Church Rocket Science

Sunday was “Blast-Off Sunday” at St. Andrew’s –- the beginning of Sunday school, which the kids marked by going outside and firing little foam-rubber rockets into the air. This is always an important day, but it was something to celebrate this year because of the way Sunday school is changing for us.

For many years, we offered Sunday school during the first part of the 10:15 (“family”) service. Not anymore. Now Sunday school is happening between the two services, starting at 9:15 a.m. And the reason why is a great reminder of who we are as Episcopalians.

We made this change so our kids could experience worship regularly. As Episcopalians, liturgy using the Book of Common Prayer is a huge part of our identity. Other denominations may focus on reading the Bible, or channeling the activity of the Holy Spirit, or hearing long sermons, or singing praise music, or whatever. For us, the focus is liturgy – worshipping God through common prayer, as Anglicans have been doing for centuries. When we had Sunday school during the first part of the liturgy, it taught an unintentional but still unhealthy lesson: “Worship is for older people, not for kids.” In the moment on any given Sunday, I can imagine both kids and parents being happier with that arrangement (I certainly remember being dragged to church when I didn’t want to be there.) But the problem is, the kids eventually grow up without any place for worship in their heads or in their hearts. So, we discerned that we should be forming our kids to know and to love worship, rather than teaching them that worship is something older people do.

So, to make that a reality, we’re now giving kids their own worship time every Sunday. After Sunday school, they gather for Children’s Chapel, complete with Bible readings, and a kids’ sermon, and fun music, and their own prayers, and a little altar, and candles, and everything. Then they join their parents in the church before Communion, so families can receive the presence of Christ together.

Most churches have been doing this kind of thing for years, so we’re not exactly pushing the envelope here. But for St. Andrew’s to catch this wave (again) is a grand thing. And so, after the kids shot off their rockets in the churchyard, the clergy shot of rockets, too – in the church, during the announcements. The fact that Episcopal kids need to worship may not be ecclesiological rocket science, but it is a change to celebrate.