We have a beautiful worship service at Emmanuel, and a lot of thought and work goes into it. It is intentionally designed to bring us into the presence of God and lead us to fellowship at his table. One of the great things about the Order of Worship we use is that it is all based on scripture and full of quotes and paraphrases of scripture. So when we say the words of our liturgy both we and our children naturally internalize the various parts of scripture that summarize the Good News and apply it to our lives. All of this happens automatically through repetition.
That said the logic of the structure, of what is happening and when, can sometimes be a little harder follow, particularly when we are just trying to keep up. Stopping to explain things all the time becomes tedious and destroys the flow of the service. One of the things we have done to help is include the Whys of Worship inside the front cover of the bulletin to explain an element of our worship each Sunday. These can be really helpful for adults, but not so much for younger children.
But now we have something new and interactive for our kids to do during the worship service, that will help them think about what is happening in the service. We’ve got stickers! They will be available as you enter the sanctuary. Just ask the Usher for the stickers when you get your bulletin. Then have your kids put a sticker in their bulletin at the appropriate part of the service for each one. Yes, it’s ok for you to help them figure out where each one goes during the service. Have fun with this! Discuss it after the service, or when you get home.
We hope this will be a wonderful way to help all of us worship!