By Katie Murray
“Did your pastor push you under the water when you were a little kid?”
If you haven’t had a kindergartner sit next to you in church in a while, you may have forgotten the types of questions that are likely to come your way every few minutes from our newest worshipers. Truth be told I’m not sure what the sermons have been about in recent weeks (sorry, Timothy!), but I have answered my fair share of questions from my youngest about when they will pass out the snacks (Lord’s Supper), how much longer worship is going to be, why we cannot say hi to Mr. J.V. in the choir loft until worship is over and the aforementioned question about baptism.
Each fall our kindergartners spend a few Sundays with Courtney Leal learning all about the different elements of worship, from weekly practices like singing, praying and the offering to monthly or occasional practices like the Lord’s Supper, family dedications and baptisms.
I’ve found myself with a renewed sense of appreciation for our weekly corporate responses of “Thanks be to God” after we read the primary Scripture, reciting the Lord’s Prayer and our new practice of passing the peace each week followed by singing “God Welcomes All.” The repetition of these practices provides moments for our children to confidently participate in worship while also teaching them how to listen for the voice of God in Scripture, prayer and in community.
Our theme for today is holiness, and it is sprinkled throughout the many elements of our service. Perhaps we can glean something from the experience of our kindergartners as we consider how we too can continue to grow in our ability to recognize the holy in our midst. The work of noticing holiness takes practice and intention. It takes the discipline of setting aside time to turn aside as Moses will do in today’s Scripture reading. Encounters with the holy are full-bodied, as we will experience in our prayer led by Mary Lu, and can lead us to respond “yes” to a life of faith as we will witness today in Eliza and Molly’s baptisms.
And we may even notice that those wiggles and seemingly unending questions from the youngest among us today are also infused with their own type of holiness, for indeed we gather together on sacred ground.