Flags and Rain

[WORSHIP:03:09:08] I am finding that 90% of my preparation is sitting and listening for God's direction. It is not looking for songs, or rehearsing, or transposing, or preparing visual aids, it is those things too, but 90% of my time is spent sitting and listening. and most of that time is spent in the space, on the day. by the time i come sunday morning i have come with a plan, songs, order, concepts of worship we'll focus on that day, teaching objectives (yes, we TEACH worship); the goal is to give them tools, help them find expression, and make room for God to move. I set out my plan to do that.. but... to be most effective, i know i must lean on the Holy Spirit to fine tune and mold it for those kids on that day. Do you know i will do worship time differently for first service and second? The mix of kids (age, size of group) is drastically different and i find different things are most effective. for example...

on 03.09 i had a lovely time with the small group of younger kids reviewing some songs, doing a favorite action song, then singing about the Glory of the Lord rising among us. it was during this song that they made their way from sitting to standing to movement to carrying worship flags to walking in a circle with their flags in unison movement. because of the size of group they each had their own flag, they had room to walk peacefully in a circle with coordinated movement, and it all came so organically. the spirit was gently in our midst, it was so special.

on 03.09 the second service kids (much larger and older group) also started with a thanksgiving tunnel and song, but then we learned a new song called Hosanna by Hillsong United. the chorus is simple but the verses were not accessible, so i had 4 volunteers (another way to give the 4-5th graders more opportunity) come up and READ the verses into the mic in between the whole group singing the chorus. they read one by one: "i see the King of glory, coming down the clouds with fire..." "i see his love and mercy, washing over all our sin..." and "i see a generation, rising up to take their place... i see a new revival, starting as we pray and seek.." Powerful to hear these kids speak out these words and echoes of Hosanna. we moved into the same favorite action song the first group did, but then we did a special activity to "make rain". the song sings 'mercy is falling like a sweet spring rain' well, we wanted to have an EXPERIENCE of the mercy and the spirit falling, at first like a sweet rain, but escalating into a thunderstorm as we moved in our circle to slapping our knees and stomping feet. then the rain lessened and left as we moved back into snaps and rubbing of hands.

Our God is a specialized God. He wants us to experience Him in effective ways. If we keep one ear to Him, He will help us to know what those ways are, best for each class. and even each kid! He is so personal and interested in each one knowing and experiencing Him. what a privilege we have -- we get to help!

Second week, second song. Kingdom come.

[KEY:NEW THINGS] God is stirring old things and new things in me all at the same time. This concept reminds me of that part in the Redman song "i am a seeker of the new things, i am a dreamer with some old dreams". By old things i mean songwriting. By new things i mean writing new songs. I didn't mean to, it's just that each week when i come early to play my guitar and worship, inviting the Holy Spirit to be there with us that morning, a new song seems to come out of my mouth. Like i said, i'm not trying, but we do welcome the creative gifts to flow... We worship the most Creative holy one ever and He created us and i think that's going to be a KEY to unlocking worship from each child. We must help each one find their own form of expression. i think it will challenge and stretch us to let that really happen. I am excited about it... could be noisy, could be lots of movement in very little space, could be children waving or wielding things, could be somersaults, cartwheels, flight. if i had room i'd build a skate ramp right in the middle of our worship area... "i am a seeker of the new things.. let them now come!"

Simple Songs, Simple Beginnings

[WORSHIP:03:02:08] Sure, i woke up with this song in my heart - a "God song" what more could i ask for? But, Lord... it was so simple. I know all the stuff i'd been hearing says not too many words, keep it simple, but this was like learning to walk. Wooble on one leg and then put the next foot down and make sure we're all making the steps together. Frankly i felt almost appalled to bring something so kindergarten to this group which pinnacles at fifth grade. But i knew it was from the Holy Spirit - given to me as a gift on my first 'official' morning as KC worship director.

And so, after a bit of gathering activity (entering the Ps100 fifth grade girls' thanksgiving tunnel with thanks in our hearts and on our lips) we dismissed the boys off to the side with Adrian. The drums remind us of the thunder and lightening happening right now around God's throne in heaven -- and we want to pull heaven down into our midst, don't we? So the girls and i sat in a circle with individual pieces of paper, that, when in proper sitting order, made up the question "what shall we discover together?" This was our song. Simple. brief. a question to gather us and open up collective expectation. it also opened opportunity for prophetic completion of the question. The song we sang together teetered from low note to high note... "WHAT-shall-we dis-COV-ER-TO-ge-ther (repeat)(repeat)" and then someone finishes with a simple 5 note step down starting at the high note, ending on the low... "JE--sus--is--our--friend". and even the fifth grade girls were glued. we all sang carefully together and anticipated who would finish it this next time... and the boys, all the while, glued to Adrian's thunder leadership :)

Before we knew it, we were out of time. we had Workshopped (learning activities about worship) and Gathered and didnt' even have time to sing through that worship song they 'already know'...oh well, maybe we'll get back to the 'old song' next time. Or maybe this is exactly how God sees the start of a revolution.