Heartfelt Praise
Dear Hope family,
Kelly Heaton and I had a great start to Kids Praise this past Sunday! Fourteen 3rd-5th graders met in the worship center to sing together, explore the meaning behind some of our worship songs, and cultivate skills like vocal warmups, annunciation, and rhythm. (Presbyterian Trigger Warning: we had them clap). As we get this program underway, I want to share a bit of the heart and vision behind having our older elementary students cultivate these skills and practices.
We love having our kids up to sing during Advent/Christmas and Holy Week, and Lisa does an amazing job of organizing such a large group of kids from preschool up to 5th graders.
Even as we continue to make this space for our little ones in worship, we want to provide the older kids an opportunity to step into a more robust and active experience as worshipers and worship leaders. Rather than just preparing them for a performance, we want to teach them why we sing and how to sing with understanding and boldness. We want to include some of the musical education that can fall by the wayside as church singing moves away from hymnals, notation, and choirs. Our hope is that, as these kids grow into active members of the church body, they will help fill God’s house with beautiful and heartfelt praise.
As we introduce more of our songs in Kids Praise, we will occasionally have this group help us lead the singing on Sunday mornings. When this happens, we hope that the kids look out at the congregation and see a room full of people singing with them and being led in worship. This is not only an opportunity for us to teach about worship, but for us as a church to learn from and be formed by the way our kids sing to and about God. All of us – young and old – are called to be more than passive recipients of information or entertainment, and we want to illuminate the dignity we all share as image bearers with unique abilities to speak truth to one another.
“May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (Romans 15:5-6)
In case you missed it, we are starting this group for 3rd-5th graders on the 1st and 3rd Sundays of the month from 4:30-5:30 (we will skip next week due to Fall Fest).
Wilson