Intergenerational Worship Ideas

The Mass Bay District sponsored a conference on intergenerational worship this past weekend as part of its Learning Congregation program. The conference highlighted worship models that integrate children and adults.

One of the important insights of the meeting was that children and adults participate in similar and voluntary ways in a strong intergenerational worship.

The morning worship included a song led by KidSing, a children’s chorus from the First Parish in Bedford. I was moved by this group, as they started the worship off with enthusiasm and joy. I was also impressed by their talent, since I rarely see children have a role in leading UU worship.

Later in the day there was discussion about why adults clapped following the KidSing song. (As a non-clapper who had felt slightly guilty, I was glad someone brought this up). One person emphasized that it is important for adults to respond to children leading the worship the same way they respond to adults leading worship, i.e. with reverent silence following the musical pieces. (However, another participant noted that UU adults often clap following adult musicians as well!)

An important point was also made by one of the presenters (Tracy Duncan, DRE at First Parish of Sudbury) about how stories are told during worship. She emphasized that story time should not be focused specifically on children, and that it should not be used to “make a spectacle” of them. Most adults do not like be put on display during worship, and neither do children. Ms. Duncan explained that when she tells stories in intergenerational worship, she does not generally invite children to come to the front of the sanctuary. One exception to this is when there is something children need to see that they cannot from the pews. Another is when children and adults alike are invited to play a role in a story being told to the congregation, a process Ms. Duncan modeled during the morning worship.

Quilts Made For Children, By Children

UU’s in the Media has been a great source recently for news about Unitarian Universalists helping children. It pointed me this week to this sweet story in the Journal & Courier of Lafayette, Indiana, about a quilting project at the local Unitarian Universalist Church:

Dozens of men, women and children from the Unitarian Universalist Church stitched together 28 quilts to give to infants and children who had been taken recently from homes where crystal methamphetamine had been produced in Tippecanoe County.

"The chemicals and the drug can be toxic to children’s skin," said Patty Wood, the most experienced quilter at the church and leader of the Unitarian Universalist’s Fiberarts group. "Their blankets, clothes and toys usually have to be taken away because they’re tainted with the chemicals.

This project not only provides special gifts to children going through traumatic events, but also draws on the talents of children in the congregation. Children as young as nine have learned to sew and create quilts under Wood’s guidance.

Chances for Peace in the Midst of Boston Violence

This weekend brought news of thirteen-year-old Luis Gerena being murdered near his home in Boston. This is the third middle-school boy who has been murdered in Boston within the last several weeks. Like Emmanuel Benjamin Saintil, a fourteen-year-old who was shot on December 22nd, Luis Gerena attended the school where I teach part-time. The violence is emotionally traumatizing for children, family members, teachers, church members, and many other people who belong to the communities of which these boys have been a part.

I believe this kind of violence is preventable--that these boys might not have been killed if there were more support for anti-violence programs in Boston. I read in today’s Washington Post about Peaceoholics , a D.C.-based program that reaches out to young people who are considering violence, and gives them encouragement to make a better choice. This kind of program offers the possibility of saving lives. Knowing that successful models for youth violent prevention do exist gives me some hope when the barrage of loss is overwhelming.