CORRECTION: An earlier version of this blog post omitted the final paragraph.
Seventy toddlers follow a cross and banner into chapel every week at St. David’s Episcopal Day School in Wilmington, DE. A bible sits atop the altar. Nearby, a single apple hangs from a five-foot-tall ficus tree so fake that it passes as real. A stuffed-animal snake sssslithers onto the sssscene.
“What’ssss thissss?” asks our chapel storyteller (the Day School director), using the snake to gaze at the apple. She proceeds to tell the story of The Fall: Adam, Eve, and the serpent from the Book of Genesis. I’ve shared this sacred story with preschoolers many times in my eight years working in Episcopal preschools. Let me tell you: there’s nothing like telling little Timmy and Tara about humanity’s disobedience to God at 9:00 am!
St. David’s Episcopal Day School chapel fills once every school week with students, faculty, administrators, parents, grandparents, and caretakers, totaling between 100-110 people. A handful are parishioners of our St. David’s parish that meets for worship every Sunday. Present also are Christians from other traditions, in addition to children and adults of different faith traditions and those whose faith is known to God alone.
All Episcopal schools confront the wonderful challenge “to provide students an authentic experience of Christian worship that is unapologetically and identifiably Anglican, and to welcome, affirm, and support the spiritual development of students of all faiths or no faiths at all.”
I wonder: How does chapel live into our Episcopal identity while respecting the dignity and beliefs of a diverse constituency?
The two, of course, are not mutually exclusive; rather, as you probably anticipate, it is in respecting the dignity of every human being (a call clear in our baptismal covenant) and that we actively live out our Episcopal identity as people of welcome, inclusion, and diversity. Let us tell the story God has given us to share, and in doing so, thoughtfully invite those in our midst into life with the divine.
St. David’s weekly chapel worship is identifiably Anglican. Our order of service follows a Morning Prayer structure simplified for littles (ages 4-5): opening prayers, invitatory song that is often a sung psalm verse, a story from holy scripture appropriate to the church day and season, an age-appropriate creed, corporate prayer, blessing, and music. Within our consistent worship structure exists space for the Holy Spirit to move in creative ways each week, through song and storytelling. The creed, prayers, and blessing are kept consistent to help children learn through repetition.
Weekly scripture stories and prayers reveal universal truths: Jesus loves you. No matter what we have done or what we believe, God seeks relationship with us. We pray for the Holy Spirit to transform us into the kind, compassionate, and welcoming people God intends for us to be. We ask God to bless us and keep watch over us as we continue our day.
Young or old, believer or non-believer, the stories, songs, prayers, and creed form us and invite participants to explore the beauty of following Christ in the Episcopal tradition. Children and parents often seek me out for more conversation and understanding about how God is at work in their lives. There is never proselytization or coercion; each participant of worship is simply invited into the mystery of the divine.
Weeks after telling the story of The Fall, I asked my four-year-old son who attends St. David’s to share with me his favorite bible story. His response? “I like the ssssssnake.” What a blessing it is to live into our Episcopal identity as people of scripture, prayer, welcome and inclusion.
The Rev. Michael B.E. Kurth is the rector of St. David’s Episcopal Church and the President of the Board and Chaplain for St. David’s Episcopal Day School in Wilmington, DE.