Little Worship!

I'm working on an idea called 'Little Worship' - NOT, as it first sounds, that everyone worships me!  In fact the exact opposite!  It's worship, but done in a 'little' way.

I'm taking my theological cue from Jesus' Parables, in which he kingdom of God is constantly compared to something little - a tiny mustard seed, a seed growing in the earth or scattered into soil, a pearl, a coin, a bit of yeast.


What can we make from this 'littleness' of the kingdom (or at least the 'littleness' of its coming)?

What can we make of Jesus' attitude to the 'little' people he met - children, Zaccheus (the small-in-stature tax collector) and also those who simply felt little - insignificant or marginalised.

So much of our worship seems to try and reflect the magnitude, the majesty, the ineffable sublimity (to quote one hymn!) of God.  I risk being charged with cynicism when I point out that all this is, of course, doomed to failure.  How can our expression of worship ever hope to match (or even invoke) the  terrible, beautiful awesomeness of God?

I wonder then, whether we might be better pouring energy into making our worship smaller rather than bigger.  

The ukelele I recently got given by my dear youth group in Scotland has been a revelation to me (as someone whose life's work has been intent on making bigger and bigger noises with a guitar).  Suddendly I have this instrument that is physically little, and only makes 'little' sounds.   My songwriting has changed too - only little songs come out of the ukelele.

All of this is set against a backdrop of thinking and puzzling about how to do all-age worship.  I'm crazily envisaging a church service where everything is little - all the instruments are toy-sized and make little sounds (glockenspiels, recorders, harmonicas, ukeleles, finger cymbals).  Our teaching would come in a little chunk, and speak to the little people within us, among us and around us.  

We learn to be mustard seeds before rushing to invite the birds to nest in our branches.

Humility.  Littleness.  Meekness, which is power under wraps, and all the more powerful for it.

Little Worship!

EDIT:
Just found this wonderful post on another blog quoting Pope Benedict and Chesterton on EXACTLY what I am talking about:

http://love2learnblog.blogspot.co.uk/2007/04/theology-of-littleness.html