Well, we launched our Family Liturgy yesterday. We had between 375 and 400 people, and lots and lots of kids.

I was very pleasantly surprised by how responsive, respectful and expressive the children were. This was the first time they experienced the movement and the dynamic of the service. It seemed to me that the vast majority of the kids plugged right in and participated fully in the flow of liturgy.

I found this note from a 10 year old in my email box at work this morning (Monday).

The New Service was cool. It was neat to lay read. It went very, very smooth for a first time thing. I also liked how it was laid out with the songs all around and stuff like that. It is also a fun way to learn about God. I liked your sermon about commitments (oh and if you practice on that baritone you will get better). I found another meaning to that sermon “bigger isn’t always better.” I hope it will be really good next Sunday too.

To frame his reference to the sermon for those who missed it:

I had Andy Bluhm (our premier trumpeter) play a piece on the trumpet. I queried him and discovered he’d been playing for 30 years. I had baritone. A baritone is about 1/3 the size of a tuba, but about twice as big as a trumpet.

I claimed to be “cooler” than Andy because I had a bigger -- what -- Horn?

Instrument? (You know what I mean.)

I have never played the baritone before. And it showed.

Andy and I played a “duet.” I asked the kids to vote on who was the “cooler cat” based on our ability to play. The vote was 137 to 1. My five year old son voted for me. His 13 year old sister voted for Andy. Sigh.... What a difference 8 years makes.

The bottom line was that a commitment of 30 years of practice trumps momentary interest, passion, and enthusiasm every time.

Carrie tells me this morning that we now have 53 families committed to helping us make this new family worship service go. (We have overshot our goal of 50.)

The sustained commitment of the fifty-three families will guarantee the growing vitality of this new worship service. God’s power, expressed in the commitment of fifty-three families, assures the abundant blessing of our children for many, many years to come.