Should children be Seen and Not Heard in Church?
I have chosen my wording deliberately ‘seen and not heard’. We are encouraged, no charged as Christians
to bring our children to church with us, to introduce them to our Christian
beliefs and the body of believers.
Yet once there what are our expectations of them?
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| A place created for quiet play within the Chapel |
If we want to see children sitting our churches, growing
both physically and spiritually among us does this mean that they must be
silent as well?
No
play?
No
crying”?
No
laughing?
No
questioning?
In Matthew 19:14 we hear the voice of Jesus say “Suffer
little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the
kingdom of heaven.”
If heaven is made of children why is it that we silence
them?
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| Play as part of the Church Service |
How can we expect them to be other than children?
During a period of silent reflection in church recently a
three year old member of our Christian community yet go with a joyful
scream. We the adult believers snickered,
smiled and remained silent. The parent
of this child embarrassed quickly picked him up and left the chapel.
The irony was we were to be silently contemplating the
Creators yearning to take our doubts and worries away from us – does that not
deserve joyful praise?!
What is it that the sounds of play, crying, laughing and
questioning interrupts?
It certainly cannot be the Creators ability to be in communion
with us, no I believe that it interrupts our human expectations of reverence and
respect and has nothing to do with praise and worship.
If there isn’t room within our worship for the genuineness of
children, is there room for the spontaneous appearance of our Creator?
I am not referring to the sounds of playground antics. I am describing the sounds of children being
present in our services:
- Infants will babble and cry
- Toddlers will play with the toys we provide them so don’t bring noisy toys
- School aged children will colour, play and talk quietly with each other and parents
- Teenager will talk quietly with each other
If the Christian church is to survive the next 100 years we
need to open ourselves to the sound of children in our services and maybe just
maybe learn from them.
…for of such is the kingdom of heaven.
Grandma
Snyder
©2013-2015 twosnydergirls
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