Scott
Puritan Board Graduate
I was reading this article from a Catholic perspective on children in worship:
Here is an interesting quote:
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Even very young children can be taught to be quiet and still on certain occasions, and if Catholic parents bring their children to Mass it should be to take every opportunity to inculcate in them, even before reaching the age of reason, a sense of wonder and sacredness which can leave a lasting impression.
[/quote:c71bce52cc]
Putting aside that this is from a Catholic source, what are people's opinions on cultivating this attitutde in children in worship services?
I think it is right and warranted by a rightly Reformed understanding of worship. This is from the PCA Book of Church Order (par. 47-2):
[quote:c71bce52cc]
A service of public worship is not merely a gathering of God's children with each other, but before all else, a meeting of the triune God with His chosen people. God is present in public worship not only by virtue of the Divine omnipresence but, much more intimately, as the faithful covenant Savior.
[/quote:c71bce52cc]
I certainly think this would justify a sense of wonder and sacredness. I think these are a few challenges:
[1] Many adults do not have this sense and do not even aspire to it. Contrary to the BCO, they don't perceive local church worship as a meeting with God in any sense not available elsewhere.
[2] Many Protestant services are perceived as climaxing with a religious lecture. The sermon is the main attraction and is often (wrongly) understood less as worship than a didactic tool.
Americans tend to be so egalitarian that they see nothing special about the minister or his sermon, other than he may have more expertise than them (although many people wrongly doubt this). Lost is the sense that he is speaking with the vox Christi - voice of Christ. Christ said these words to the 70 evangelists: "He who listens to you listens to me; he who rejects you rejects me; but he who rejects me rejects him who sent me." Luke 10:16. Ministers speak with Christ's voice and this perspective should engender wonder and sacredness. Calvin, John Murry, and others wrote on this, but people today (in my expereince at least) shy away from it.
[3] The sacraments are misunderstood or ignored. People often do not really believe they are feeding on Christ, for example. This is especially true in many of the PCA churches I am familiar with that have a large percent of the congregation who have Bible or Baptist church backgrounds.
Thoughts?
Here is an interesting quote:
[quote:c71bce52cc]
Even very young children can be taught to be quiet and still on certain occasions, and if Catholic parents bring their children to Mass it should be to take every opportunity to inculcate in them, even before reaching the age of reason, a sense of wonder and sacredness which can leave a lasting impression.
[/quote:c71bce52cc]
Putting aside that this is from a Catholic source, what are people's opinions on cultivating this attitutde in children in worship services?
I think it is right and warranted by a rightly Reformed understanding of worship. This is from the PCA Book of Church Order (par. 47-2):
[quote:c71bce52cc]
A service of public worship is not merely a gathering of God's children with each other, but before all else, a meeting of the triune God with His chosen people. God is present in public worship not only by virtue of the Divine omnipresence but, much more intimately, as the faithful covenant Savior.
[/quote:c71bce52cc]
I certainly think this would justify a sense of wonder and sacredness. I think these are a few challenges:
[1] Many adults do not have this sense and do not even aspire to it. Contrary to the BCO, they don't perceive local church worship as a meeting with God in any sense not available elsewhere.
[2] Many Protestant services are perceived as climaxing with a religious lecture. The sermon is the main attraction and is often (wrongly) understood less as worship than a didactic tool.
Americans tend to be so egalitarian that they see nothing special about the minister or his sermon, other than he may have more expertise than them (although many people wrongly doubt this). Lost is the sense that he is speaking with the vox Christi - voice of Christ. Christ said these words to the 70 evangelists: "He who listens to you listens to me; he who rejects you rejects me; but he who rejects me rejects him who sent me." Luke 10:16. Ministers speak with Christ's voice and this perspective should engender wonder and sacredness. Calvin, John Murry, and others wrote on this, but people today (in my expereince at least) shy away from it.
[3] The sacraments are misunderstood or ignored. People often do not really believe they are feeding on Christ, for example. This is especially true in many of the PCA churches I am familiar with that have a large percent of the congregation who have Bible or Baptist church backgrounds.
Thoughts?