Updated, 9/26
Worshiping Together(WT)-3 is THE MAIN PAGE for what we expect the next few “Worshiping Together Sundays” to look like.
The next WT Sunday will be October 10. (Sunday Oct. 3 is Family Meeting.)
The longer-term thinking, based on the experience of recent Sundays, will be found at WT-4.
Please offer us your comments at the bottom of this page, or bring your ideas about this to the Worshiping Together table during Fellowship time. Or email Richard at Richard.Osbo.Fuller at gmail.com.
(In roughly the order they will occur on a Sunday:)
* There is a handout for parents outlining how this works.
First Day School starts at 10:55 on “FDS Sundays”
First Day School Sundays are the 2nd, 3rd and 4th Sundays of the month.
(On the 1st Sunday of each month we have Family Meetings with children and adults gathering in the Fellowship Room at 11AM. This is in addition to the regular 11AM worship in the meetingroom. On the occasional 5th Sunday we have inter-generational worship: 30 minutes of centering worship in the meetingroom for all ages.)
On FDS Sundays parents should have children in the classroom by 10:55.
The next “FDS Sunday” will be October 10, and therefore also our next Sunday of “Worshiping Together,”
during the last quarter hour of 11AM meeting for worship.
In the first weeks of Worshiping Together, we expect to spend some time figuring out how things need to go for this to be a rewarding experience for all. We will necessarily enter into some periods of confusion, and we look forward to them.
For detailed attempts to think this through, week-by-week, see WT-4.
* CURRENT PLAN: children do NOT bring work done in class to the meeting room.
IN THE MEETING ROOM, APPROX. 11:45-12:15, M&C has responsibility
the Closer will open the door and the children will come in quietly and find their seats.
M&C will try this on September 26, and then revise it, as necessary.
Tom Stoffregen is the M&C contact person on this.
* Where will the youth sit, in the meeting room?
- DRAFT PLAN: When a family knows ahead of time that the children (or teachers) MAY want to join family members already in the meetingroom, they should agree roughly where in the room they will sit. Preferably not too far from the doors.
- CURRENT PLAN: Youth will not sit in classroom groups. The class ends when the kids enter the meetingroom and teachers are no longer responsible for the children at that point.
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* FDS and M&C encourage feedback about the new WT!
There is a table during the Fellowship time each week. People are encouraged to take their ideas & concerns there. Email and phone calls are also encouraged.
Issues by individual Classrooms
Nursery Children are not included in Worshiping Together
Parents will pick up their children in the Nursery after the rise of meeting.
Preschool
Preschoolers are included in WT
Kindergarten – First Grade
Second, Third & Fourth Grades
“Middle School,” Grades 5-8
High School
Will come sometimes, at least.
Outline of the WT posts on the TCFM website:
- WT-1: Current updates to Worshiping Together process
- WT-2: Introduction to the “Worshiping Together” process
- WT-3: Issues related to how we imagine the flow of children and worship on any given Sunday, once the process is well established.
THIS IS THE MAIN PAGE FOR YOUR BEST THOUGHTS - WT-3-OLD: “WT-3″ will always reflect the current thinking. To keep WT-3 as uncomplicated as possible we will remove ideas that have been discussed and set aside. Friends who want to see what WT-3 looked like BEFORE the current version can go to WT-3-OLD.
- WT-4: Preparations we as a community may need to make to achieve the goal of a rewarding inter-generational worship experience.
- WT-5: Open issues, concerns, exceptions, things to be mindful of. As we approach general agreement about “how are we going to do this,” I imagine this will be a place to record and keep track of “paths not (currently) taken.” If we agree on a course of action over the objections of some, let those objections be recorded here, with proposed alternatives, if possible. Then if things develop the way the objectors feared they would, we have a record in community memory, and perhaps some suggestions about alternative ways to proceed. This will be a place to stockpile dissenting opinions, and outstanding issues that we will do well to remember as we encounter the realities of the process as it unfolds. I will also use this area to archive all comments made, after they have been incorporated into the body of the work.
- WT-6: Jokes about what is happening, or might happen.
Here’s how I found myself explaining the proposed change of time for the young people to participate in Meeting for Worship to a parent who is a relatively new member of TCFM.
1. Many families find that they are not able to come to Meeting for Worship spiritually prepared because it is such a struggle to get everyone in the family ready and out the door. And then to enter into worship with grumpy kids after this struggle is not conducive to good worship. It would be better to have the kids start off their day at the meeting house somewhere besides adult worship.
2. Having the kids come into meeting at the end of the FDS time allows the adult worship experience to be more integrated into their FDS experience. It becomes a part of every FDS classes’ “curriculum” for the teacher to take some time to prepare the kids for entering worship.
3. It is probably quite important for the kids to enter the meeting and to sit with their classmates, instead of going over to their parents. This is less disruptive. But more importantly, it communicates to the children they they are unique, valued individuals with identities of their own (and not just as appendages of their parents). Hopefully the seating arrangement can communicate to kids that they, not just their parents, have a place in the meeting community. This could communicate to them a kind of respect that the larger meeting has for them, which could feel empowering and encouraging of their developing spirituality.
4. This does mean that all FDS teachers are now, in a way, required to weave preparation for worship into their lesson plans each Sunday. Teachers may be concerned that this limits the amount of time they have to do anything ELSE meaningful during their class time — especially since there will be stragglers coming in at 11. Unless we start FDS at 10:45? Which might actually be a good idea…
And of course, Quakers don’t like much structure! But this kind of structure I am hoping is not constraining but rather enabling of what we hope for our children… We will see how this plays out.
The parent with who I spoke was interested and very receptive in particular to the idea that kids would sit with their class instead of going to be with their parents, because it might give the kids the empowering sense of having their OWN place at meeting, and not just being at meeting because their parents were there.
Thanks to all the folks who have been thinking through the various ideas here.
I really like the idea of adding regular singing at 10:45 – 11:00 AM. Singing was one of the favorite parts of my Methodist/Lutheran church-going early years and it’s been something I really miss while attending TCFM. So, I look forward to this piece of the new Worshipping Together plan…. I think Sylvia will too. I could even imagine accompanying a couple of the hymnal’s songs on the piano sometime. There are lots of musical folks in Mtg — this will be a nice addition, I bet.
I see the current plan is for children to join their families at “Family” seats if they choose — I think this makes very good sense. Children interested to sit separately (as individuals or as a class) will certainly be able to. And those who aren’t ready for that on any given day – will still have spots available near the grownups they know best….
This whole issue of seating could even be something teachers choose to explore with students (I’m thinking of younger students especially) let the students spend a little time in class deciding their plans of where to sit… perhaps we’ll see younger students develop this particular form of independence over the FDS year and want to sit together as buddies? or as a whole class? Who knows?
I actually remember appreciating connecting with my son’s teachers when he was in first day school. That won’t be possible at the end of first day school…so perhaps it could be important for that to happen at the beginning.