"Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, 'Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me?'" Ralph hesitated briefly, realizing that if he continued to read on, he would not be able to excuse his earlier comments at the table about some people at church.

"Dad," Jason complained, "let's read something else. I already know this story."

"A perfect way out," thought Ralph. But something made him resist it. After all, the parable was the conclusion of the chapter. While he finished reading the chapter, he sensed that Johnny was nervously watching the sun go down. There wouldn't be much time left for playing baseball unless Dad hur­ried up.

Mommy closed in prayer this time, because she was concerned about some women in her Bible study. After five minutes, four-year-old Jessica re­ported in a very audible whisper, "Dad­dy, Jason has his eyes open." When prayer was over, Ralph closed his Bible and the children scattered in three directions. He began to think again whether family worship was worth the effort or not.

Why is Family Worship Important?⤒🔗

You're not alone, Ralph. Surveys in­dicate that only a small minority of Christian families have a regular time of family worship any more. Parents have either given upon the practice, or they have never seen it in practice. But there are some important reasons why every Christian family should have a sched­uled time for family worship.

In the first place, God has given parents the primary responsibility for the instruction of their children. When Israel was ready to enter Canaan and God had repeated the Ten Commandments to them, he instructed parents, "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" (Deuteronomy 6:7). All during the day and in every activity, children are to be taught to love the Lord.

Understandably then, Christian par­ents are interested in Christian day schools; they want their children taught to love God in everything they do. But they cannot turn over all their responsibility for training their children to a Christian school. Nor can public wor­ship substitute for regular, family wor­ship and instruction. Eli the priest was faithful in carrying out the respon­sibilities for public worship, but God judged his sons because of Eli's failure to train them privately (1 Samuel 3:13). Eli had his priorities backwards, for worship is learned in the home. Public worship with the larger family of God becomes meaningful to children as they are taught to worship the Lord in their family at home.

Secondly, the covenant promises of God are mediated through parents to their children. That is, when God promises to be God to you and your children, he intends for you to be the important link between him and those children. God promised Abraham that his children would be a blessing to all the nations of the earth — no small thing of course. But note how God planned to fulfill that promise:

For I have chosen him (Abraham), so that he will direct his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing what is right and just, so that the Lord will bring about for Abraham what he has promised him.                                   Genesis 18:19

Abraham's family would experience covenant blessings, because Abraham would train them in covenantal ways.

When parents present their child for baptism, they are asked to acknowl­edge this biblical principle before the sign and seal of the covenant is given to their child:

Do you promise to instruct your child in the principles of our holy religion as revealed in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, and as summarized in the Confession of Faith and Catechisms of this church; and do you promise to pray with and for your child, to set an example of piety and godliness before him, and to endeavor by all the means of God's appointment to bring him up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord?OPC Directory for Worship, chap. IV, B, 4

Certainly, this type of training can be done informally in a family, but unless some specific, regular time is set aside for structured teaching, the informal training is not likely to happen either.

If there is only one parent who is a Christian, he must understand that God still claims his child and wants him to come to full faith in Christ. Timothy had a Greek father, but he was trained in the Scriptures by a godly grand­mother and mother (Acts 16:1 and 2 Timothy 1:5). God used that training in the Scriptures to bring Timothy to faith (2 Timothy 3:15).

What Should be Done in Family Worship?←⤒🔗

Rhythm is normal in public worship and should also characterize family worship. We listen to God and then re­spond to him. So use the Bible in some way; make sure you use a version that can be understood by children, and be sensitive to the length of the passage that you read and the attention span of your children. When your child begins to read, buy him his own Bible and let him read it to the family. The use of good Bible story books should also be considered. They can help the parent interpret and apply the Scriptures.

Children can respond to God in var­ious ways. Certainly, they can be taught to pray. Be cautious about criticizing them for the content of their early prayers; I venture to say that God prefers to hear a child pray about her pet cat rather than not hear her pray at all. And she will learn more about prayer as her parents lead in this.

Music is a natural way for a child to praise God. Check your child's take-home papers from Sunday school to see what songs he is learning there, and then use them with your family. Buy a hymnal and help your children prepare for public worship. Conversely, ask public worship leaders to consider us­ing music the children are learning in Sunday school and family worship.

Memorizing Scripture and catechism are also good responses for children (and adults). Find out what verses your child is learning in school or Sunday school and work on them with the fam­ily. Use the catechism to help your child summarize biblical teachings and to see their connections. Some families also like to use quiz cards, simple tests, role playing, Bible charades and sword drills. One family I heard of recently en­courages their child to use plastic figurines to set up the biblical scene while a parent reads the Bible story.

Consider correlating your family worship with your own personal time of Bible reading and prayer. This is par­ticularly useful for persons who are hesitant about beginning to lead family worship. Studying the Bible passage ahead of time will help one overcome any timidity, and also help in answering tough questions posed by the more mature members of the family.

Also, family worship should cor­relate with public worship in some ways. Of course when the New Testa­ment church began, public worship was often held in homes, so the con­nection was natural. Even later, the Apostle Paul taught house to house as part of his discipling ministry. Parents can do much the same thing by review­ing a Sunday sermon on Monday to see if their children understood it. (If you're bold, let your children prepare questions for the parents.) Explain what is done in the public worship ser­vice — the giving of offerings, observ­ance of sacraments, testimonies of God's grace. And don't forget that hymnal.

Mention was made earlier about checking Sunday school take-home papers for music that could be used in family worship. But review the lesson also; see if your child is grasping what is being taught. Help him finish any work that wasn't completed in his class.

Find a time when everyone can meet together; but if that is not possible, go ahead and meet with as many family members as possible. If there is quite a difference in ages with your children, aim for the older children. There is greater chance of boring them than the younger ones — who like the challenge of trying to catch up with their siblings anyway. Then spend some special time with the youngest one just before put­ting him to bed, if you find that he isn't absorbing much during family worship. But do your best to involve each mem­ber of the family. Occasionally an older child might help to lead a younger child in part of worship.

Resources for Family Worship←⤒🔗

There are some very good Bible story books available, and there are some very poor ones. Look for ones that put the Bible stories in their biblical setting; don't waste your money on those that simply want to teach cute little Bible stories. The Bible reveals God and his gracious plan of salvation. Don't read the story of Daniel so that your child will dare to be a Daniel; read it because you want to know more about Daniel's great God. And the book of Ruth isn't about an attractive widow who, because of her kindness to her mother-in-law, received another husband. No, Ruth is a story about re­demption. She was redeemed by Boaz, and their descendant became the Redeemer of God's people. So don't buy a book full of moralistic stories; look around and get a good Bible story book. You will be pleased with some of the artwork in the newer books available; spend the extra money to get one that is illustrated well.

After reading a Bible story book that deals with the Bible stories chronolog­ically, try reading one that groups the stories systematically by themes. It will help your child get the larger picture of God's revelation of himself. Generally, multiple-volume sets of books are not as helpful as buying several different books over a period of years that match the changing maturity levels of chil­dren.

Oh yes, about Ralph. Later that night, he reread some of the earlier parts of the chapter:

See that you do not look down on one of these little ones ... your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should be lost.Matthew 18:10, 14

He's beginning to rethink the importance of family worship and his attitude toward it. Not a bad idea.