Worship Arts April May June 2022

Finally – the how

Here are a few ways I have experienced, and try to curate, intergenerational ministry in my various contexts: 1. In children’s choirs when I was growing up, we learned and presented musicals several times each year, and Mom was always careful to choose ones that had real theological depth to them. She told me later, when I was beginning to choose (and write) my own musicals for my own children’s choirs, “If I listen to a musical and it doesn’t have at least one moment that’s so profound that it brings tears to my eyes or goosebumps to my arms, it’s not the right choice.” Once again, she was living out her belief that children and youth have much to teach us, that deep theological thoughts are not the exclusive purview of the adults, and definitely not the exclusive purview of the ministers on staff. Yes, the musical was put on mostly by children and youth, without much direct involvement by adults, but it offered us a doorway through which we all could enter into Scripture and theology together, as one body. Our community got “taken to church” time and again by Tom Long and Allen Pote musicals that brought us to tears when we thought we were just innocently going to support a wonderful production by the children’s choirs and drama ensembles. 2. At White Rock UMC in East Dallas, TX, where I serve as the Director of Worship, we are exploring that beautiful balance between intergenerational and age-appropriate experiences, between celebrating our differences and celebrating our similarities. a. I believe our weekly worship is the best reflection of God’s reign when one of the lay readers is a feisty 5-year-old with his dad, and another is an (equally feisty) 80-year-old matriarch of the church; when some are male, some are female; when some are comfortable in front of crowds, some are so nervous they’re visibly shaking; and when all are focused on bringing greater depth to the community of God. b. We celebrate God through events that are open to all ages, nursery through older adults, like drum circles, intergenerational family choirs, and Easter Egg hunts where elderly volunteers chat with exhausted young parents while tinies run around collecting candy. We celebrate God through our Chancel Choir, which is open not only to adults but also to middle- and high schoolers. c. One very practical thing I have tried to do is to involve all ages, stages, and ensembles in one “all hands-on-deck” Advent festival or Christmas service, rather than having a children’s program one night, a youth program another night, handbells one Sunday, Chancel Choir cantata another Sunday. This allows people not only to simplify their schedules (which is a ministry in and of itself for a church to teach its

Intergenerational Christmas caroling by musicians of White Rock UMC

parishioners to simplify Christmas), but it also allows people who are mostly interested in the kids’ program to experience handbells, or those mostly invested in the Chancel Choir to experience dramatic readings of Scripture by youth and children. d. We also celebrate God through studying books by Ta-Nehisi Coates, geared toward adults, and through children’s sermons that involve radishes and boomwhackers (long story). We’re learning what it means to be a community of God where, “for young and for old,” there is a place at the table (and at the baptismal font, and at the soup kitchen, and at the park, and at the town hall meeting). How else do you experience intergenerational community and ministry in your context? The magic is in the mixture To sum up, here are my takeaways: 1. More glittery crafts for adults. 2. More deep discussions for kids and youth. 3. Less stress about unimportant things like conventional expectations and age limits. Some activities and experiences are best for children, some for teens, and some for adults; and even further, some for just younger adults, and some for just older adults, but the magic is in the mixture, and in the flexibility always to be willing to adjust your expectations and to be surprised. When there is that mixture of things that help us grow on our level and things that tie our whole community together across generations, that’s when everyone can live into their true “right to belong,” and can believe that “God will delight” in their community and their ministry. Amen? Fellowship member REBECCA

GARRETT PACE is nowMinister of Worship & the Arts at White Rock United Methodist Church, Dallas, TX.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________ 18 April-May-June 2022 • WorshipArts • umfellowship.org