I wanted a chance to talk about this idea of vertical habits. I consider it to be a  universal design for language that you can use in worship with a lot of  responsive design possibilities. So you can tell this is building a bridge into  where we're going to land for the next section of our course in that personalized  Responsive Design section, but I really wanted us to think about the opportunity  that we have with vertical habits. And so a little bit of introduction to that vertical  habits was an initiative that was formed through grant project from the Calvin  Institute of Christian worship. And it was put together because the language of  the church where it was used was so difficult for people to understand. And they  said, Look, we have a lot of visitors, people who have never been to a church  before. We're asking them to enter into the prayer, prayer of illumination. They  have no clue what that means. We're using a foreign language. Can we take the language of worship and put it into some terms that make sense for many  people? Well, it was exciting to me, and as you'll you'll see in just a moment, this language of worship is so accessible to so many ages and so many people at  different developmental levels as well. So I think this has great possibility in our  congregations. And I wanted to spend enough time and give you enough  examples that you leave excited to think about and try vertical habits. So here  we go. I just can introduce it best by thinking about preschool. And as you know, I spent a lot of time at preschool and feeling Christian. The teachers spend a ton of time all summer getting ready for preschool, and they've got their shelves all  labeled, and the toys are all neat, and it takes kids about 10 minutes to trash the place when they get there. You know, it's just this chaos of kids, but I will tell  you, in preschool, I am so impressed with teachers, because I believe they are  some of the best language instructors that you will ever meet. So let me just  give this example. Mrs. Baker, brings in a treat. The teacher says, let's say,  Thank you, Mrs. Baker, and all the little kids go, Thank you, Mrs. Baker, and  then, you know, the next day, Mrs. Hernandez, brings in the treat. Let's say  thank you. So again, this repeated idea of saying thank you. But also, when do  you say thank you? It's, it's a way of forming gratitude in the hearts of  preschoolers. When do you express it and and how do you do that. But also,  there are other opportunities in a preschool to step in, certainly with the words,  I'm sorry. So, you know, the kiddo at the top of the slide smashes into the kiddo  at the bottom the slide. The teacher hustles over there and say, Oh, you need to  say sorry to Kai. And so she goes, sorry, Kai, you know. And then the kiddos  over there and smashes down the other kids blocks, and it's like, oh, the teacher runs over and say, You need to say sorry to Malik. And so they do, you know. So the list goes on and on. This teacher is always inserting, let's say thank you.  Let's say sorry, and modeling language. I think one of the most amazing days for me came, and I know it was around Thanksgiving time, because there was this  child who had they were painting turkeys, and so they had their their their 

handprints ready, and this kiddo had turkeys all over his paper, but notice that  the child next to him had a lot of white spots. And so took this painted Turkey  and slammed down his hand on the child's paper next to him, without the  teacher coming over, without that prompt, he realized what he had done. Sorry  formed in his heart, and he took the kiddo next to him and said, I'm sorry. I  would contend that the teacher should have thrown herself a party that night,  because her mission accomplished, she not only taught the child remorse and  that idea of when we say sorry, but how to do it and how to do it appropriately.  It's this beautiful language model via preschool style, I would say. Then vertical  habits would contend that worship is actually one of those places where there's  language instruction happening. Preschool is language instruction for then, but  it's language instruction for life. Worship is language instruction for now, but it's  also language instruction for life. So again, as we practice that, we get together  and we're saying, God, thank you for what you've done. Right? It's something  that we can speak out. Love this quote by Dr Thomas Long and it goes like this,  the way we talk in worship affects the way we talk in the rest. Of our lives and  vice versa. The words of worship are like stones thrown into the pond. They  ripple outward in countless concentric circles, finding ever fresh expression in  new places in our lives. Worship is a key element in the church's language  school for life. It's a provocative idea, worship as a soundtrack for the rest of life, the words and music and actions of worship inside the sanctuary playing the  background as we live our lives outside in the world. What a great quote. What a great parallel to preschool. We practice these words. We practice these habits of saying these words to God in worship, and these words extend with us out into  life. We not only ask God for help here, but as we're passing that ambulance by  the road, as we're as we're going down, down into a different day, not Sunday,  not not Sabbath, but it's Tuesday. And yet we know somebody's heard and our  first words out of our mouth are the ones we practiced in worship, saying, God  help. So again, this is a pretty powerful concept and and I guess I would, I would also like to equate this with with an other opportunity to think broadly about  worship. So would you just play with me a minute. Let's just imagine, and I don't  know what sport is big in your community, but let's just imagine that you are in a  community where you've been to the best sporting event that your town or state  holds, and you scream so loud you it sounds like such a close game, and you  were like the best fan ever. They put the TV cameras on you because you were  so into this, right? And after, after that particular event, the next day, you were  going to a worship service and you had no voice, you couldn't sing, you couldn't  speak. How would that alter your interaction with a typical worship service in  your area. Would that change some things? Would it? Would it change the way  that you experience that were how you could participate in that service? Imagine that. Just imagine, what could you actually do as part of the worship service if  you could not sing and you could not speak. What if? What if that were true for 

you every week? What if every week that was your experience because you did  not have words that you could speak or words that you could sing? What  participation points would you have in worship on a continuing basis? So I would say that vertical habits gives us a chance to think about, how do we look at  words within a worship service that allow us to form habits of conversation with  God that we take ripple out into our lives, but also is this sort of common  denominator language that everybody can participate in. It's something that we  would teach a very young child to say, but we're practicing it in the context of  worship. And as I talk this through again, think through those that might be new  to the church, would these words make more sense so often in a worship  service, often in a worship service, we might say, It's time for adoration. Let's  sing these songs of adoration and praise, really. Because what are we really  saying to God? Love you. I love you. God. How young is a child when we teach  them those words, love you. I said it to my children so many times in the gift of  when that little little boy from his bed when he was young looked at me and said, love you, Mommy, right again, practicing those habits, but we're doing this with  God. We call it a time of confession. But what are we really saying? Sorry, and  it's something we can sign. It's a word we learn early, like that preschool teacher was teaching. It's a word that people know, a time of lament. Oh, how important  it is to have opportunities to lament as a congregation. But what are we asking  God? Why? Why God? Prayer for illumination? Or can we say that's time for us  to listen. I'm listening. Petition. Chance to ask for help. Thanksgiving and  gratitude. Again, a time to say thank you to God, time of service, right? We're  asking God, what can I do? What can I do now I've heard your word. What can I  do in a time of blessing, not only as a congregation, but blessing God and so  here again, if you look on this side, these words are so accessible. These are  words we teach very young children. These are words that make sense to most  people and aren't couched in these big church language that can sometimes be  not accessible to some. I guess what I loved so much about this, not only for  that visitor, not only for that thought of WoW as I practice things. Thank you to  God in this worship service, when I see that sunrise, and it's so beautiful, and it's this sound, it's this vertical, this me and God, habit of saying thank you to God  for those things. What a gift that is. So I want to just take this apart a little bit,  because as we think about different vertical habits, well, there are things that we can draw a picture of that might be an icon, maybe, maybe those are the visuals you can put in the bulletin beside those pieces, right and in clearly, before we go too much farther, you know that this is more of our wording to God, not  necessarily God, God's words to us in a service. So I want to delineate that  there are different kinds of words, and sometimes there are words to one  another, but we're really focusing on our participation and our words to God. So  love you is something that we can say it, we can sign it, we can make a banner  about it. We can learn it in a variety of languages, right? So there are 

opportunities within this, and vertical habits are all rooted in the Psalms. And so  each one of these words comes from the psalm. Saying I love you to God is on  each heart, not only on the hearts of those who have a voice to speak it. So  what could we do if we wanted to say love you to God? All right? Well, and  words were not our thing. Certainly, there are some things that make some  sense, and I've showed you some things. We can have flags, we can have  things to wave. We can have shaky eggs that are part of that experience, that  don't have to all rely on singing the words I did bring up this break ticket that I  introduced in the children's setting, partly because there are some people for  whom loud praise can be difficult to maintain. And so sometimes we need to  provide people a ticket out of there for a short break. And so sometimes, literally, I know a family where they had an individual with them and they had four break  tickets taped on the on the chair or the pew in front of them. And this person, as  the need arose, could sense his body needed a break, he just pulled one and  left so he had four chances to leave the sanctuary. But there are ways to  structure that for individuals, but I think we need to be aware that sometimes  praise and worship is a very difficult activity for some. But how can we say love  you, and how can we get every voice to enter in, no matter what it sounds or  looks like, right? How can our voices join together, even if that voice is a  movement or a gesture of some sort? Sorry again, it's something that we can  sign, it's something that we can picture. It's something that we can have learn in  a variety of languages. Love this. This was, again, a great children's application  of this from cornerstone, Christian Reformed Church. They were called the  pebbles, which I thought was sort of cute, the children's ministry of Cornerstone. But pebbles get in trouble. And clearly, this is their writing. It's great, but this is  as a child, they were digesting sorry. So when pebbles get in trouble, they  sometimes say, I didn't do it. This is a picture of Luke when he spilled water,  right? Sometimes I don't say I'm sorry, because I don't want to be in trouble. And then there's a little girl that says, how about you just say sorry. Clearly, they had  these great groups of kids working on this. When we do something wrong, we  don't say sorry. This is how we feel sad, angry, guilty. Not exactly sure about the  crossed out face, but whatever it might have drawn one too many, but eventually pebbles, they always say, I'm sorry. We're sorry. I'm sorry I did it. It was my fault. I won't do it again. I didn't mean to. And again, that was their participation and  learning to say, I'm sorry. What a beautiful expression in the children's setting, in the adult setting, they had some artists that were thinking about that within their  congregation. And again, the cup was to represent the Lord's Supper. And  sometimes that act of saying sorry before you enter into the Lord's Supper in an  illustration of that. So people can access this idea of sorry in a variety of ways.  And I think it's just a lovely opportunity. So some ideas that I'm thinking about for sorry, one of the things that I'm thinking about, and let me take one of those  pictures. Whoops, one of those pictures off. Had an individual sometimes, again,

it's just an illustration of sometimes we need to think differently about a situation  they were talking about, I'm sorry. And someone came forward who happens to  have autism spectrum disorder, and she was pretty insistent that she was  having a hard time forgiving. Very closely related with this topic, right? And it  was a caregiver that she had had in a group home, and she had a pray to  forgive Susie. And so the pastor called me, and. He said, 38 times. 38 times. 38  weeks, she has come forward for prayer to forgive Susie. Every week we do  this, and I can't do 39 said, Okay, thanks for being honest. Talk to me about how you're doing this. He said, Well, she comes forward. I asked permission to put  my hand on her shoulder. That's good, right? I said, Yes, that's very important.  Good job. But then, then she she, she tells me the story. We pray, she smiles,  she gives me a hug, and then she leaves. But the next week, she's back. He  said this, forgiveness is not holding and I said, You know what? Words are not  her first language. I happen to know this about this individual. Can you know  why don't you try this? You have a cross over there on the other side of church.  Would you get some sticky notes? Would you write this person's name, this  individual she wanted to forgive on this sticky note, and say, you know, when we forgive somebody, we can take that person, we can leave that person with Jesus over by that cross, and then we don't need to think about that person anymore.  We're free. We don't need to think about that person. So they did that, I said, but leave the sticky note there. It's a habit. After 38, 39 weeks, she's coming back.  But when she does the next week, just say, Oh, but remember where we left?  Susie. So he did as I said, you know. And they, they took the sticky note over  there, and the next week she came back. And he said, but where did we leave?  Susie? She looked it's like, Oh, yeah. And then it was done again. Sometimes  we need to think more broadly, and we need to put things in the language, the  first language. And sometimes that first language, we're not talking about  English or or Mandarin, we're talking about the first language as that that that  big being pictures or an opportunity to think about forgiveness in other than  words. So another thing that I just want to bring up is sometimes in  congregations, I have seen us be too for lack of a better term, tolerant, forgive  me for for being that way. I did a session once, and it was called, you know, it  was all about showing acceptance and and, sorry, I'm just going to tell you what  happened, because this is a real story from a real congregation. And I called  back six weeks later, I said, How are things going? And she said, Oh, well, okay, so I knew there was a story. Apparently, they had a young adult with autism who  was there, and after every worship service, he was walking around and touching women's chests, and they were just standing around accepting that behavior.  And I said, No, no, no, no, no, that's not okay. We need to also say everybody  has responsibility to the community. And I said, we can't allow people to have  patterns in their life that that caused them to say sorry, right? And so that we  need to work with that. We discovered that it was only happening after the 

worship service. This individual was sitting too long. He was overstimulated, so  we paired him up with another adult male from the congregation. They left early  behind the bar. They started to pour coffee for people and set it out, and that  fixed that particular issue. But again, that's part of that piece of sorry. And again,  I pulled these illustrations so you could think creatively and broadly around  these vertical habits. Why? Oh my goodness, again, something we could see.  We could sign it, we could learn it in a variety of languages. And I think, Oh, how important it is to give individuals a chance to enter into a time of lament, where  we gather together to ask God why. And I'll just give an illustration of this too. I  was asked to lead a memorial service for somebody, and you'll hear about this,  and one of the things that we incorporated were some vertical habits. We  wanted to say, thank you for this person's life. We wanted to ask for God's help.  Wanted to say, Why? Why did he have to leave so young? And again, it puts  into words that question, and very much as part of the Psalms, thinking a lot  about people who've experienced trauma, and the importance of allowing  people a safe place to just sit in that place, of asking why? Certainly, God  understands each one of those places and has given us that tool in scripture of  lament and why don't we have as a Bible Memory a verse, something from  Psalm 13, to give voice to all of those different pieces that are part of our life. I'm listening again. I'll be talking a little bit more about that, but the idea of, how can  we build in some of those multi sensory ideas? How can we have idea bank for  I'm listening sometimes, as I mentioned in universal design, having those key  concepts can be helpful. And sometimes we may need to import some really  great ideas. When we cover in a few weeks, the idea of working with persons  who may have an intellectual disability. I have some examples that are part of  that. But sometimes we need to adapt. Some things and pull into pieces that  would allow others to connect with that. Again, as I said, vertical habits gives us  this universal design language for good avenues for responsive design. So we'll  cover more of that in that section, but I think it has some great opportunities for  choosing curriculum, choosing adaptations to curriculum and the like. Stay  tuned. We have exciting things coming, I think, another area, again, vertical  habit help, and again, there have been some communities that have done some  wonderful community work around that petition and the like. So again,  sometimes we need to offer that help in specific ways. One of the tools in the  back of helping kids, include kids with disabilities, is just sort of this help guide if  you have an individual and you're doing cutting, here are some substitutions you can make if you're asking people to write, here some substitutions you can  make, speaking, coloring, there's a whole adept adaptation guide. So again,  help is something that we can say to God, but help is also something we need to provide sometimes, when people are in the middle of an activity that might need  some extra help. So enjoy that saying thank you again. And what can I do? I'll,  I'll just back up a minute. I think one of the coolest things that we can do, too, is 

to is to give that voice. And so it was a beautiful thing the day that that Pastor  decided to be bold and wear an apron, right? I introduced this material, but  brought it into the worship service. They were saying thank you to God, and they wanted to collect all of those ideas. So in addition to, you know, perhaps offering that texting option, also knew that they could bring this to the individual who had  control over her eyes, and could stand in front of that person and spread out this far, could say to that person, would you look at what you're thankful for when  you're standing this close, you can tell exactly what that person is thankful for.  And you know that person chose something and said they were thankful for  church. Well, now we can go ahead and we'll add that to our prayer of  thanksgiving. So again, when you take the idea of saying thank you, or I'm  listening, or saying Help, and you can come up with some very specific tools we  can use to bring into a worship setting to allow for a variety of ways to respond.  Would I always have an apron and those pictures available? No, probably not.  That's not a universal design feature, perhaps, but I would if this is part of  somebody's plan. So again, universal design language with responsive design  options available. So again, what can I do? And I would encourage you to think  about something else with this. So often we don't remember to poll the gifts of  the people who are involved, and so often we put people well, we're going to  have our people with Down syndrome service greeters. Well, that might work if  they were all gifted and greeting, we really need to get to know that person's  puzzle piece. How can that person serve? How can that person be involved in  the congregation, greeting, serving coffee, yard work, office support, making  food. What gifts does this person bring to this community. So remember that part of what can I do also means that each person is involved in doing something  special. So I was explaining Marie earlier, who had a limited ability to speak but  had an absolutely typical IQ. One of the things that we found was interesting  with her is the children, where we were becoming afraid of Marie, excuse me,  they were becoming a little bit afraid of her. And so we were trying to think,  Okay, what gift could Marie offer that would intersect with the children? And so  not only did she hold the candy basket at a harvest festival that they were  offering kids could go and pull a piece of candy off her lap from this basket. But  then after that, they also decided to have her be the holder of the children's  bulletins in her lap, so at a certain point during the service, they could go get this specialized children's item from Marie's lap. And she loved it, because Marie  loved kids, but the kids became familiar with Marie, and it was much less fearful. In fact, the next problem was they kept hanging all over her wheelchair. We had  to work on that next. But it was this beautiful thing of thinking, okay, how can we  use her gifts and also create a community of children who were more  comfortable connecting with her and in that setting again, back through how we  can enter into telling God who he is. Are these things that we can sign, we can 

say as we develop this great language of worship. How can we then plant some  things in that are not just words only. So that is the trip through vertical habits.



Last modified: Thursday, April 23, 2026, 8:45 AM