Permission to introduce Permissive Spaces

She wants to be dancing by the baptismal font.

She wants her amens to be in arms length of the pulpit.

She wants her praise to God to be dance.

She wants to be where her brother is,

under the table,

barefoot.

She asks unquietly, “can I play with you?”

She says it louder to get a verbal response.

She runs in the opposite direction of my encouragement.

She gathers the chalk in her palm,

converting it into a game piece.

She sings loudly,

as she is paying close attention.

She adds noise,

and visibility to children in worship.

I ask her, how are you sharing this space?

How are you letting other people be in here too?

How are you conscious of a shared container?

She waves at babies.

She smiles at elders.

She answers the question, how am I growing with reverence that is authentic to her personality.

It’s loud,

and playful,

and contemplative,

and it fills the space.

It gathers the scattered pieces and links them together with each additional twirl.

It makes eye contact with intention.

It removes any conduit that creates unwanted distance between me and the sacred.

It swells and it tests the trust equity with every bit of space that it moves into.

She says, home is for our true expression.

Worship can feel like home.

Worship can bridge the physical with the spiritual.

As whispers, as not quite whispers, as amens that are less than an arms length from our altar.

How am I growing you ask?

How are you?