Our task on Sunday was to share a bit about WorshipArts with the broader congregation.  During the Children’s Time, we did that… and the congregation joined in.  As we sang the story of God calling “Moses, Moses” – the voices in the pews responded, “Here I am.”

Perhaps you sensed our initial vulnerability.

We sensed your support.

Afterward, in the WorshipArts room, we talked about it for a bit.  “You were worship leaders today.  How did it feel?”  A child who also served as an usher talked about the somewhat uncomfortable sensation that everyone was looking at him – and yet, they mostly agreed, it was fun.

And so it goes in a church – we are called and we respond – with vulnerability and with love.

Have you given much thought to our worship bulletin?  We asked the children, “Why do we have a different bulletin every week?” There were some insightful answers: “So we know what the hymn numbers are.” “It’s Ashton’s job.” We noticed some things about the bulletin, such as the space on the back to draw or write things we want to remember. We noticed that Pastor Ruth always gives a title to her sermon. This week the title was “G-D”. We remembered what Ruth said, about how the name of God is so holy that some people don’t say or write it. One person said we leave out the vowel because it reminds us that G-d is invisible.  We noticed the graphic of the burning bush at the top of the order of worship, drawn by a WorshipArts graduate.

We decided to draw our own burning bushes. Such unique revelations!

Sometime soon we hope to sing the following song in worship. If you live with a WorshipArts kid, ask them to sing it for you:

He saw a bush that did not burn and yet it was aflame.
He stopped to look at it and heard a voice call out his name.
It called, “Moses! Moses!”
“Here I am!”
“Take off your sandals! All around is holy, holy ground!
Take off your sandals! All around is holy, holy, holy ground!”

We took off our shoes as we entered the WorshipArts room on Sunday.  What did it feel like to hear those words, “Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground”?  With the morning’s scripture verse in our minds, we wondered together about that mysterious concept – holy.

“God’s Land,” came the first, somewhat tentative attempt to define Holy Ground.  “Like the Holy Spirit,” and “a dove,” responded two others.  We struggled.  “I have it – but I can’t say (describe) it.”  They pressed on.   “Like holy cow! – it’s like you’re amazing.”  “It’s like Wow!”

Hmmm… Can you name something that you think is holy?  “A church,” was the quick response.  So we thought about our church and what about it seemed holy.  Thoughts of “quiet” and “beautiful” came forth.  “Because we are Mennonite and we think God is a good person,” offered another child. Rosi shared how the quieting moment between the rustling of the gathering congregation and the start of the worship service prelude often feels holy to her.

And then this…

What makes us feel holy?

“When we feel completed,” a child answered.    I had to pause.

Surely we were standing on God’s Land.

Rainbow’s annual retreat took place the last weekend of September.  It has been a favorite event over the years and so I was sorry to miss it this time.  While many Rainbow congregants gathered at the campgrounds in LaCygne to reflect on the church’s outdoor spaces, Greg and I also attended a nature retreat of sorts with approximately 1000 other folks at the Land Institute in Salina.  Celebrating founder, Wes Jackson, and his 40 years of leadership, this weekend gathering of scientists, authors, artists, and advocates felt both academic and at times, spiritual.  My mind frequently wandered to Rainbow.

The central focus of the Land Institute is on developing a regenerative agricultural model, but folks here work through a broad lens and the messages I heard over and over reinforced the necessity of examining the natural spaces and rhythms around us as well as our practices, our relationships – our entire “ecosphere”.  “Consulting the genius of place” was a recurring theme and it resonated strongly with my understanding of our stated goals for WorshipArts.

*Fostering relationship/a sense of belonging

*Facilitating authentic participation in the worship service

*Encouraging reflection and response to worship

*Integrating what we learn from the children’s perspectives into the broader context

This past Sunday Tara Lindahl joined the WorshipArts leadership team!  Some of the children recognized her from the wonderful storytelling she has often provided during worship services at Children’s Time.  We are excited to explore with her in a new context!  What a gift she will be to this initiative where as adults we are working to embody our role, “…not as a transmitter but as a creator of relationship – relationships not only between people, but also between things, between thoughts, and with the environment.”  (Loris Malaguzzi, Reggio Emilia founder)

The text of this morning’s anthem, God of Many Names, included several identifiers for God.  Can you find some of them in the list pictured above?  The children tried this exercise during WorshipArts today and suggested, “King”, “Blessed One”, “Loom of Love”, and “Rose”.  It was difficult… not because none of the monikers made sense, but rather because so many of the terms had a quality we could visualize as an image of God.  I had formed the list of options by searching a popular website for the meaning of each child’s name and listed these meanings on the board along with four phrases from the anthem.  So it felt like a holy moment when I realized that really any of those listed words could have worked as an image of, or name for, God.  The children were eager to guess which meaning was connected to their own name.  “Are these (meanings) for real?” one child asked.

Indeed.  Created in God’s image, each and every one.

Thanks to Rosi and Marina, this is the scene that greeted the WorshipArts group on Sunday morning.  Today we started a new season with our familiar ritual of naming what we noticed during the worship  service.  The responses revealed that these young congregants are using their eyes AND their ears on Sunday mornings.  From recognizing a subtle movement in the organ case to the blazing “tree” on the chancel to details in the Moses story, there is much to wonder about.  We heard how Moses was named (“I drew him out of the water”) and wonder about the significance of our own names…  This week we hope families might share their children’s own naming stories with them as we begin together “meeting Moses (and ourselves) again for the first time.”