Sunday, November 19, 2006

Intergen

It turns out Intergenerational worship is hard. I've been working on it for 7 years now, and the thing is you are really trying to make worship that is accessible and inspiring for every generations. That means 2 year olds who need to wiggle and move, and 80 year olds who have trouble hearing. It means 5 year olds who want big fun stories, and 14 year olds who think stories are uncool. Really, it means that if everything works perfectly, everyone compromises a little and everyone gets some little thing out of the service. But mostly what people are hopefully getting is each other.

2 comments:

Rev. Erika said...

I agree, Ginger Root, and have been finding my way into the art of IG worship for many years -- often through trial and (the occasionally embarrassing) error. What did you do, for your service in November? What do your IG worship services "look" like?

I'm interested in swapping experiences and best practices with you, since I'm luxuriating in some study leave and was planning on writing a few services this month. : ) Care to rendezvous via email?

Ginger Root said...

Yep, it's all about the trial and embarrassing error.
I've found the most popular kind of IG is story-based, especially one long story that takes the whole service to tell. This one in November told 4 short vignettes about justice-makers, which some parents found "not kid friendly" because they were so used to the little-kid friendly service.

I'd love to talk more off-line, but not sure how to get at your e-mail address. If you are more techno savvy than me, please explain.


I'd love to talk more off-line, but not sure how to get at your e-mail address. If you are more techno savy than me, please explain.