Pentecost Praise and Picnic in the Park

The sun shone for us, as we enjoyed our picnic in the park. It was a great worship and praise celebration time on Pentecost Sunday afternoon and we were very pleased to be joined by friends from our neighbouring St Wilfred's Church. We sang songs of praise accompanied by Calverley Methodist Church's monthly Thursday worship team "Let's Praise Band".

Beforehand we had asked our Calverley Junior Church if they would like to pick a hymn or a song for us all to sing together in the park. They chose "The Happy Song" by Pharrell Williams. Our Let's Praise Band didn't feel too confident to actually play the "Happy Song", so we decided to play it from the CD. This song has recently been in the charts. I don't know why, but not many of us Methodists had ever heard it before!!! If you don't know the "Happy Song", it's quite a fast tune with a very catchy chorus, singing over and over the words "I'm happy". There were actions too; we were miming dancing, swimming, washing and more! What was amazing was the effect this song had on passers-by, even children  who had been playing on the swings etc - came to join us, singing and dancing together! Maybe because it was a familiar pop song, young people (who I later found out sang this pop song in school as a "wake up and get moving" song) and a lot of non-church folks came to join us!

It really was amazing!! Maybe, just maybe...we at church need to wake up and take notice and really look at singing more modern songs/hymns in church especially for our young people. It was an amazing witness singing and dancing, worshipping and praising God in the park. It really was "All Age Worship" at its best!

Kim