This is the third in a series of columns about family faith
practices. The first was about prayer at
meals. The second was about daily
devotions. This one is about worshipping
together.
A mother asked a pastor how she
could motivate her son to come to Sunday school. He would soon be the age for confirmation
classes, and she wanted him confirmed.
It is a hard thing to deal with a child who does not have any concern
for the life of the spirit whether that child is 3, 13 or 30. But the only thing the pastor could think to
say to the woman was “model the kind of life you want your child to live.” In this case, neither the mother nor the
father of the child showed any enthusiasm for the worship of God or the study
of God’s Word so the pastor did not say out loud what the pastor was thinking
to say. The pastor should have said, “if
you want your son to go to church, start going to church with him with a glad
and cheerful heart.”
Several studies have shown that
children whose mothers are active in the life of the church are somewhat likely
to follow in their mother’s footsteps.
Children whose fathers are active in the church are more likely to be
active church members when they grow up.
And children whose mother and father worship together with them each
Sunday are most likely to share the same faith in God and the same active
church life as their parents. The
biggest influence on the life of a child is what the parents do. This is more important than what the parents
say or what the parents desire.
When I was younger there was a
common saying: “the family that prays together stays together.” At the time I first heard this saying I
understood it to mean the family that prays together in church each Sunday is
more likely to stay together. I am sure
this was influenced by the pictures that often accompanied this saying. They were pictures of a picture-perfect
family sitting in a pew with hands folded and heads bowed in prayer. It is true that families that worship
together have a slightly better statistical chance of avoiding a family
breakup.
So the third family faith
practice I would commend to you this year is the habit of worshipping together
in a house of worship each week. It will
bring you all closer together as well as closer to the Lord.
There are no guarantees, of
course. As much as parents may wish to
mold the lives of their children, or grandparents influence their
grandchildren, or brothers and sisters have a positive impact on their
siblings, each person is a unique individual, and each person must make his or
her own commitment to the Lord. Many a
fine Christian parent has been like the father in the Parable of the Prodigal
Son (Luke 15) watching a child wander off to the far country. Many a tear has been shed over the apparent
complete lack of spiritual life in a relative.
But that does not negate the need to be the best positive influence
possible in those situations or the power of living the life you would like
someone else to live.
The third commandment (Exodus 20)
is “Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.
Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a
Sabbath to the Lord your God.” One of
their defining characteristics of the people of Israel
was to be the observance of the Sabbath.
In the Catechism (Part 1, #3), Luther said about this commandment, “We
are to fear and love God so that we do not neglect his Word and the preaching
of it, but regard it as holy and gladly hear and learn it.” Luther stayed away from a legalistic interpretation
of the commandment and centered his understanding of it on the Word of
God. And he even went so far as to say
that a Christian should “gladly” hear and learn it. Perhaps he was thinking of Psalm 122 which
begins “I was glad when they said to me, ‘let us go to the house of the
Lord.’” Luther himself expressed great
joy in preaching the Word of God and singing God’s praise in the
congregation. He would not have us think
that it is merely a duty to attend weekly worship services, but it is a joy and
a delight to be together with the family in the house of the Lord.
I might add personally, now that
my children are grown and scattered, that it is a great joy for me when all of
us are together in one pew singing the praises of our Lord and listening to the
Word of God. It warms my heart every
time. And I believe it brings us closer
together.
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