We Will Tell the Next Generation ~ Family Devotions

...We will tell the next generation
the praiseworthy deeds of the LORD,
his power, and the wonders he has done.
Psalm 78:4b

Barbara over at Mommy Life has a wonderful post today about Family Devotions in her home. I commented there and told about some of the things we do in this regard, and I got so excited I decided to start a little mini-series on this subject of passing on our faith to our kids. In our homeschool, and in our everyday life, we try to be very intentional about teaching our children deep doctrinal truths. We want them to have a bedrock foundation so that the Holy Spirit has lots of "handles" with which to grab our children's hearts in His good timing.

I am grateful and blessed to have a husband who has a very short commute and so has time to lead our family in devotions every morning before he leaves. There have been seasons when that wasn't the case, and family devotions were in the evening, or whenever we could manage to get everyone together. I know everyone doesn't have this ability, and I think it's just important to set a regular routine and stick to it. If Rick couldn't do it in the mornings, I made sure I did something during the day, even if it was just a short Bible story and prayer before naps. And we have had plenty of times when our family devotions are disrupted by crying or uncooperative children, but as they have grown, they have learned that this is what we do together daily as a family. Daily perseverance is truly the key.

Since both Rick and I were raised in the Episcopal Church (see the last post), we both have a deep respect and love for the Book of Common Prayer. We begin our daily devotional time with Morning Prayer. It's amazing how quickly our kids have learned the prayers, the Apostle's Creeds, and the Scriptures that are part of the service. Each child has a prayer book, and even the non-readers like to follow along.

After that, Rick usually uses a daily devotional called "Training Hearts, Teaching Minds" which goes through the questions of the Westminster Shorter Catechism, one question each week, with five days of teaching and application on each one.

I have a list of Scripture that the kids memorize individually from age 3 up as well. And we memorize things together as a family.

All of our kids are also memorizing catechism questions. The younger kids use First Catechism from Great Commission Publications, and then they graduate to the Westminster Shorter by the time they are about 10 or so. I start my little guys at age 3 with the First Catechism, and it is just so cool to hear them...and then to see them start making connections with every area of their lives...

Who made you? God...
What else did God make? God made all things...
Why did God make you and all things? For his own glory...
How can you glorify God? By loving Him and doing what He commands...
Why are you to glorify God? Because He made me and takes care of me...

Talk about TRUE self-worth! :) I highly recommend catechizing your kids. I am amazed at the doctrine I have learned, even from the First Catechism. And it sure helps in answering those unanswerable questions kids love to ask.

Great Commission also has a neat little thing called Memory Work Notebook by Paul Settle. It divides the catechism questions into a grouping for each year from age 3 to 12th grade, with suggested Scripture and hymns and creeds to memorize as well. I have found that to be a great track to run on. There's also a CD of songs that reinforce these catechism questions by Judy Rogers called "Why Can't I See God?" It is excellent!

We also sing hymns, and do other things with Scripture during the day. I will post some more of the things we do in future posts.

Why Lent?

Thou blessed Spirit, Author of all grace and comfort,
Come, work repenetance in my soul;
Represent sin to me in its odious colors
that I may hate it,
...Show me my ruined self
and the help there is in Thee;...
May I confide in His power and love,
commit my soul to Him without reserve
bear His image,
observe His laws,
pursue His service,
and be through time and eternity
a monument to the efficacy of His grace
a trophy of His victory

~Valley of Vision

For the first time in many years, I attended an Ash Wednesday service at St. Peter's, our local Episcopal (yes, Episcopal! see note at bottom of this post) church. The whole point of Lent (this is for my dear non-liturgical friends) is a season of repentance and reflection in preparation for a glorious celebration of Easter. Even after ten years of being in a decidedly non-liturgical church, every year I am reminded that there is no Easter without a Good Friday. The forty days of Lent have always been a precious preparation time which makes Easter so much more meaningful for me.

The associate rector gave the sermon, and he was really marvelous. One of his comments really struck me. He said the Hassidic Jews had a tradition that each man must have two pockets in his coat. In one pocket he should have a slip of paper that says "I am but dust, and to dust I shall return". In the other pocket, a slip that says, "God created the whole universe for me". It is vital that we understand these two truths about who we are, so that we can begin to fathom a holy and righteous, yet merciful and loving Father, and respond to Him in love. So we can comprehend our "ruined selves" and still be a "trophy of grace".

*Yes, dear friends, Episcopal churches can be orthodox and Christian. St. Peter's is a church to watch, and pray for. From what I saw there, I believe you will see this church standing firm and continuing in the faith through the current storm which God is using to purge the apostate Episcopal Church... Praise God, and pray for all the courageous congregations who will stand firm!!