Let’s start at the very beginning

St Ninian’s share Passover-Communion with their children

By Rev Monika Redman

We recently had a baptism – not a very common event nowadays. It reminded us that we make commitments to raise our children in a loving, nurturing environment – a no-brainer, really. But we also make a commitment to raise them in the knowledge and love of God.  This reminder tied in well with a request from our Kidz Church leaders to not just incorporate the children into communion, but to actually teach them what the mysterious set of rituals is all about – so that’s what we’re beginning to do. And we thought we’d start at the very beginning as, according to the sainted Sister Maria, ‘it’s a very good place to start’!

It also picked up on what the children had been doing in Kidz Church the week before.  Using the Storybook Bible, they had got as far as the plagues of Egypt, and the scene was set for us to have our very own Passover Communion – St Ninian’s style. I should also mention that we’re developing services around the idea of ‘Family of God’ worship – trying to emphasise all our generations as being part of the family of God rather than any sense of ‘exclusively for families’ services. Like a big family gathering, these can be a bit messy, a bit noisy – but it’s about worship together rather than ‘performance’ worship, so everyone can get involved.

So what happened? Well, after considerable reassurance of those who had already offered to be involved – as well as more general reassurance to those who might want to volunteer as we went along – that this was the kind of communion service where nothing could go wrong because there was no wrong way of doing something we were making up, we got started with a candle coming forward to light the Christ candle on the table during the first hymn. This was a bit of a compromise, as we’d hoped to do something a bit like the Olympic torch, lighting one light from another all the way forwards to symbolise how the light of our memory of God’s grace had come to us from the earliest times – oh well!

A volunteer was called for, and he read the Prayer of Light, adapted from an order for Jewish Passover, and then we pieced together the story of the Escape from Egypt. We used the recent memories of the kids, as well as the older memories with which we are blessed. The children then took one of the candles (we called it the Light of Knowledge as opposed to the Christ Light, which was left on the table) and headed off for a bit of intense coaching on the different elements needed for our Passover Communion (set up and labelled in the children’s ministry room). We gave them about 10 minutes out of the sanctuary, in a room where we had laid out parsley, salt water, bitter herbs, traditional Presbyterian communion trays of wine and salvers of hors d’oeuvres (broken pieces of matzos topped with a piece of roast lamb), each with an explanatory label. Meanwhile, we continued with the prayers and the offering.

As we sang ‘Holy, Holy, Holy, my heart, my heart adores you!’, the children re-joined us, bringing with them not just the elements, but also the understanding of their symbolic purpose – which they explained to us. The rostered reader made the link for us between the events of Passover and Christ’s institution of the Last Supper and then another member volunteered to lead us in the Kiddush, or the first blessing. Everyone received a wee glass of wine and we ‘toasted’ God’s goodness to us.

After a Prayerful Reflection (ie not a sermon, but not a children’s talk either), the kids distributed the bread and lamb, and then we drank a second glass of wine in thanksgiving. So yes, we did use all our communion trays! We finished with I will sing the wondrous story – because it is! And then the Aaronic blessing because it’s another link with our earliest faith. We have so much to learn from the Jewish Scriptures of how corporate memory keeps and nurtures faith, and this was our attempt to position ourselves on the Way of our faith, to stand in our inheritance and to share that consciously with one another.

The Matai Phenomenon

The kids at “B@TCH” are developing a B@tCH vocabulary. It has been growing for a number of years.

I was recently talking to the kids about the word for that week which was compassion. We decided that passion was ‘to care a lot’ and that com came from the Latin ‘with’. We agreed that to have compassion for someone was more than caring a lot but that it required us to be with them, i.e. to stand with and care etc. 

Earlier I had “planted” Sarah Paterson on the stage . Sarah was sitting quietly all alone with a sad face (she did it well). I pretended to suddenly notice her and asked the children how they thought she was feeling. They responded appropriately. I then reminded them if we were to help cheer her up and be compassionate toward her then we needed to ????? Yes that’s right, be ‘with’ her. So I asked for folks to come with me on to the stage to stand with Sarah. No one came. So I went alone. Then out the corner of my eye I spotted wee Matai. He ran towards Sarah (whom he didn’t know) and threw his arms around her. She couldn’t help but smile. He climbed up on her knee. I couldn’t have set it up or staged it better. There was nothing I could say. He naturally displayed compassion for a sad Sarah. 

So what? Later that day while I was still on cloud 9, excited about what I was now calling the Matai phenomenon, a dear friend brought me back to earth with a thud. She said “in an ideal world we would do just as Matai modelled. But our un-childlike, ‘developed’ and somewhat sceptical selves, knowing we should rush to ‘stand beside’, get reminded of the cost.” 

Thoughts emerge like:

• If I stand beside them, will it be a life sentence?

• I don’t really know this person, what would they think?

• Who am I to think I could make a difference, someone else will sort it?

• They are not my type. 

• I’m too busy. 

We can learn so much from kids. That’s why they should be in the church service with us as much as possible. Jesus knew that and He preached it. 

This left me wondering though, are there any “Matai adults” in our parish - folks not hung up on the bullet points above? As I pondered with my friend we began to think of many. They are a real blessing to us all. So whether or not you are one of them or indeed you are a bit like me and hung up on the list above, may we all seek to embrace the Matai phenomenon and learn to care a lot by standing ‘with’ those whom God places in our paths. 

Barry Kelk
B@TCH stands for Breakfast at the Coronation Hall. B@TCH was started as a “Fresh Expression” of church 8 years ago by Barry Kelk of Highgate Presbyterian. B@TCH is an intergenerational, contemporary, weekly worship service.






 

A time to dream

I’m having lots of conversations about new ways to “be the church” in secular New Zealand today.  More and more churches are acknowledging that what and how we do Sunday worship does not work for many Kiwis.  And it’s encouraging that many are willing to try new things and find fresh ways to share Christ’s love and good news with their community. 

Waimana Presbyterian invited me to share the concept of Messy Church with their leaders earlier this year and within 6 weeks of our meeting had launched the world’s first Messy Church on a marae.  I sent their story to Lucy Church of Messy Church UK for posting on their facebook page.  She was intrigued by Waimana’s adaptation of the name:   Te hahi a whakawhanaungatanga hakinakina which means 'the church of coming together as a family to do activities'.“I’m not sure the name will catch on internationally” said Lucy, “but I love it!” 

Mike Uttley of Welcome Bay heard about Messy Church and phoned to find out more and borrow the DVD’s and books from the Kids Friendly library.  Within a month he had launched Messy Church in his community and attracted over a 100 people.  “It works for our community” he said, “as they love anything that involves food and a bit of all age action!”

This week I met with Mo Morgan and Kath Barrett who are trying new things in Whanganui with the support and encouragement of St James Presbyterian.  “The church has given us freedom to try new things” said Mo.  These enthusiastic and gifted women are offering a range of meaningful events to connect with children and their families.   Sticky Fingers is an arts and crafts event for children and their parents that promotes recycling and caring for creation.  Once a month they run “Q” an opportunity for adults to hear an inspiring speaker and ask questions over coffee and dessert.  And on the second Sunday of the month they have begun to run an all age family worship with the people of St James and Rev Gene Lawrence to build Christian community.

Trying new things take courage, but as Mo said: “We felt called to start something for people like us, young parents who are open to Christianity but struggling to find something that fits.  We don’t know where it will lead to, but we are open and listening to our community so we can mould something new together.”

“Without vision, the people perish” said Solomon.  “Prophetic imagination must come before implementation” says Walter Bruggeman.  If you’d like to try new things with the children and families of your community, we’d love to join you in dreaming new ways of being church and resourcing you on your journey.