"We need a contemporary worship!" cried the masses.

As I continue to pray for direction in the discernment of the future of worship at my local church community, I continue to be intrigued with the language that is used when talking about worship.

At my local community there is an expressed need to have an alternative worship celebration offered. All of the conversation about this alternate worship is always described as "contemporary". Then there is discussion about what "contemporary worship" means. Most contemporary worship services have many traditional things:
Prayer, Scripture, Song, Preaching, and maybe even Communion.

So it seems to me that when we talk about contemporary worship we are not really talking about worship itself but about the way these essential elements of worship are acted out.

No big surprise there, I suppose.

I suppose what is interesting to me is the limited view of what an alternative worship at my community could look like. That is any alternative worship is contemporary. I do not hear alternate worship service opportunities described as contemplative or mission driven or traditional re-imagined or ancient/future or silent or ecumenical or the like. It is as though there are only two worship styles: Traditional and Contemporary (oh and by the way Contemporary really means a more casual form of Traditional).

How do we break from the idea that there are two types of worship?

Perhaps it just takes creating an alternative worship that is not a typical "Contemporary" worship in order for us to see the multiple and vast array of worship in the Christian tradition.

I hope there is courage and imagination to help lead in these directions.

Alternate idea for Children's church

My son is 2 and 1/2 years old and my wife is a preacher in Arlington.  Jude, our son, is as active as any other kid his age and he has that overwhelming stigma to overcome of being a DOUBLE preacher's kid.  Here is a picture of him in worship a few Friday nights ago.

He sits by himself next to Mrs. Virgina Thompson who is a saint of AHUMC.  Literally he sits there the entire time and I am not even around.  

It got me thinking about how much I appreciate the fact that AHUMC does not have "Children's Church" during worship.  

Each week my son sits with a saint of the church (either at AHUMC or at First Arlington UMC) and participates in worship.  He has different models around the church, not just his parents, guiding him and helping him.  Notice Mrs. Virgina holding the song sheet for Jude to see.  He does not sing just yet (his daddy is not much of a singer either), but she sits with him and shows him "how we worship" together.  

I was thinking what if at church we had parents partner up with older adults to sit with children and model "worship" for these little ones?  I know my son is much better "behaved" for others and follows others better than for Estee or me.  What if children were being mentored in worship by saints of the Church each week?  What if parents sought out mentors for their children (such as Mrs.Virginia) to help them grow in the faith?  What if all parents were as active in our children's faith development as we are in their soccer development?

Anyway, in case I never said it before, I thank God for Mrs. Virgina.

Who are mentors to you or your kids?

EPIC Communion and Baptism

This Sunday we are going to have an "EPIC" worship at 6pm. This is a term we took from Leonard Sweet who says we live in "EPIC" times - Experiential, Participatory, Image Rich and Connected.

This Sunday at 6pm, all are invited to consider participating in a version of EPIC worship at AHUMC built around Communion and Baptism.

There will be conversation, renewal of baptism, communion, prayer, video and images.

Here is the facebook event page for it if you want to check it out.