This was a liturgy I wrote for a worship service the Children of Hope UMC organized. Please feel free to use it in your worship services if you would like.
T:We gather as a people of different ages but of equal worth.
A: Here children wiggle in the pews, color on paper pads and rush down the stairs to learn about the love of Jesus.
T: Here youth sit with parents daydreaming about “what’s next” and “where am I going.”
A: Here mothers and fathers sit dutifully providing their children with a church community meanwhile wondering what all of this means in the busyness of a breathless life.
T: Here older generations gather to remember how things used to be as the changing world outside leave invisible skid marks on their souls.
A: We gather as a people of different ages but of equal worth.
T: Each with a dream. Each with a question. Each with a hope. For this place. For these people.
A: We worship to remember this church is not our own but yours.
T: You who are different than me.
A: And so we welcome the voice of the wiggly child, the restlessness of distracted youth, the seeking of the exhausted parent, and the memories of those who have lived all these years.
T: We gather as a people of different ages but of equal worth.
A: Let us offer up ourselves to give space for the other.
