Some thoughts on kids in worship...

At EMBC on Sunday night we had five baptisms. Was a great service! During the service I got was having some fun with one of my friend's kids, singing and dancing, drawing and watching the baptisms. My friend's kids are fab, and though lively they are not disruptive, or at least I don't think so. Her friend was also with her, along with her son. Watching their faces at times as mothers made me cringe though. It was as if they were worried about what they're kids were doing as if they were doing something wrong ... and it made me see again afresh that at times we as people in congregations are the ones who have made them feel that way. Thankfully Sunday was a place and type of service where my friend and hers could relax more about what the kids were doing, but this is not always the case. We love kids, so we say, we love them in our services ... as long as they sit quietly! They're kids, what do we expect!!! Now that's not to excuse badly behaved children, but rather to say that kids are kids and would it not be better to engage them like that than expect them to be older than they are ... I mean in reality, how many of us sit quietly through a service anyway ... at least no-one in the section that I sit in at church!

Engaging with my little friend in a way she related to helped her enjoy worship, helped her express some creativity, and made the service an enjoyable event where I'm chosing to believe God met with her in some way. After all, though six she evidences more faith than some others I know in her lifestyle!

Was reading this yesterday in Paul Fiddes Tracks and Traces. Though the chapter is about baptism, his point here is discussing children in worship and in our services:
Although they [children, especially believing children] are dependant on others in ways that adult believers are not, this does not mean that the whole body cannot learn from them. Indeed, the faith of all cannot grow without listening to their witness.
This is true even with very young children, and worship can be enriched by truly integrating them within it. I do not just mean 'having a talk for the children', which may be quite inappropriate for any but the older ones. I mean listening to their contribution to worship. For one period of the worship at least, it is good to have the whole fellowship together. As the youngest children cry out in frustration or anger or tiredness, we can take this into our prayers: we can hear through them the crying of children throughout the world, many of whom are crying through hunger, or because they have lost their parents in war, or because they are being abused. It is a loss to the prayer-life of the whole congregation when parents have to take crying children out, or feel under pressure to do so. For ten or fifteen minutes at least their cries can become our prayers of intercession. As young children laugh or giggle, let us listen and try to re-capture the sheer unspoilt enjoyment they take in the world, and its absurdities - even those of the minister. Let their laughter help us laugh before God. As slightly older children ask questions, or make comments in loud voices, let us not hush them, but think about what they have said: let their questions, asked without the slightest worry of appearing foolish, become our questions to God in prayer, for God showed the greatest truth through a cross which seemed to the wise to be sheer foolishness.
These are just some examples of the way that children on the way to faith can deepen our worship of God, as they are embraced in the fellowship of the body ... Children belong because of the grace of God that goes ahead of us. (pg. 135)

May our churches be places where all the ages, including children, meet together to worship God as we are and as we are being made ... and may we engage with each other in true fellowship (koinonia).