March 31, 2020
As I’ve been thinking about what to share with you all in this update, the topic of Family Worship keeps coming to my mind. In an earlier email, we briefly listed the practice of family worship as one of several things we encouraged you to begin doing during this time (we also shared a document with some tips and resources).
But as I have thought about it, I am imagining that there are several of you who think family worship is a good idea, but may not know where to begin (especially with young children!). I thought I’d briefly share our practice as a family to give you an idea of what family worship could look like.
In our home, family worship lasts about 10 minutes from start to finish (this is not a full Bible study by any means!). We worship after dinner, usually at the table (sometimes on the couch). Right now, we are using a book called, Long Story Short by Marty Machowski. It goes through the Old Testament, teaching children the story line of Scripture and connecting everything to Christ.
We read the assigned passage and I ask the pre-written questions (sometimes simplifying them to be more age-appropriate for David). Then we sing one song, usually either a hymn from theTrinity Hymnal or a Psalm from the Trinity Psalter. I then say a (short!) closing prayer and we are done.
Another resource that we have just started using are the Ask Me Whooo children’s catechism songs. This is a great way to teach young children deep theological truths in a fun way!
And don’t think that we are all perfectly seated with no distractions. It can be crazy at times, but it is also a wonderful opportunity to get into the rhythm of worshiping God as a family each day. In our home we aim to do it every night, so that way when we miss a night here and there it doesn’t throw us off track. What is most important about this is the habit of doing it.
Not every day provides some mountain top spiritual experience; in fact, some days you may feel like nothing was gained. But you are training your children (and yourself) to worship God every day, to listen to his word, to praise him through prayer and song. I can’t think of any activity more important to begin incorporating into our lives than regular family worship. (If you live alone, you might consider reaching out to someone else in the church and organizing a brief daily phone or video call so that you can read, sing, and pray together!)
I hope that these thoughts give you some practical guidance as you seek to worship the Lord as a family!
-Pastor Eric