In the last three months I have had the opportunity to attend three other ELCA worship services (Denver, New Jersey and Neenah, WI). These are three entirely different congregations. One is a BIG church, one is a smaller church with a pastoral vacancy, and one is bigger than Zion, but not BIG.
When worshiping with other congregations, I am always looking for something we can do better (like having the baptismal families sit up front). I have to say, I come away thinking we do worship the best. We have the best “preacher”, we have the best choir (OK, maybe the BIG church choir is kind of nice), we have the best bell choir, and we have the best congregational singing. I wouldn’t trade our worship experience for any of the others.
But…there is one thing that we seem to be missing. It’s seeing children in worship. In churches where the organ is too loud, where the preaching isn’t memorable, where there is a weak choir, or where the congregation doesn’t sing, there are children in worship. In the first seven weeks of this year, there have only been a total of 69 children at worship at Zion (19 at 8:30 and 50 at 11:00). I miss seeing the kids. I like a little noise during worship. I like seeing kids at communion. I like hearing a baby cry. I like watching a child follow the liturgy and sing a hymn. I like to see kids in church.
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