Church, Children, and Autism
Dan at Necessary Roughness has written an informative post on “How Churches Should Handle Autism”. He offers practical suggestions to help congregations understand and help these families affected by autism during the worship service.
And what is Dan’s number 1 suggestion? “The real world has no Gospel and has no forgiveness. The best thing a church can do is preach the Word.” Thanks Dan!
Children & Worship
Cantor Phil Magness was on Tuesday’s “Issues, Etc” and had a worthwhile discussion on children and worship. Basic theme: Give children something in worship they can grow into rather than grow out of. It’s a good listen.
Children and the Organ
This past Sunday as I was playing the organ postlude, I saw in my peripheral vision someone standing off to the side. I lost my focus for a beat as I wondered who it was and what he wanted. To my surprise it was a father with his 3 or 4-year old son. The little guy wanted to see the “thing” that made all the noise.
As this was happening, someone walked by and jokingly said, “Chris, it looks like you might have some competition on the organ bench.” Those words have been with me the last few days. Not the competition part, but the part of nurturing our young people to consider pursuing church music vocations.
Ambrose, the Children, and Advent
A few days back I was flipping through “First Person Singular: Reflections on Worship, Liturgy, and Children” by Carl Schalk. It is is a smallish volume of less than a hundred pages with brief reflections on various topics related to children in the life of the church.
Schalk had a reflection that was particularly relevant to the Advent season based on Ambrose, the author of the Hymn of the Day for this First Sunday in Advent – “Savior of the Nations, Come” (LSB 332)
Let God’s Children Sing
It is a high responsibility to choose the music we place into the mouth of God’s people – whether children or adult. These songs should not be trite or cute, nor filler or fluff. The church’s song should be a faithful proclamation and preaching of the Word. No less should be tolerated.
Share your thoughts . . .