational