Megachurches ... praise bands ... “emergent church.” There seems to be a lot of experimentation going on these days, but most Worship practices still pretty much follow familiar patterns and use the language developed by adults over the millennia. They’re carefully scripted by professional theologians and designed like a school lesson plan, to make a predictable change in the feelings and the thinking, and if you’re lucky, the lives of a more-or-less passive audience. They may teach, preach, soothe, or arouse, but none of them are designed for very much listening, especially to the children.
Timbrels Worship is meant to reverse that direction. We have the Revised Common Lectionary to walk us through most of the Bible over three years. That’s a place to start. But what if that was the only thing firmly planned for a community gathered to worship? What if the person responsible for facilitating the gathering came with some ideas for music, prayers, and activities, even some props, according to what reading the Lections in advance made her/im think about? And what if, when the Scriptures were read, the grown-up, heard-it-before-and-thought-it-through community stayed quiet and asked the children first what songs or games or dances or stories they thought of? That will be participant-driven, minimally structured, Timbrels Worship.
Yes, this kind of Worship service will be hard to control, and the outcomes will be impossible to predict. It will not satisfy the needs of everyone in a community. It is not meant to replace the scripted Worship service. It is meant to complement that Worship practice, and over time to enrich it by engaging the community, and especially its children, in expressing their faith experiences together. In particular, it is meant to let the children show the grownups what they already, intuitively understand about God, instead of letting the grownups mark out the acceptable boundaries for a faith journey. It is meant for shared exploration. It is meant to let the Holy Spirit write the script, and maybe to write it in crayon.
Timbrels Worship is meant to reverse that direction. We have the Revised Common Lectionary to walk us through most of the Bible over three years. That’s a place to start. But what if that was the only thing firmly planned for a community gathered to worship? What if the person responsible for facilitating the gathering came with some ideas for music, prayers, and activities, even some props, according to what reading the Lections in advance made her/im think about? And what if, when the Scriptures were read, the grown-up, heard-it-before-and-thought-it-through community stayed quiet and asked the children first what songs or games or dances or stories they thought of? That will be participant-driven, minimally structured, Timbrels Worship.
Yes, this kind of Worship service will be hard to control, and the outcomes will be impossible to predict. It will not satisfy the needs of everyone in a community. It is not meant to replace the scripted Worship service. It is meant to complement that Worship practice, and over time to enrich it by engaging the community, and especially its children, in expressing their faith experiences together. In particular, it is meant to let the children show the grownups what they already, intuitively understand about God, instead of letting the grownups mark out the acceptable boundaries for a faith journey. It is meant for shared exploration. It is meant to let the Holy Spirit write the script, and maybe to write it in crayon.
No comments:
Post a Comment