Worship

Worship is more than liturgy, singing, music, or even a gathering. Worship is a lifestyle. I’ll never grow tired of proclaiming that truth. More importantly, God will never get tired of hearing it.
We are made for worship. All of creation is meant to glorify God. Paul tells the Colossians that whatever they do, they are to do it as unto the Lord. What if that understanding was realized in our lives? What implications would that have in fathers, mothers, and children?

Family

With the same token, family is more than people, it’s more than kinship, more than blood. Family is a Trinity patterned communion.
A family bears each other’s burdens. A family loves each other more than themselves. A family forgives and prefers one another.
So what are they when you combine them?

Family Worship

Well, it turns into a gathering which cultivates both of these. It mixes together the ingredients to make something altogether new but it also flavors all of the small moments. It’s the tiny things that we see as unimportant that are often more important to those we love.
What does the intentional, scheduled family Worship gathering look like?

Word + explanation/discussion
Prayer
Singing

We will get more into that mix in the weeks to come but if these times don’t have any bearing on the rest of life, it isn’t family or Worship or Family Worship that we are building but an empty religious tradition.
Here’s to all the “whatever’s” we do as unto Him.

What if…

The definition of Family Worship is often gathered from the commands in Deuteronomy (4:9, 6:7, 11:19) that work it out quite practically. These verses tell us that whatever we do, not only do we do as unto the Lord, but we also do so in front of our family as a witnesses. Every moment is a teaching moment.

“Dad, why do we pray when we wake?”
“Dad, are you really going to make me read too?”
“Mom, why do we pray all along the way?”
“Mom, why do I lose my room? (when we host those in need)”

We beg for moments to give the why when we could live in such a way that it demanded the why! We wonder why children don’t get it but we don’t let that wondering go far enough. Conviction awaits us. Let it awake us now.