I is for Intergenerational Magic.

Dear friends,

When someone asks what’s so special about churches like ours, I often talk about the magic of intergenerational community. This magic is on the loose here at First Parish! Just in the past few weeks, this intergenerational magic looks like:

  • Wide-eyed toddlers and elders alike approaching larger-than-life lion puppets with equal wonder at our (first ever?) Lunar New Year celebration. (Special thanks to the Slingerland-Chan family for making the connection with the dancers of Nüwa!)
  • Seasoned racial justice advocates and young families sharing pizza, art-making and learning about the life and legacy of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
  • New(ish) members ages 0-80s maxing out the longest table at the Tack Room to connect over life’s joys and challenges on a chilly Monday evening.

… just to name a few glimpses! You may have noticed we are blessed of late to be in the company of fresh newborn babies and spunky nonagenarians every week. The power of this scope across the life cycle cannot be overstated. It’s about more than just sharing a pew, it’s about piecing our shared humanity together.

We sometimes say on Sunday mornings that your presence makes us all more whole, and we mean it. There are not many settings in our culture where we get to cultivate deep relationships across generations outside of family. Nurturing age diversity makes us stronger and more resilient in the face of adversity. A grandmother prays for the safety of your nonbinary child. A cancer survivor drops a meal on the stoop of someone going through treatment. You make a soul friend half (or twice!) your age. Magic is afoot.

In service of this magic, we’re launching an experiment this winter of offering intentionally intergenerational worship once a month or so. The first was Lunar New Year, the next Sundays will be 2/23 and 3/30: think multi-sensory ritual, interactive storytelling, kids in leadership roles, etc. When we look to children for wisdom, they know their voices and visions matter. When we cultivate wonder in “grown-ups,” we deepen our spiritual well to keep imagining the world as it might be.

Speaking of imagination, please do RSVP to join us on February 5 for our Imagine This! dinner and congregation-wide listening session, as we imagine the future of our Parish House. God knows we need the input of all ages and stages to live into the future the Spirit is leading us towards… together.

See you in church,
Kit and Nate

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