Play as Worship?

Sit down, behave.  Can't you just be quiet and listen?  You are embarrassing me.

Let's be honest.  Anyone who has taken children to worship and said things like this, or at the very least thought them.  When I leave worship, I want to feel fed for the week ahead.  Refreshed, renewed.  However, worshipping with children often drains me more.  It's hard work.  When my boys were young, I had thought it would get better as they became school age.  On some Sundays, it is better.  On other Sundays, it's more difficult.

Let's face it, worshipping with children is tough.  It's hard work.  We often wonder if it's worth the effort.  Maybe we should just stay home.  After all, we could just worship on they days that the children can conveniently be carted off to Sunday School.  The attempt to worship in the midst of a fear that your child will rip the pages in the hymnal, ask an inappropriate question too loudly, make you appear like a poor parent, drop a toy into the pew in front of you, laugh/scream/cry during a moment of silence can feel like it isn't worth the effort.

IT IS!!!

In the middle of a Holden Evening prayer service one evening, I was becoming very frustrated with my then 7 and 10 year old boys.  I could understand the 5 and almost 2 year old playing and lack of participation, but surely the two older boys were capable of more.  Yes, we were in an informal setting, yes it was a family style event, but come on boys!  Get out from under the chairs, and quite playing with the battery operated tealight candles.  My frustration and annoyance was peaking and I bent low to tell them to get off the floor and worship with us when I saw what they had been doing. They had taken the extra battery operated tea lights under the chairs and with them built an illuminated cross.  They had huge smiles of accomplishment and asked if I liked their cross.  Later, the 7 year old told me that they built a cross with candles because Jesus is light.

Years before that, one year around Easter, I was shocked when I walked into the playroom to find my then 3 year old pushing over my then 6 month old from a sitting position to the floor.  The baby, popped back up, the 3 year old threw his hands in the air and yelled, "He has risen!  Alleluia!"  and they both exploded into a fit of giggles.  They played "the resurrection game" over, and over, and over that spring.

Let's not forget the times that each of my boys has "baptized" himself or a brother in the bathtub.

What had looked to me like play was them worshipping.  Did their worship look the same as mine?  No, but should it?  The teacher with a master's degree in education knows how important developmentally appropriate learning, not to mention the immense need that children have for hands-on, concrete learning opportunities before they can move to abstract concepts.  The early childhood educator in me is well aware that many children learn best through play and movement.

So why is it that I KNOW all these things and even applied them into my years of experience as a teacher, but fall short when giving my children worship opportunities.  In the last year and half, I have left classroom teaching and now serve as the Director of Faith Formation at our family's church.  This has made me more mindful of trying to provide my children with authentic, age appropriate worship experiences like our family summer worship experience planned with the kids where offering included them choosing a toy to donate, a message delivered by a 9 year old, and where the body and blood of Christ was served to all, including the dogs, in the form of saltine crackers and grape Kool-Aid.  There is no doubt in mind the Jesus was there in our backyard that Sunday morning as much as He was in any sanctuary space.  My children enjoyed our non-traditional yet traditional worship service immensely and look forward to making it a summer tradition.

While our backyard worship was an awe-spiring experience for our family (and Wookie and Ewok, our family dogs), how feasible is it to bring this type of experience to the whole congregation?  If we leave it to parents, how equipped do they feel to plan and lead this type of service themselves?

I can plan and lead the best Sunday School units in the world, the most engaging VBS experience ever and still fall short to give the families I serve what they thirst for. Authentic, engaging, worship opportunities for the family to experience together.  A common experience they could talk about together beyond Sunday morning.  A tool that helps them take their faith beyond Sunday morning, into the rest of their week.  As amazing as that sounds, how on God's great Earth is that ever going to happen?

When I first took my idea to the Pastors and worship coordinator at my church, I suspected there was a good chance it would be shut down.  I was elated when it was embraced and I am ecstatic, but nervous, to have our model of worship go live for a trial run this coming January.  After the holiday season, we will be inviting our whole congregation to worship in multi-generation and interactive style.  We have named this maiden voyage of our interactive worship "January Journey with Jesus".  Beginning with the first Sunday in January, we will journey with Jesus from his infancy through His baptism.

What does it mean to have in interactive worship service?  The best way I can think to describe it as as a Sunday School meets worship collision.  We will begin with traditional worship elements, including gathering music, Word and prayer.  When the service gets to the place where a sermon would normally be, people will be invited to choose from a host of stations.  Each week, people will be able to worship and learn in a way that they are drawn to whether it be creating a craft, trying a science experiment, playing a game, participating a Pastor led discussion about the scripture, doing a crossword or reflecting on a series of images projected.  As our activity time draws to a close, we will regather as a community to round out our worship experience with more traditional worship elements including Holy Communion, music and a blessing.

As I mentioned, I am eager, ecstatic and also quite nervous to try this style of worship with our whole congregation.  I am praying that God will help us all to keep open minds while giving us faith like a child so we too can be drawn closer to Him through this process while also inviting the youngest worshippers closer too.

Welcome Wookiee!

On December 24th 2011, our family welcomed our newest member, Wookiee Wicks.

Wookiee was found wandering around outside our home on Christmas Eve upon our return from church.  Ray noticed, "He has a collar, but no license!  I think that means we can keep him!"

Upon 1st greeting, the boys were all in love.  He is really quite a loveable lug.  But I thought we were getting a dog.  (He has since turned into a horse as he seems to double in size nightly on a regular basis!!)  The cute little furball was 1st thought to be possible be another Ewok, but I quickly pointed out to the boys he was a baby and would surely grow, it was then decided it was then clear that he was a wookiee and hence he was promptly named.

And just as promptly, Wookiee became one of the family.

A Hole in Our Hearts the Shape of a Paw Print

Before Michael and I got married, we had agreed we would wait a few years before we started a family.  It was only a month of two when I announced that I wanted a dog or a baby.  (I hated being alone at night if Michael was working late or out at the farm.)  Michael choose dog.  Our first dog was a black mutt that we rescued from the Humane Society.  He was shy and did okay with me, but that was about it.  I don't know if he had been beaten by a man, but he never warmed up to Michael.  After a year, he started growling and even nipping at not only Michael and other men, but even children.  This wasn't something we felt we could deal with so we said goodbye to Opie.

A month of two passed and I was ready to give it another shot.  This time, Michael wanted to try the puppy route.  I had a golden retriever named King growing up whom I had fond memories of so when we saw an ad for some golden retriever pups south of town, we checked them out.  Now I know puppies are all sweet and adorable and I am probably biased, but Jaxson had to of been one of the sweetest and cutest puppies ever.  He was the runt of his litter, had such a sheen to his coat and was a snuggler.  I love snuggling.  We knew we had found our new pup.

Jaxson never outgrew his sweet, good tempered personality.  If anything, he grew sweeter with each passing year.  He welcomed all three of our children to our family and protected and loved them with such loyalty we couldn't have designed a better dog.  Jaxson was everything a dog should be to a family with small children.

This last June, Jaxson turned 9 and was beginning to show his age but only in the subtle grayness of his muzzle.  He was still relentless when it came to playing fetch.  He moved with such grace and beauty that we often had people comment to us on how beautiful our dog was.  We knew our days with Jaxson were limited, but thought we still had several wonderful years to enjoy his presence.

This past December we were proved wrong.  Our time with Jaxson ended way to soon.  What started off as something we thought that made his stomach sick (he was always getting into things that made him throw up running outside), turned into something that left him unable to walk, we rushed him to the vet.  When I walked out of the vet that Sunday morning, I had no idea it was the last time I would see Jaxson alive.  I wrongly assumed the vet would start him on a treatment and he would be bounding back up the stairs to our bedroom the very next day.  When my phone rang that night, my heart caught in my throat.  I eyes filled with tears as Dr. Williams told me Jaxson had passed that evening.  It wasn't possible, was it?  And what about the boys?  Telling them would be even more impossible.  And it nearly was.

That night and the day following were very very difficult for us.  I woke at night wondering where he was only to realize he wasn't here.  The days were still hard, but became easier with each passing day.  The jingle of his collar and the thump of his lying of the floor after patrolling the house to make sure all were safe are still sounds missing from our house.

We pondered where to lay Jaxson to rest.  Neither Michael or I could handle the thought of having him out in the pasture away from our home and family.  We settled on burying him in along side our deck so he could watch the comings and goings of our house, a favorite pass time of his.  My friend had her sister make a stone nameplate for him.  Rob's only request had been that we have a stone for him like great-grandma.

I realize Jaxson was a dog, but please do not ever tell me he was "just a dog" because that only proves to me that you never spent any time with him and have never let a dog into your home or life.  Jaxson was as much a part of the Wx family as any of the humans who have lived in our house.  After all, "no home is complete without the pitter patter of puppy feet."  Jaxson helped make our house a home and he will be forever missed.

Things I Never Knew I'd Have to Say (Part 2)

We recently had an addition to our family.  Ewok (I know you are all shocked by the name!) is now 10 weeks old and a little tiny ball of fluff.  With this ball of fluff, there have been more things I find myself smirking as I have to say them to the boys...

BTW, This one's for you Nick J!

"Don't put the leash around your brother's neck."
"Don't put the leash around your neck!"
"Don't put the leash around your neck, tie it to the tree and try running around the tree!!!"
"Don't drag the puppy by the leash."
"Don't pick the puppy up by the leash."
"Don't pick the puppy up by her neck."
"Don't carry the puppy upside down."
"Set the puppy down, don't let go till her feet are on the ground."  (Sam is rather good at releasing 2 feet above ground level.)
"If you don't like you nose bitten, don't put it next to the puppy's mouth."
"Don't chew on the puppy's toys."
"Don't put your brother in the dog kennel."
"Don't LOCK your brother in the dog kennel."
"NO BOYS in the dog kennels!"
"The puppy should not take a bath with you."
"Puppies do not take baths in the washing machine."
"Get the dog out of the washing machine, NOW!"
"I think the poor puppy needs a nap."  (and so do I!)