Article: The Father and Family Worship

I’m going to take a short break from A Deacon’s Life and hopefully I’ll be back in May.  I need the extra time to prep.  The topic of family worship has been on my mind much these days, so perhaps here and there I’ll drop quotes that I come across in my reading.  This comes from The Father and Family Worship by Rev. J.W. Alexander (1804-1859):

THERE is no member of a household whose individual piety is of such importance to all the rest as the father or head. And there is no one whose soul is so directly influenced by the exercise of domestic worship. Where the head of a family is lukewarm or worldly, he will send the chill through the whole house. And if any happy exception occur, and one and another surpass him in faithfulness, it will be in spite of his evil example. He, who ought by his instructions and life, to afford a perpetual incitement to his inferiors and his juniors, is made to feel in case of such delinquency, that they must look elsewhere for guidance, even if they do not weep in secret places over his neglects. Where the head of the family is a man of faith, of affection, and of zeal, consecrating all his works and life to Christ, it is very rare to find all his household otherwise-minded. Now one of the chief means of promoting such individual graces in the head is this: his daily exercise of devotion with the members. It is more to him, than to others. It is he who presides and directs in it, who selects and delivers the precious Word, and who leads the common supplication, confession, and praise. To him, it is equal to an additional act of personal devotion in the day; but it is more. It is an act of devotion, in which his affection and duty to his house are particularly brought before his mind; and in which he stands in the place and pleads the cause, of all that he holds dearest upon earth. No one need wonder then, that we place family-prayer among the most important means of reviving and maintaining the piety of him who conducts it.

Check out his booklet here.

LD 0: Heidelberg Catechism Introduction for 2011

Thankfully, I’ve already made my way through the catechism’s concluding section on the Lord’s Prayer, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Now it’s on to the rest of the catechism where I should have begun from the outset (I couldn’t wait to properly start in January so I just had to pick it up mid year in September 2010).  Well…

• If you’re rusty on your Christian doctrine, then stick with me each week.  If at the very least stop by just to read the Heidelberg Catechism for a refresher; trust me, that alone will be worth a weekly glance.
• If you’re new to Reformed Theology, then my brief surveys of the Heidelberg Catechism’s Lord’s Days will give you a good primer on what I’m convinced is the most biblically faithful theological system.
• If you’re new to Christianity, then you’ll get a firmer grip on what the Christian gospel is.  I can’t give you anything better in this life than a clearer picture of the gospel.

Hopefully it’ll be worth your time.  Now on to an overview of the HC:

Guilt, Grace, and Gratitude

Guilt, Grace and Gratitude (or Law, Gospel, and Sanctification) sum up the Heidelberg Catechism. This is also the cycle the Christian will repeatedly experience all the days of his life until he goes home where he will experience eternal Glory. This threefold partition of the HC takes you through the entire calendar year. HC#2 structures the remainder of the catechism for us:

2. How many things are necessary for you to know, that in this comfort you may live and die happily?

Three things: the first, how great my sin and misery is; the second, how I am redeemed from all my sins and misery; the third, how I am to be thankful to God for such redemption.

So here’s the catechism’s self-determined outline:

• Lord’s Days 2-4 (#3-11) concern our Guilt before God
• Lord’s Days 5-31 (#12-85) concern our Grace from God
• Lord’s Days 32-52 (#86-129) concern our Gratitude towards God

The HC is tidy and clear, perfect for reflection and instruction. This is why the catechism has been front and center at my site; perhaps a more appropriate tagline over the present “deacons likewise must be…” should be “gratitude through reflection and instruction.” My goal is to serve as a deacon out of the overflow of the Spirit’s work in me through His Word. A Deacon’s Life was always meant to be both reflective and instructional.

If guilt, grace, and gratitude, don’t tug at your heart, then how about looking a little deeper into outline of the HC? Broken up another way, here are the major sections:

FIRST PART OF MAN’S MISERY

SECOND PART OF MAN’S REDEMPTION

• THE APOSTLES’ CREED
• OF GOD THE FATHER
• OF GOD THE SON
• OF GOD THE HOLY SPIRIT
• THE SACRAMENTS
• OF HOLY BAPTISM
• OF THE HOLY SUPPER

THIRD PART OF THANKFULNESS

• THE LAW OF GOD (TEN COMMANDMENTS)
• PRAYER (LORD’S PRAYER)

I get excited at how far reaching the HC is. Wouldn’t you like to have a firmer grasp on all these topics (like the Apostles’ Creed, the Ten Commandments, and the Lord’s Prayer)? All of this never gets old to me; I read it over and over and over again. Many desire to memorize all the questions and answers, but few actually do. Unfortunately, I’m a part of the many, but I hope to change that one day and be a part of the few. Still, this is pretty much my passion, even if I’m awful at memorization.

I would challenge you to take a good look at the HC for 2011 (actually every year for that matter!). For this reason, I recommend Kevin DeYoung’s The Good News We Almost Forgot. It’s basic and brief, so it won’t be too much to handle.

Here’s the author’s dedication:

To Ian, Jacob, Elsie, and Paul,

Daddy loves you more than you know.

I hope you grow up to like the Heidelberg Catechism half as much as I do.

Nice little coincidence that Jacob and Paul are members of his family. You have no idea how much I wish this upon my family too! Join me this year.

Children’s Catechism

This is now an older video (in Jacob years).  Every night we recite the first two questions, but he won’t let me go any farther.  What’s a dad to do?

Family Worship

From today’s sermon…

“Don’ tell me you believe in family worship, if you don’t do family worship.”

I have some things to change with my family.