Monday, May 12, 2003

Family worship
We've been terribly unfaithful in having family devotions, and have struggled for our whole marriage to come up with something suitable for family use. I think part of our problem was trying to keep coming with New and Different and Interesting Ideas so that the kids, not to mention the parents, would not get bored.

Well, our church situation finally got so desperate that we felt we absolutely must start having family worship on a regular basis, or we would all starve to death! After asking the Lord for wisdom and direction, we were directed to the Church. Huh. Imagine that. In this process, we are also learning to look to Mother Church for guidance. :-)

For a little over two weeks now we've been using a form that is a very simplified version of the Morning Prayer and Evening Prayer that I found in the 1963 REC Book of Common Prayer.

Morning Prayer


Hymn

God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.
(John 4:24)
or
Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my Strength and my Redeemer.
(Psalm 29:14)

Let us confess our sins together, saying:
Almighty and most merciful Father;
we have erred and strayed from thy ways, like lost sheep.
We have followed too much the devices of our own hearts.
We have offended against thy holy laws.
We have left undone those things which we ought to have done;
And we have done those things which we ought not to have done;
And there is no health in us.
But thou, O LORD, have mercy upon us, miserable offenders.
Spare thou those, O God, who confess their faults.
Restore thou those who are penitent;
according to thy promises declared unto mankind in Christ Jesus our LORD.
And grant, O most merciful Father, for his sake;
That we may hereafter live a godly, righteous, and sober life,
To the glory of thy holy Name. Amen.


To all who truly confess their sins and look to Jesus Christ for their salvation, you are assured that your sins have been forgiven you in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost.
Amen.
For thou, Lord, art good, and ready to forgive; and plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon thee. (Psalm 86:5)


Now let us pray together as our Lord taught us to pray, saying:
Our Father, who art in heaven…

The Gloria Patri


O Christian, what do you believe?
I believe in God the Father Almighty,
Maker of heaven and earth.
And in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord,
who was conceived by the Holy Ghost,
born of the Virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, dead, and buried;
He descended into hell;
the third day He rose again from the dead;
He ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the
right hand of God the Father Almighty;
from thence He shall come to judge the quick
and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Ghost;
the holy catholic Church;
the communion of saints;
the forgiveness of sins;
the resurrection of the body;
and the life everlasting. Amen.


Almighty God, who hast given us grace at this time with one accord to make our common supplications unto thee; and dost promise that when two or three are gathered together in thy Name, thou wilt grant their requests; Fulfill now, O LORD, the desires and petitions of thy servants, as may be most expedient for them; granting us in this world knowledge of thy truth, and in the world to come life everlasting.
Amen.

The grace of our LORD Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Ghost, be with us all evermore. (II Corinthians 13:14)
Amen. Amen. Amen.


During Morning Prayer, after the Apostles' Creed, we pray from the Ocassional Prayers. Each person who can read picks one; my non-readers like to pray too, so they just pray "Thank you, Jesus, for today. Amen." or whatever they think of.

Evening prayer is essentially the same except that instead of the Ocassional Prayers we read a Psalm responsively.

My 2 year-old has already memorized the Gloria Patri, most of the Lord's Prayer, and some of the Apostles' Creed. He follows along well with the rest of the parts. And you know what? Nobody is bored. Not even the parents. ;-)

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