Back to Blogging: Reflections on Festival of the Christian Home

I have been feeling nudged to blog again. I know I said I was done... but it would seem that I was in truth on hiatus. I am not yet sure where this will lead... but I continue on the journey. Thanks for musing with me.

 Here is what I wrote for the June newsletter on faith and family and spiritual formation:

 Festival of the Christian Home 

 I have begun reading a biography of Martin Luther King Jr. One of the things that has struck me about his childhood is how steeped he was in the faith. By the age of 5 he could recite Scripture and sing entire hymns from memory. Granted, this was an example of what a bright, precocious child he was. However, it got me thinking: my kids are in church every Sunday and they are “PKs” (preachers’ kids), just like he was.

Many of us are raising children in the faith, and care deeply about their spiritual development. All of us have entered the baptismal covenant, promising God to raise these children in the faith. How many of our children could sing and recite, even at age 10? 15? How many of our adults could?

If the answers to these questions make you squirm, join me in feeling uncomfortable.

 In the Month of May we celebrate Mother’s Day and in June Father’s Day. There has been a movement within the church for many years to rename these days “Festival of the Christian Home.” Although I am not in the habit of using this term in general conversation, I do find it helpful and challenging; for what we celebrate in the church on these days is the faithful witness of these men and women in the lives of families.

We learn what we live, the old saying goes. Do our homes reflect the life of faith we seek to embody? As I have been meeting with families preparing for baptism, and people preparing for membership vows, I have been sharing my ideal for family prayer and scripture. My ideal is that I would pray every morning as my children go off to school, read Scripture and devotion together at dinner time, and pray with them every night as they go to bed. Here is my reality: we pray every night before bed, and sometimes in the morning, and sometimes at dinner we get out the Bible and discuss it. We are still “going onto perfection” as old Methodists would say.

As my children grow older, I am feeling increasingly convicted that the time I have to share the faith with them is short and precious. So I am resolving to do better, by the grace of God in the strength of the Holy Spirit. I want my children, and all of our children, teenagers, and adults, to hear God’s Word spoken into our daily lives. I challenge us to wrestle, and pray, and talk, and share together, when we gather on Sundays, and every day of the week. Regardless of your family configuration, age, or experience, I invite and encourage you to reflect upon how you live together in a Christian home.

 I close by suggesting some resources to use.
 • The Upper Room is a wonderful devotional guide that is available for pick up at church, and also can be delivered to your email inbox. http://www.upperroom.org/  (This is good for all ages.)

 For Families raising children:
• The Beginner's Bible, Karyn Henley and Dennas Davis, Word Publishing, 1997. (This is my favorite children’s bible for toddlers and elementary school.)
• 365 Family Devotions: Little Visits. Concordia Publishing
• Family, The Forming Center: A Vision of the Role of Family in Spiritual Formation, Marjorie J. Thompson, Upper Room Books, Nashville 1996. (This is a good foundational read.)
• Children and Prayer: A Shared Pilgramage, Betty Shannon Cloyd, Upper Room Books, Nashville 1997. (Another good read.)

 For Adults and older youth:
• The Wesley Study Bible, William H. Willimon (Editor), Joel B. Green (Editor)
• The Life with God Bible NRSV, Renovare. Richard J. Foster, Dallas Willard, Walter Brueggemann, Eugene H. Peterson, Bruce Demarest, Evan Howard, James Earl Massey, Catherine Taylor, Rebecca Gaudino
 • A Disciple's Journal - Year B: A Guide for Daily Prayer, Bible Reading, & Discipleship, Steve Manskar
 • Openings: A Daybook of Saints, Psalms, and Prayer, Larry James Peacock Striving to be faithful, Pastor Amy

Telling Stories

I have recently become keenly aware of the fact that my kids, ages 5 and 7, are in full story telling mode. They drink up stories. They ask for them to be told in the car when we are riding. I have also realized that its now or never in terms of being intentional about family devotions and Bible stories if I want them to be a part of their lives. My 7 year old, Shannon, can handle them well. Jacob. at 5, is hit or miss.

So I have taken to telling Bible stories in the car. When we drove an hour to my sister's, I told them the story of Joseph, Moses, and the Exodus. When we drove home last night and Jacob asked for a story, I told the story of the Exile. At the end he said "that was a sad story Mommy." I agreed that it is. I also pointed out that it ends with hope.

We also found a family devotion guide that we like. It is "365 Little Visits: Building Faith for a Lifetime" Vol. 4, published by Concordia. Two weeks ago, we read one about a child who found a $100 bill and imagined what she could buy. Then imaged how sad the person who lost it would be. So she turned it in to the school office. That evening, my kids found a $5 "gift card" (I think it was a coupon) on the street outside church. So they turned it in (to me!). It is in my office. I am unsure what to do with it, but each time I see it, I smile. It feels like God's sense of humor.

Our devotional life as a family waxes and wanes. I hope that we are turning over a new leaf. I hope that my kids memories are full of bible stories and faith conversations. I want them to have a sense of identity and groundedness in God's stories and in faith experiences that keeps them centered for a life time. That part is not all up to me, I know... but here's hoping!

Mommy, can we....

"Mommy, can we have family Bible study after you put Jacob to bed?"

These are the words of my daughter. She is almost five years old. Times like these make me want to pinch myself and be sure I am really living this life, being her mother. I truly believe that God has given me a precious, amazing gift in Shannon. She seems hardwired to want to learn about God, and to be as loving and good as any child her age is capable of being.

Honestly, her words put me to shame that she has to request such things of me. We always pray at night before bed, and at meal time. We have several children's Bibles she regularly moves among for story time. But our family Bible study and prayer time is sporadic at best. I am resolving to do better.

Two children's class leaders at church have commented to me in the past two weeks that Shannon has been so talkative in class discussion time. I give most all of the credit to our Sunday School. She really soaks up the stories in there.

Today, when I came home, she was playing "funeral" asking what words she needs to say to begin the funeral service.

I am beginning to suspect that God is up to something here... as hard as I try not to imagine my children's future for them, believing that is up to God to reveal to them... it's hard not to imagine that God has something ministry related planned for this child.