Don’t Waste Your Quarantine: A Call for Private and Family Worship
I’d originally planned to write the second part of our series looking at the Lord’s Supper as we moved towards partaking of the bread and wine more frequently. But in God’s providence we’ve decided to not partake of the Lord’s Supper in April because we can’t gather physically as a body. Depending on how long our government’s social distancing recommendations remain, we may look at other ways we can faithfully participate in this sacrament.
In the past couple weeks, we have been forced to simplify our lives. We no longer have to drive kids to and from school or sports. Many of us are no longer commuting. Birthday parties and other social functions have been postponed. Though our lives are simpler now, these changes have brought a slew of unexpected difficulties. With everything going on I’ve been returning again and again to the question, “How do we at JVC not waste this quarantine?” I think one of the best answers I’ve come to is simply this: let’s use this time to begin practices of personal and family worship. We are in a unique situation; most people have more time, less routine, and growing worries--many of us with just our immediate family for company. It would be easy to let anxiety and frustration take over; let’s instead take this opportunity to start new routines of private and family worship.
Private Worship
Private worship (or devotions) is simply setting aside time in the day to worship God. It’s easy for Christians to get too dogmatic about devotions, by mandating that it must be done a certain way: right after you wake up, before you look at your phone, for at least fifteen minutes (are you even trying otherwise?)... It’s easy for us to feel inferior or beat ourselves up because we don’t think we’re doing as much as others, or we feel like we aren’t getting anything from reading our Bibles.
Many people never start a daily habit of worship because their expectations are too high; they don’t know when they’ll get thirty minutes alone, or even fifteen. Or they set the alarm an hour earlier with big aspirations that are bound to fail. Instead, start small. Consider just five minutes a day of reading the Bible and praying. Find little ways to make a better use of time, like spending your morning commute (once you start commuting again) listening to an audio Bible and praying. Or get in the habit of praying while doing dishes or folding laundry. There are many ways in which we can incorporate worship into our schedules.
If you look through the Bible, it’s hard to find specific verses that describe devotions as we think of them today. In fact most all of the worship described in the Bible is corporate, not individual. But we can find a number of passages that speak of meditating on God’s word and deeds. Psalm 1:2 describes the blessed person as one “whose delight is in the law of the LORD, and who meditates on his law day and night.” In Joshua 1:8, the Lord says to Joshua, “Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.” Deuteronomy 17:19-20 instructs any future king of Israel to “write for himself on a scroll a copy of this law, taken from that of the Levitical priests. It is to be with him, and he is to read it all the days of his life so that he may learn to revere the LORD his God and follow carefully all the words of this law and these decrees.”
As we look at these verses, we see that the goal of private worship is to weave God’s word into your life--not just to read it, but to ingest it, to make it part of yourself. Private worship will look different for everyone, depending on personality, schedule, or stage of life. Some of you might be able to spend an hour reading Scripture, journaling and praying. Others might only be able to read one verse and return to it over and over throughout the day. It’s not helpful to compare yourself to others, so ask yourself, “Is my private worship leading me to greater communion with God?”
Nuts and Bolts
It can be difficult to simply pick up the Bible and have a rich devotional life. As we mature as Christians, we should be able to do that more and more, but thankfully there are a number of helps for those of us who need a little guidance. Here are some resources that may be helpful to you.
JVC All Church Devotional – If you were to just do one of these, I’d encourage you to join with the rest of the church in working through these.
Morning & Evening – A classic work by the baptist Pastor Charles Spurgeon. Each devotional is short and applicable. You can order a hard copy on Amazon as well.
New City Catechism Devotional – Provides scripture readings and a short commentary for each of the questions.
Dwell – A highly recommended audio Bible geared for daily devotions. There is a limited free version, but they are offering the full version free for 60 days.
My Daily Office – Based on the Anglican practice of morning and evening prayers. Includes scripture readings and prayers for the morning and evening.
For the Love of God: Include a Bible reading plan and a short commentary on each passage.
New Morning Mercies – Provides 356 gospel-centered devotions. By Paul Tripp.
Family Worship
In many ways, families are like small churches. One of the ways we identify future elders and deacons is to look for those pastoring their families well. They are spiritual leaders in their homes, and we’d like more of the church to experience that type of care. While much of what I say here is primarily addressed to families with children at home, it can apply to other situations as well. For example, if you are single, you can invite other singles over for a time of worship. If you are married to someone who doesn’t share your faith, family worship can be hard, if not impossible. Pray for God to show you ways to incorporate some of these things. I would guess that one of your greatest longings would be for your whole family to be able to worship together. For those of us who are married to believers, let’s not take for granted this great blessing of worshiping together.
Throughout the Bible, we see that the primary responsibility for passing on the faith to the next generation lies with parents. Churches and friends can help, but in the end parents carry the weight of this responsibility. In Deuteronomy 6:6-7, God speaks through Moses to the parents of Israel saying, “These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.” Notice Moses doesn’t say children need to be enrolled in Sampson's Hunting Club or David’s Music School; on the contrary, the things we typically associate with kids’ ministry are absent. These things are not wrong, but God’s design for passing on our faith to the next generation is less about programs and more about authentic displays of God’s word in all of life.
Family worship is simply time set aside to come together as a family and learn about God. Many books prescribe various (and detailed!) models for family worship. I believe we have freedom to do what works best for our individual families. Family worship is a microcosm of Sunday worship with the family of God. Thus, family worship would be some combination of prayer, singing, reading the Bible and talking about God.
I can’t stress enough the freedom we have in this. Young families will find it hard to get the kids to sit for more than a few minutes. Families where both parents work or have unusual schedules will find it hard to settle into a regular routine. Don’t set unrealistic goals for what your family needs; it only creates unnecessary stress and guilt.
Parents show what they worship in how they prioritize their time, whether in sports programs or other club activities, or something else. Children pick up on this. Worshiping all these other things without any formal worship of God sends a clear message about what is important to the family.
There are a number of books and online resources that provide plans for family worship. One thing that has worked well in our family with young kids is to read a section of the Jesus Storybook Bible, ask a few questions about it, let the kids pick a song, and then pray together. As our girls have gotten older we’ve found they enjoy working through a kids’ catechism. They like quizzing us back as we ask them questions. Like everyone else, we struggle to do this as often as we’d like, but these times have been a blessing for our family. One of the blessings of the past few weeks is we’ve been able to have family worship much more regularly.
I have fond childhood memories of family worship. Sometimes we would read a passage of Scripture; other times my dad would read from a Christian book or the Westminster Confession of Faith. What I remember most, though, is the discussions these sparked. My sisters and I would often have questions about what we read. Sometimes we would disagree or not understand things. And what I remember most is my parents patiently taking time to answer questions, letting us express our doubts and wrestle with difficult topics. I credit these times for showing me how much my parents valued their faith. I learned that we don’t need to be afraid of tough questions, and these discussions were instrumental in making my faith my own. Through family worship, my parents provided an environment for me to grow in my own love and knowledge of God.
Nuts and Bolts of Family Worship
Keep it simple, especially if you are starting out. Kids usually resist at first, but with gentle perseverance they start to enjoy it (or at least complain less!). I’m sure my parents could speak of all the times me and my sisters complained, and yet they didn’t give up, they adapted to our changing situations, and now I look back at those times as key to my growth in the faith.
JVC All Church Devotional – They have bonus questions and activities for kids.
New City Catechism App – We are currently doing one question a week as a church. The app allows you to toggle the kids version of the questions and also has songs for each one.
The Children's Catechism – A classic, simplified catechism. Even our youngest, Luke can answer the first couple questions. You can ask one question a day and spend a few minutes talking about it.
Jesus Storybook Bible – Great for people of all ages. Read one story a day and then pray.
The Bible – As your kids get older, you may just want to pick a book of the Bible and read a chapter a day.
Conclusion
If you’ve ever monitored your screen time through the day, it’s often shocking to see how much those “quick glances” at your phone add up. We are constantly being shaped and molded by what our eyes and ears take in. Our screen time and schedules reveal what we really love. But this time, we’ve got an opportunity to reset and reprioritize. Just try incorporating private and family worship into every day life for the next month. Experiment with different times or formats to discover what works for you. Certainly you’ll have to make some adjustments when life picks back up again, but perhaps you’ll see that all that stuff wasn’t as important as you once thought. And hopefully you’ll have discovered that, unlike the news that we are constantly ingesting, the word of God is news that brings life. Will you join me in making the most of this quarantine and starting practices of personal and family worship?
In Christ,
Pastor Jon