Contents
Introduction
1 - 5 Advent
6 -11 Christmas
12-15 New Year
16-19 Epiphany
20-22 The Baptism of Christ
23-25 Candlemas
26-34 Lent
35-38 Mothering Sunday
39-42 Palm Sunday
43-47 Good Friday
48-54 Easter
55-60 Ascension
61-68 Pentecost
69-72 Trinity Sunday
73-75 New School Year
76-85 Harvest
86-88 Gift Day
89-92 All Saints
93-97 Christ the King
98-100 Missions
Subject Index
Song Index
What does a book of worship activities cover? As Chris says in her introduction to the book: 'My church heritage is Anglican, and it is from this background that I understand worship to be anything we do which helps us orientate ourselves towards God, recognising the value of liturgy, prayers, sacraments, pictures, sound, light and colour, fabrics and clothing and above all action to connect us with him. Some church traditions have, for the most understandable of reasons, rejected all or some of these worship ingredients: my aim is to reintroduce readers to a much fuller and more holistic understanding to what worship is. Worship isn't some period or even a magic moment within a service: it should pervade the whole of the service, and, yes, all of our lives. There may be special moments in worship when we really do engage with God at a deep level, but it is not true to say that without such moments we are not worshipping.
"Thus some of what this book suggests is quite ordinary. To wave a palm cross about as we sing, for exle, will probably not lead to an instant state of rapture. But it will, especially if it is a new thing to do, enrich the worship of a child, perhaps give him or her a new insight, or touch an emotion which the mere words of a song cannot. More and more I have come to realise it is what we do in worship that touches us far more deeply than what we say, sing or hear, and so this book suggests some ways in which a child's whole being can become involved and turned towards God.
"One final point about this book: I hope and pray that it will be a means through which the life-giving power of the Holy Spirit can touch children and adults alike. Many of the ideas are not new; they have a long and honoured tradition in some parts of the church. But rarely were they ever used to help children encounter God, only to help them learn about him. My husband was once involved in planning a Pentecost service for children where someone had an ideas of cutting out lots of shiny flame shapes from red, yellow and orange foil, and dropping them on children's heads "to represent the Holy Spirit coming on them". John's suggestion was that they dispense with the coloured flames and just invite the Spirit to come! My desire in the book is, in effect, that we use the foil and welcome the Holy Spirit. I have no desire to use symbols instead of reality, but as a means through which the reality can be experienced."
The ideas are listed under seasons of the church year, with full theme and Scripture indexes.
ISBN: 9780854769087
Catalogue code: N/A
Publisher: KINGSWAY - published N/A
Format: Paperback