by Shelley Byrnes, Director of Children, Youth, and Family Ministry
When I was interviewing for my job as CYF Director, I knew I would love St. John’s because it values children and youth IN the worship services. We have children’s Bibles in our pews. We provide soft bags to help young folk feel invited in our worship. We have a rocking chair for parents of tiny children to use during service. We invite and encourage young people to usher, read as lector, acolyte, be on altar guild, and help in the video booth. In other words, we walk the walk.
That said, much of our liturgical life can be distancing for children who experience it week after week without full understanding. Our beautiful Sanctuary has so much art in it that, because it doesn’t ever change, can seem like background to young people: just the space where worship happens.
That’s why I’m so excited to let you know that St. John the Evangelist has been selected to participate in the Twin Cities Cohort of the Worshiping with Children: Imaging and Imagining the Presence of God program. Thanks to the Lilly Endowment’s Nurturing Children Through Worship and Prayer Initiative and Phillips Theological Seminary, Tulsa, OK, we are one of five congregations in the Twin Cities area which have received funding to embark on a year’s worth of projects to help the children of our congregation grow in faith and deepen their relationships with God.
The Imaging and Imagining God Program is focused on cultivating sacred spaces through which children will come to know and love God and grow in their faith. Program funding supports our creative team as we plan to combine art and the power of liturgical space, child development, and our work to prepare visual art in our sanctuary for the seasons of the church’s year. We are looking at helping our children connect more deeply with our liturgical year by offering temporary, reusable, seasonal art installations that directly amplify liturgical seasons in a kinesthetic way.
We have a seven-person creative team of parishioners (including youth, artists and teachers) who recently attended a full-day retreat to plan and imagine our art projects. We came away, inspired and full of ideas. The Imaging and Imagining creative team is looking for more members who are interested in bringing liturgy to life for children using art. If you are an artist, an engineer, a worker-bee, or someone with artistic vision please contact me.
May God prosper the work of our hands!
