In This Issue: “Neighborhood Liturgy: Mister Rogers and Liturgical Formation"

The issue of Liturgy entitled “Worship and Formation,” guest-edited by E. Byron Anderson, explores how the liturgy “schools” the assembly through language, ritual, music, shaping of time, and distortion of its intention. This excerpt from “Neighborhood Liturgy: Mister Rogers and Liturgical Formation” by Michelle Whitlock is about creating intergenerational worship by paying attention to how Fred Rogers’ television show for children incorporated various regular practices to create community. –– Melinda Quivik

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Fred McFeely Rogers was a television legend known for his popular children’s program, Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood. He wrote and produced the program for more than thirty years. A musician and puppeteer, Rogers also composed songs for the program and voiced beloved puppets like Daniel Striped Tiger, King Friday, and Lady Elaine. His unique approach to the program appealed to people of all ages, and parents often watched along with their children. Today, Mister Rogers’ legacy continues with a new generation. The adults who grew up with Mister Rogers now have children who watch Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood, an animated show based on Mr. Rogers’ Land of Make-Believe.

Over time, Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood became what Etienne Wenger calls a community of practice; a group of people “who share a concern, a set of problems, or a passion about a topic, and who deepen their knowledge and expertise in this area by interacting on an ongoing basis.” Communities of practice shape meaning and identity in the context of a practicing community. Members of the community negotiate meaning and shape their identity as they participate in the community’s practices. Communities of practice are relational places that shape our knowing and being.

Rogers created a virtual community of practice where viewers of all ages share human concerns with people they may never meet. Each episode began with the same practices, inviting the viewers into Rogers’ television home. He entered the house singing “It’s a beautiful day in the neighborhood,” hung up his jacket, and zipped up his classic cardigan. Then he sat down to slip off his dress shoes and lace up his sneakers as he finished singing, “please won’t you be my neighbor.” These and other practices created a community of practice that transcended the television screen.

In a similar way, churches are communities of practice that gather for Christian worship and formation. Where Mister Rogers transcends the television screen, liturgical practices transcend time and space to make God’s divine narrative real in the lives of the participants. Churches gather to narrate the story of God’s divine action in the world. They become participants in the story and look toward what is yet-to-be.

Church is one of the few communities of practice today where people of all ages participate in the practices, but many congregations lack an intentional approach to liturgical formation. Thankfully, Mister Rogers created an intergenerational community of practice that lasted for several generations and continues after his death. What, then, can the church learn from Mr. Rogers about the practices of a healthy community? I have identified six neighborhood practices that can be applied to intergenerational liturgy: Slow down. Transition well. Create a safe space. Be curious. Tell the story. Build diverse relationships. These practices create an intergenerational community of practice for both Mister Rogers and the church.

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Michelle L. Whitlock, pastor, teacher, and scholar, currently serves Beach Lake United Methodist Church in northeastern Pennsylvania. Her research has focused on intergenerational liturgy, imagination, and narrative. See “Liturgical Narrative and the Imagination,” Religions 15, no. 8 (2024): 993.

Whitlock, Michelle L. “Neighborhood Liturgy: Mister Rogers and Liturgical Formation.” Liturgy 40.2 (2025), 43–50.