| OCR Text |
Show CHILDREN AT WORSHIP Children Learn Responsibility By Holding Own Church Services The town of Milton, Mass., is the site of America's only children's church, run by and for children. Each Sunday morning the bell of the little colonial building calls eighty young members of the Children's Chil-dren's Church of the First Parish Unitarian church to services. A tiny, blond child with a solemn gaze toddles up to a miniature alter, al-ter, clutching a taper in both hands. Teetering back and forth on her thin legs, she lights the alter candles. One of the "elders" of the church, a 15-year-old girl, quietly quiet-ly walks to the organ and stretches her fingers over the keys as a cue : i' The doll-house-size "C h 1 1-dren's 1-dren's Church" at Milton, Mass., is the first church in the country founded exclusively exclusive-ly for children. They sing their hymns, read the scripture and conduct their own prayers. Above the youthful choir files out of its own church, headed for its parent church where the young people sometimes sing for special services. for the choir to start , assembling its dignity. There may not be much technical perfection to the 15-voice choir with its wavering childish trebles and uncertain adolescent altos but there is immense dignity. There is the same dignity about the congregation seated in the small pews. As the majestic tones of their own Hammond organ swell up, Alice-in-Wonderland-like girls sit quietly in their pews with none of the fidgeting and giggling that often characterizes youngsters attending at-tending religious services. Solemn-faced Solemn-faced boys pay determined attention atten-tion to what is going on before them, mindful that they are present pres-ent in their own church instead of that of their elders. Even the five-year five-year olds are conscious of the dignity dig-nity of their position in this, then-own then-own religious world. Children from 5 to 15 years old lead the hymns, read the scripture and conduct their own prayers. The only adult taking part is Mrs. Edyth Stonestreet, minister of this miniature congregation for the past nine years. THE CHILDREN'S CHURCH was the idea of the late wife of the Rev. Vivian Pomeroy, who is pastor of the First Parish Unitarian church attended by the children's parents. Mrs. Pomeroy believed children should have a service they could understand and enjoy, one that would be their very own. She was instrumental in having an abandoned aban-doned schoolhouse moved to the church grounds adjoining the adult church in 1937. An entry way, steeple, window shutters and paint were added to transform it - into the diminutive house of worship. Everything about it is scaled to children's size. The children begin their service in the larger church next door where the Rev. Pomeroy delivers a children's sermon but that is the end of their time in the adult religious re-ligious world. Immediately after the sermon, they file quietly out to their own small church where they take over. It's not a game with them. It is a verv serious matter and each of the 80 members reflects his satisfaction with the arrangement arrange-ment in his feeling of responsibility about the conduct of his church. |
