This is celebrating our unity in diversity, and our diversity in unity before the God who made us. Second, true worship in the 21st century will address the needs of emerging generations of youth and young adults. I was flying last Sunday morning from Philadelphia to Cincinnati and sat next to one of the top young heart surgeons in the United States. He and his wife have three children under 5 years of age. He told me he grew up Episcopalian back east and his wife grew up an atheist in Holland.
All ages participate together.
The other two services are more for youth and adults - not children, but many of the younger parents wanted instead to be with their children in family worship. This will move us from worship as talking and listening, to worship as drama, video presentations, sculpting, painting, dance and signing - to name a few. This also means preaching will rely less on manuscripts, pulpits and polished prose, and more on eye contact, story, movement and fully visible heralds of the gospel. One of the best examples of this I've seen recently, besides Reg Johnson, was a Catholic priest at Lexington's Christ the King Cathedral. During the wedding homily he walked out into the congregation and spoke with natural humor and profound seriousness to both the bride and groom and the entire congregation on the meaning of the love of God that binds us to Christ and to one another.