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Ebenezer
Oct. 3, 2007
Family Liturgy
Growing up, family devotions were very regular but not especially meaningful for me. The Bible was read aloud, straight through, one chapter a night, after supper, while we still sat at table with dirty dishes in front of us. There was no real discussion of the passage unless one of us had a vocabulary question. I usually leaned over my uncomfortable chair sideways, resting my cheek on the mustard-yellow naugahyde or whatever unnatural 1970s upholstery it was -- I can still conjure that smell. And I didn't really listen. My short-term memory allowed me always to meet the "what were the last 5 words" challenges from a frustrated parent. But for a while after I started reading the Bible on my own I was frequently surprised about what was actually in there.
Remembering this, I wanted to make sure, with some inspiration from the Holy Spirit, that my children's experience was different. I'm not sure yet that I'm succeeding in doing so, especially with my younger child, but I think that we are still creating comfortable and sacred rituals for them surrounding prayer and Scripture reading. (And as you'll see, when we're faithful with it, it has the added bonus of keeping our dining room table fairly clean!)
About four times a week, we gather around the (clear) table and proceed with a liturgy:
First, we light a candle and sing a song of invitiation (I made family liturgy sheets with the words). We've been using "Be Still, For the Presence of the Lord." Sometimes we then will read a psalm or have a short prayer for the reading of Scripture.
Next, my husband will read the Bible passage. Our church has been doing a challenge to read through the Bible in a year chronologically. The challenge is done; we're still in the Gospels. But that's neither here nor there... We close the reading with "This is the Word of the LORD / Thanks be to God." Then, being the homeschooler that I am, I then try to make sure there's some "so what does that mean?" type of discussion afterward. I often have my own questions. I often, too, am frustrated that my husband seems to have specific answers for all my questions when I think the question invites more meditation and mystery, but that's also neither here nor there right now...
Then we talk about things to pray about and proceed to pray. We've taken to using a rosary not for its intended purpose but for the person whose turn it is to pray to hold. This eliminates the accidental interruption of someone's prayer and provides a tactile reminder for children (and people like me whose minds might wander some) that they're talking to God. We close the prayer time with the Lord's prayer.
Finally, we hold hands sing a closing song of praise or benediction (we've been using "My Friends, May You Grow In Grace") and recite the Gloria Patri (in English, though we probably could do it in Latin!). Then my children argue about who gets to blow out the candle. No, not always, but the overall peace is usually broken fairly quickly.
I think what I like best about this is that it emphasizes the holiness of time with God -- not in the self-righteous way that sounds, but in the sense that, even though we always live in God's presence, our dining room table has become one of those "thin places" where the veil is drawn back a little bit and we are intentional and mindful of our relationships with God and with each other.
(This entry is linked to Works for Me Wednesday at Rocks In My Dryer ) |
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