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	<title>Comments on: Open Thread: It&#8217;s Sunday Morning&#8230;What&#8217;s A Family To Do?</title>
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	<link>http://www.internetmonk.com/archive/open-thread-its-sunday-morning-and-whats-a-family-to-do</link>
	<description>...dispatches from the post-evangelical wilderness</description>
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		<title>By: iderveple</title>
		<link>http://www.internetmonk.com/archive/open-thread-its-sunday-morning-and-whats-a-family-to-do/comment-page-3#comment-501784</link>
		<dc:creator>iderveple</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Sat, 18 Jul 2009 11:14:54 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.internetmonk.com/?p=2604#comment-501784</guid>
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		<title>By: incimidib</title>
		<link>http://www.internetmonk.com/archive/open-thread-its-sunday-morning-and-whats-a-family-to-do/comment-page-3#comment-460996</link>
		<dc:creator>incimidib</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Thu, 21 May 2009 01:05:36 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.internetmonk.com/?p=2604#comment-460996</guid>
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	</item>
	<item>
		<title>By: Julie</title>
		<link>http://www.internetmonk.com/archive/open-thread-its-sunday-morning-and-whats-a-family-to-do/comment-page-3#comment-332273</link>
		<dc:creator>Julie</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Wed, 10 Dec 2008 08:26:33 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.internetmonk.com/?p=2604#comment-332273</guid>
		<description>Terri,
I love what you have to say about helping chldren feel they are part of the community of believers at through church.
&quot;Teaching them that their voices are needed to round out the singing. Letting them hear the needs of the community and prayer requests of the congregation. Hoping they see the heart of the people and of God through consistent exposure to other people, besides their parents, who want to follow Jesus&quot; 
 
A Search Institute study showed that children were overwhelmingly influenced in their faith, not by a youth leader or pastor, but by spending time in worship with a significant person in their life, ie. parent, grandparent. The gist of this was that the time a child spends with you watching you sing, pray, listen to holy scripture and model heartfelt worship as response to God&#039;s love is more influential on the child&#039;s faith development than all of the children&#039;s church and youth programs combined. And yet, we continue to segregate our children and youth from adults and older people in worship. 

I believe children should be in worship with their parents for most, if not all of the service. If you made it to the end of this thread without reading Sparki&#039;s comments (Dec 5 4:28) go back and at least read her 8 practical suggestions for making church work with a family. I especially liked the idea of reading through the appointed lessons for the day before church (I don&#039;t think I could do it in the morning though!) Lots of churches print the folowing week&#039;s lessons in the bulletin for just this purpose.

 I think it&#039;s important that kids feel that going to church is a special thing. Our four kids have always had church clothes and shoes that were just worn on Sundays. We didn&#039;t ever get too fancy - and they might only have two outfits that rotated in a season - but they always knew what to wear to church. I&#039;m pretty laundry-challenged, and this really was easy to keep together. My 7 yr old will even refuse to wear his &quot;church clothes&quot; to school, even if that&#039;s all that is clean.

We also always had a &quot;church bag&quot; that was hung in the back hall and ready to go just for Sunday mornings. I replaced fruit snacks and cheerios occassionally (please don&#039;t tell me you don&#039;t approve of the snack thing -good for you if your kids got by without it) and changed out a quiet soft toy every once in a while for variety. This bag was always stocked with Jesus story books - and I rotated seasonal ones for Christmas and Easter. I am so NOT a together/organized person, but this made me feel really together and the kids like their special &quot;church bag.&quot;

Unless we walk in to church really late, we try to sit in the front. We&#039;d been told to do this and it was hard to make ourselves do, but it really helps.  My kids are worst in the balcony where they feel invisible and they can&#039;t see anything.

I had to laugh a few times reading the posts because people at our liturgical church are always suggesting that we should move to a more family-friendly contemporary evangelical style service. I&#039;ve always felt that the liturgical framework is extremely family-friendly and I read confirmation of that over and over again (sorry if you don&#039;t &quot;get it&quot; but doesn&#039;t it make you the least bit curious that you might be missing something?)

Since my kids were old enough to talk they&#039;ve been singing and dancing to parts of the liturgy. Throughout the service there are places where the children can participate. By 4-5 my kids (not all Mensa candidates) had much of the liturgical service memorized so they could participate long before they could read. You can worry about mindless repetition later, but they will know scripture from the liturgy long after their memory fails them in their golden years.

The colors of the season and banners in the front of the church are visual eye candy, as are crosses, candles and stained glass windows. I can appreciate the value of a house-chuch experience, but I personally feel blessed to have an aesthetically beautiful space that feels &quot;holy and set-apart&quot; for worship. 

Our church has children&#039;s bulletins based on the lessons of the day and a children&#039;s message every Sunday that the children come up to the chancel for. Although children don&#039;t take communion at our church, they are encouraged to come up with their families to receive a blessing. The pastor touches them on the head or forehead and speaks a simple blessing to them - often by name. We also use children&#039;s choirs regularly, include children as ushers with their parents, and have a staffed nursery(with the service audio piped in.

I&#039;ve often felt we could do more as a church (church bags, better children&#039;s messages, quiet instruments for children to play during songs...lots of ideas on my &quot;maybe some day&quot; list for my church, but reading these posts made me pretty thankful for how much my church is doing already. Now I just have to find a way to help my congregation understand how good they have it, since all they can focus on is what amazing children&#039;s programming is available at the mega-church down the street!</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Terri,<br />
I love what you have to say about helping chldren feel they are part of the community of believers at through church.<br />
&#8220;Teaching them that their voices are needed to round out the singing. Letting them hear the needs of the community and prayer requests of the congregation. Hoping they see the heart of the people and of God through consistent exposure to other people, besides their parents, who want to follow Jesus&#8221; </p>
<p>A Search Institute study showed that children were overwhelmingly influenced in their faith, not by a youth leader or pastor, but by spending time in worship with a significant person in their life, ie. parent, grandparent. The gist of this was that the time a child spends with you watching you sing, pray, listen to holy scripture and model heartfelt worship as response to God&#8217;s love is more influential on the child&#8217;s faith development than all of the children&#8217;s church and youth programs combined. And yet, we continue to segregate our children and youth from adults and older people in worship. </p>
<p>I believe children should be in worship with their parents for most, if not all of the service. If you made it to the end of this thread without reading Sparki&#8217;s comments (Dec 5 4:28) go back and at least read her 8 practical suggestions for making church work with a family. I especially liked the idea of reading through the appointed lessons for the day before church (I don&#8217;t think I could do it in the morning though!) Lots of churches print the folowing week&#8217;s lessons in the bulletin for just this purpose.</p>
<p> I think it&#8217;s important that kids feel that going to church is a special thing. Our four kids have always had church clothes and shoes that were just worn on Sundays. We didn&#8217;t ever get too fancy &#8211; and they might only have two outfits that rotated in a season &#8211; but they always knew what to wear to church. I&#8217;m pretty laundry-challenged, and this really was easy to keep together. My 7 yr old will even refuse to wear his &#8220;church clothes&#8221; to school, even if that&#8217;s all that is clean.</p>
<p>We also always had a &#8220;church bag&#8221; that was hung in the back hall and ready to go just for Sunday mornings. I replaced fruit snacks and cheerios occassionally (please don&#8217;t tell me you don&#8217;t approve of the snack thing -good for you if your kids got by without it) and changed out a quiet soft toy every once in a while for variety. This bag was always stocked with Jesus story books &#8211; and I rotated seasonal ones for Christmas and Easter. I am so NOT a together/organized person, but this made me feel really together and the kids like their special &#8220;church bag.&#8221;</p>
<p>Unless we walk in to church really late, we try to sit in the front. We&#8217;d been told to do this and it was hard to make ourselves do, but it really helps.  My kids are worst in the balcony where they feel invisible and they can&#8217;t see anything.</p>
<p>I had to laugh a few times reading the posts because people at our liturgical church are always suggesting that we should move to a more family-friendly contemporary evangelical style service. I&#8217;ve always felt that the liturgical framework is extremely family-friendly and I read confirmation of that over and over again (sorry if you don&#8217;t &#8220;get it&#8221; but doesn&#8217;t it make you the least bit curious that you might be missing something?)</p>
<p>Since my kids were old enough to talk they&#8217;ve been singing and dancing to parts of the liturgy. Throughout the service there are places where the children can participate. By 4-5 my kids (not all Mensa candidates) had much of the liturgical service memorized so they could participate long before they could read. You can worry about mindless repetition later, but they will know scripture from the liturgy long after their memory fails them in their golden years.</p>
<p>The colors of the season and banners in the front of the church are visual eye candy, as are crosses, candles and stained glass windows. I can appreciate the value of a house-chuch experience, but I personally feel blessed to have an aesthetically beautiful space that feels &#8220;holy and set-apart&#8221; for worship. </p>
<p>Our church has children&#8217;s bulletins based on the lessons of the day and a children&#8217;s message every Sunday that the children come up to the chancel for. Although children don&#8217;t take communion at our church, they are encouraged to come up with their families to receive a blessing. The pastor touches them on the head or forehead and speaks a simple blessing to them &#8211; often by name. We also use children&#8217;s choirs regularly, include children as ushers with their parents, and have a staffed nursery(with the service audio piped in.</p>
<p>I&#8217;ve often felt we could do more as a church (church bags, better children&#8217;s messages, quiet instruments for children to play during songs&#8230;lots of ideas on my &#8220;maybe some day&#8221; list for my church, but reading these posts made me pretty thankful for how much my church is doing already. Now I just have to find a way to help my congregation understand how good they have it, since all they can focus on is what amazing children&#8217;s programming is available at the mega-church down the street!</p>
]]></content:encoded>
	</item>
	<item>
		<title>By: Patrick Rowe</title>
		<link>http://www.internetmonk.com/archive/open-thread-its-sunday-morning-and-whats-a-family-to-do/comment-page-3#comment-331826</link>
		<dc:creator>Patrick Rowe</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Tue, 09 Dec 2008 01:04:13 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.internetmonk.com/?p=2604#comment-331826</guid>
		<description>Our church has reserved the last five or six pews in the back of the church for &quot;families training children&quot;. We expect that a two year old and up can be trained to sit still and respectful. Since there are signs on the pews everyone coming in knows what to expect if one sits there or near there. If one is likely to be disrupted by a child&#039;s movement, talk or need to go to the bathroom then one should sit near the front of the service. There is a nursery for children two and younger. Parents are not expected use it and children are welcome in the service to sit and watch adults worship the Lord in prayer, praise, hymns, and preaching. Have I ever been distracted, yes, has it led to concentrate even harder in focus on praying with my brothers and sisters, in singing praise and learning what lesson the Lord has for me, the answer is thankfully yes. The means of grace the Lord provides are new every morning!</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Our church has reserved the last five or six pews in the back of the church for &#8220;families training children&#8221;. We expect that a two year old and up can be trained to sit still and respectful. Since there are signs on the pews everyone coming in knows what to expect if one sits there or near there. If one is likely to be disrupted by a child&#8217;s movement, talk or need to go to the bathroom then one should sit near the front of the service. There is a nursery for children two and younger. Parents are not expected use it and children are welcome in the service to sit and watch adults worship the Lord in prayer, praise, hymns, and preaching. Have I ever been distracted, yes, has it led to concentrate even harder in focus on praying with my brothers and sisters, in singing praise and learning what lesson the Lord has for me, the answer is thankfully yes. The means of grace the Lord provides are new every morning!</p>
]]></content:encoded>
	</item>
	<item>
		<title>By: The Crew of 6</title>
		<link>http://www.internetmonk.com/archive/open-thread-its-sunday-morning-and-whats-a-family-to-do/comment-page-3#comment-330728</link>
		<dc:creator>The Crew of 6</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Sun, 07 Dec 2008 05:21:12 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.internetmonk.com/?p=2604#comment-330728</guid>
		<description>Father Theodosius, 

Can I say &quot;bless you&quot;? 

We are a young family with three children who have significant special needs. We also have a very precocious 2 year old toddler who was speaking in sentences at 12 months of age. 

My husband grew up Southern Baptist, and I am Catholic. Navigating church as a family has always been a complex issue. Back when we had just just one, our agreement was that I would go to Mass on Saturday and together we went to an &quot;Emergent&quot; mega-church on Sundays as a family.

It was the most horrific experience I have ever had in terms of being able to worship as a family. I was openly accosted for having my son in service. If he so much as made a peep, I would take him out and then be forbidden from so much as cracking the door to hear what was being said, because I would be &quot;disturbing&quot; others who were trying to worship &quot;in peace.&quot; We attempted another church that likewise gave hostile looks at the very presence of a young child in service.

At this point I&#039;d had enough. I was openly afraid of taking of my kids into service and due to their significant needs, nursery care would never (and still is not) be an option even if I felt personally comfortable with leaving them there, which I do not.

We finally agreed to end in worship as a family at a Catholic Church when we moved across states. You can imagine my delight when I saw that they had a Preschool Mass scheduled on a week-day morning once a month. It was our first time at this church, and I took the children by myself. My youngest was only 10 months old at the time. The Priest was wearing a beautiful vestment with hearts and rainbows on it, and she started to cry because she wanted to play with it. For a few seconds, I felt stuck in a dilemma. I couldn&#039;t take her out without taking *all* the children with me, and I didn&#039;t know how to orchestrate that without being even more disruptive than the crying. Just as I was deciding to leave, the Father came up without a word and stretched out his arms to my youngest. She immediately flung herself into his arms and started happily and quietly picking at his rainbow while he continued on with Mass not missing a step. He held her about 10 minutes and handed her back to me, as content as could be. Afterwards he came and spoke to us and re-assured me that no matter or manner of children&#039;s noises would ever be unwelcome.

That&#039;s been our church home ever since. I love that my 2 year old can shout &quot;That&#039;s the cross for Jesus Mama!&quot; &quot;Look, we sing song for God now!&quot; &quot;Amen!&quot; and I don&#039;t have to cringe or worry about making people angry. I love that my children are accepted and welcomed with open arms to learn and grow in spiritual maturity with grace and love. It&#039;s made the hectic and harried hustle on Sunday mornings well worth it.

My husband definitely has a harder time of it than I do. He can&#039;t focus on the homily if he has the kids there who need his attention. His solution is to attend a bible study during the week. He feels like that gives him an extra chance to focus on God that he misses when he focuses so much on the kids every Sunday.</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Father Theodosius, </p>
<p>Can I say &#8220;bless you&#8221;? </p>
<p>We are a young family with three children who have significant special needs. We also have a very precocious 2 year old toddler who was speaking in sentences at 12 months of age. </p>
<p>My husband grew up Southern Baptist, and I am Catholic. Navigating church as a family has always been a complex issue. Back when we had just just one, our agreement was that I would go to Mass on Saturday and together we went to an &#8220;Emergent&#8221; mega-church on Sundays as a family.</p>
<p>It was the most horrific experience I have ever had in terms of being able to worship as a family. I was openly accosted for having my son in service. If he so much as made a peep, I would take him out and then be forbidden from so much as cracking the door to hear what was being said, because I would be &#8220;disturbing&#8221; others who were trying to worship &#8220;in peace.&#8221; We attempted another church that likewise gave hostile looks at the very presence of a young child in service.</p>
<p>At this point I&#8217;d had enough. I was openly afraid of taking of my kids into service and due to their significant needs, nursery care would never (and still is not) be an option even if I felt personally comfortable with leaving them there, which I do not.</p>
<p>We finally agreed to end in worship as a family at a Catholic Church when we moved across states. You can imagine my delight when I saw that they had a Preschool Mass scheduled on a week-day morning once a month. It was our first time at this church, and I took the children by myself. My youngest was only 10 months old at the time. The Priest was wearing a beautiful vestment with hearts and rainbows on it, and she started to cry because she wanted to play with it. For a few seconds, I felt stuck in a dilemma. I couldn&#8217;t take her out without taking *all* the children with me, and I didn&#8217;t know how to orchestrate that without being even more disruptive than the crying. Just as I was deciding to leave, the Father came up without a word and stretched out his arms to my youngest. She immediately flung herself into his arms and started happily and quietly picking at his rainbow while he continued on with Mass not missing a step. He held her about 10 minutes and handed her back to me, as content as could be. Afterwards he came and spoke to us and re-assured me that no matter or manner of children&#8217;s noises would ever be unwelcome.</p>
<p>That&#8217;s been our church home ever since. I love that my 2 year old can shout &#8220;That&#8217;s the cross for Jesus Mama!&#8221; &#8220;Look, we sing song for God now!&#8221; &#8220;Amen!&#8221; and I don&#8217;t have to cringe or worry about making people angry. I love that my children are accepted and welcomed with open arms to learn and grow in spiritual maturity with grace and love. It&#8217;s made the hectic and harried hustle on Sunday mornings well worth it.</p>
<p>My husband definitely has a harder time of it than I do. He can&#8217;t focus on the homily if he has the kids there who need his attention. His solution is to attend a bible study during the week. He feels like that gives him an extra chance to focus on God that he misses when he focuses so much on the kids every Sunday.</p>
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		<title>By: Jim</title>
		<link>http://www.internetmonk.com/archive/open-thread-its-sunday-morning-and-whats-a-family-to-do/comment-page-3#comment-330700</link>
		<dc:creator>Jim</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Sun, 07 Dec 2008 00:33:25 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.internetmonk.com/?p=2604#comment-330700</guid>
		<description>Sit in the back when you have an infant. Sit in the front pew when your youngest is a year and a half old or older. This pertains to an LCMS church with liturgy -- so there&#039;s something for the kiddos to watch up front besides someone giving a 40-minute lecture, and then sitting down the rest of the time.</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Sit in the back when you have an infant. Sit in the front pew when your youngest is a year and a half old or older. This pertains to an LCMS church with liturgy &#8212; so there&#8217;s something for the kiddos to watch up front besides someone giving a 40-minute lecture, and then sitting down the rest of the time.</p>
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		<title>By: Beth</title>
		<link>http://www.internetmonk.com/archive/open-thread-its-sunday-morning-and-whats-a-family-to-do/comment-page-3#comment-330538</link>
		<dc:creator>Beth</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Sat, 06 Dec 2008 05:29:56 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.internetmonk.com/?p=2604#comment-330538</guid>
		<description>I guess I have a different view of worship. Well, obviously, since I&#039;ve been to two Catholic services in my life--one a funeral and another a wedding. 

Probably by both temperment and experience, I have grown to worship, or express my understanding of God&#039;s worth, primarily by absorbing the forty-minute message and applying it to my life. Or by using my spiritual gifts (which lean heavily toward service) in His church. And this, more than sitting still through that forty-minute message, is what I hope to impart to my son. And I believe, at his stage in life and with his (absolutely insane) personality, our Children&#039;s Church program, which starts right before the message, will draw him closer to Christ than an exegetical study of the book of Amos. As fascinating as that may be for me.

Which isn&#039;t to say I mean to be derogatory toward others who value liturgy. Like I said, I respect it. I just don&#039;t understand it. (And, of course, it isn&#039;t to say that those who value liturgy don&#039;t serve or apply scripture.)

Worship IS meant to be participatory. We absolutely have to take responsibility for our own adoration of our God and seek the environment that most helps us do that. It amazes me how comfortable the Father is with all our differences.</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I guess I have a different view of worship. Well, obviously, since I&#8217;ve been to two Catholic services in my life&#8211;one a funeral and another a wedding. </p>
<p>Probably by both temperment and experience, I have grown to worship, or express my understanding of God&#8217;s worth, primarily by absorbing the forty-minute message and applying it to my life. Or by using my spiritual gifts (which lean heavily toward service) in His church. And this, more than sitting still through that forty-minute message, is what I hope to impart to my son. And I believe, at his stage in life and with his (absolutely insane) personality, our Children&#8217;s Church program, which starts right before the message, will draw him closer to Christ than an exegetical study of the book of Amos. As fascinating as that may be for me.</p>
<p>Which isn&#8217;t to say I mean to be derogatory toward others who value liturgy. Like I said, I respect it. I just don&#8217;t understand it. (And, of course, it isn&#8217;t to say that those who value liturgy don&#8217;t serve or apply scripture.)</p>
<p>Worship IS meant to be participatory. We absolutely have to take responsibility for our own adoration of our God and seek the environment that most helps us do that. It amazes me how comfortable the Father is with all our differences.</p>
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		<title>By: Chaplain Mike</title>
		<link>http://www.internetmonk.com/archive/open-thread-its-sunday-morning-and-whats-a-family-to-do/comment-page-3#comment-330498</link>
		<dc:creator>Chaplain Mike</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Sat, 06 Dec 2008 02:09:45 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.internetmonk.com/?p=2604#comment-330498</guid>
		<description>Beth, it is not just that liturgical types &quot;find it more important to share that with their kids.&quot; It is that good liturgy is &quot;the work of the people,&quot; not the work of a few on an elevated stage. Worship is meant to be participatory and active for the entire congregation, not a spectator sport watched by many and acted out by a few. Worshipers in good liturgical settings have things to do throughout the service, and thus parents can teach their children about those activities and train them how to participate. In most free-style evangelical worship the congregation sits, sings and listens, period. Not much for parents or church leaders to do there but to exhort children to sit still and be quiet.</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Beth, it is not just that liturgical types &#8220;find it more important to share that with their kids.&#8221; It is that good liturgy is &#8220;the work of the people,&#8221; not the work of a few on an elevated stage. Worship is meant to be participatory and active for the entire congregation, not a spectator sport watched by many and acted out by a few. Worshipers in good liturgical settings have things to do throughout the service, and thus parents can teach their children about those activities and train them how to participate. In most free-style evangelical worship the congregation sits, sings and listens, period. Not much for parents or church leaders to do there but to exhort children to sit still and be quiet.</p>
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		<title>By: Joe M</title>
		<link>http://www.internetmonk.com/archive/open-thread-its-sunday-morning-and-whats-a-family-to-do/comment-page-3#comment-330496</link>
		<dc:creator>Joe M</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Sat, 06 Dec 2008 01:56:46 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.internetmonk.com/?p=2604#comment-330496</guid>
		<description>Beth, I think you hit one of the nails on the head.</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Beth, I think you hit one of the nails on the head.</p>
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		<title>By: Beth</title>
		<link>http://www.internetmonk.com/archive/open-thread-its-sunday-morning-and-whats-a-family-to-do/comment-page-3#comment-330465</link>
		<dc:creator>Beth</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Fri, 05 Dec 2008 23:13:15 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.internetmonk.com/?p=2604#comment-330465</guid>
		<description>It sounds like most in the &quot;Bring &#039;em all!&quot; contingent are Catholic/Orthodox or at least gravitate to the somewhat liturgical. Is that so? Do those who find comfort and sacredness in the liturgy find it more important to share that with their kids? I respect that, as a sister in Christ. But as a post-modernish lifelong Protestant, I can&#039;t really understand it.</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>It sounds like most in the &#8220;Bring &#8216;em all!&#8221; contingent are Catholic/Orthodox or at least gravitate to the somewhat liturgical. Is that so? Do those who find comfort and sacredness in the liturgy find it more important to share that with their kids? I respect that, as a sister in Christ. But as a post-modernish lifelong Protestant, I can&#8217;t really understand it.</p>
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