Click Below to download Family worship Ideas on Luke 5:27-39
Luke 5:17-26 Ideas for Family Worship
This is one of the most visual and visually dramatic of Jesus’ miracles. Where else do you see people dismantling a house in order to get someone to Jesus. There are plenty of craft activities available for you to do as you engage your child(ren) in this passage: for example here, there is a crossword you can do here, and a video to watch here:
There are some big ideas in the passage. The religious leaders accuse Jesus of ‘blasphemy’ (5:21). It’s going to be worth your while exploring that. In this context that seems to focus on the idea of taking to yourself something that is only God’s prerogative! If only God can forgive sins, then if someone presumes to do that, it’s a pretty big claim. Of course – it is one Jesus can legitimately make, because He is God... something this passage goes someway to clarifying for us. It does of course raise the obvious question about why we are then commanded to forgive sins too (e.g. Matt.6:14-15). What is the connection between God’s forgiving of sin and our forgiving of sin?
you might want to explore what it means to be forgiven? ...and perhaps what forgiveness is not. forgive and forget is (a) not possible, and (b) not a Biblical idea. I think you’ll find the same is true of trying to forgive people who don’t repent (see Luke 17:3-4) – not even God forgives those who don’t repent! Are there any other ideas bout forgiveness that might have been picked up that need to be clarified or corrected? This would be a great opportunity to find out! What a great conversation that could turn out to be... and then a basis for praying together?
There is a good story (Parable) Jesus tells about forgiveness at Luke 7:40-48
helping our child(ren) and young people think through the reality of forgiveness is an important part of them navigating their spiritual experience. The Catechism that we use at DTP might help here:
196. What is God’s forgiveness?
God’s forgiveness is his merciful pardon of sin and removal of the guilt that results from our disobedience.
197. On what basis do you ask forgiveness?
I ask God our loving Father to forgive me through his Son, Jesus Christ, who bore my sins upon the Cross, so that through faith and Baptism I can receive his righteousness.
198. Does God forgive your sins?
Yes. In Christ, God freely forgives the sins of all, including me, who sincerely repent and in true faith turn to him.
A good memory verse might be: Ps.32:1-2, Blessed is the one whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the one whose sin the Lord does not count against them and in whose spirit is no deceit.
You can download a single side of A4 version of this here.
Luke 5:12-16 Family Worship Ideas
One of MIE’s Global Mission Partners is Leprosy Mission. Why not head over to their website and see what they get up to. There are plenty of stories, insights about their work, things to do, situations to pray for and ways to get involved, including using Lego™ and help raise awareness about Muzaffarpur Hospital!
A lot of the encounter with Jesus in this passage is built around the idea of ‘cleansing’. In Leviticus, leprosy is a picture that helps us to grasp the reality of sinfulness (NOT saying that those who had leprosy were any more or less sinful than anyone else!). You’ll notice the man asks to be made clean, not healed. And Jesus says: ‘Be Clean’. the idea is stronger than ‘sin makes us dirty’, but that’s pushing in the right direction. There are no end of ways to engage with this in interactive and fun ways. From using a basketful of dirty laundry, a pile of dishes, or deliberately making something dirty and then washing it… to something a bit more labour intensive (or you could just watch the video…)
You cold get some washable ink pens, and write / draw pictures that represent sinful thoughts, words or actions on a sheet. Washing it so that it is cleansed could be a great activity to help your child(ren) ‘see’ what Jesus longs to do when we repent ofo ur sin.
…Or you could do some craft work around Psalm 51:1, or perhaps Ps.51:10, which could then be memorised, or turned into a prayer…
The idea of cleansing from our sin is a powerful one that helps us to think not just about being forgiven, but of our being ‘de-contaminated’ – having sin ‘washed out’ of us so that it doesn’t shape us anymore. A river polluted at source carries that pollution down stream with it. Jesus speaks of our heart a bit like this: out of the overflow of our heart, we act and speak and think (see e.g. Matt.15:18. Once our heart is cleansed, then what flows out of it is clean too.
You can download this as a 1 side of A4 printable PDF here
Luke 5:1-11 Family Worship Ideas
Click here to download the Family Worship Ideas pack in it’s new format for W/B 25/02/24
Luke 4:31-44 ideas for family worship
In a couple of weeks, we’ll be exploring the idea of Jesus as Priest and how as Priest His job is to keep what is unclean out of the Church. While it comes very much into focus in Luke 5, we already see Jesus dealing with all that is broken and unclean (impure, 4:36). The idea of sin as something that contaminates us and our world will be a part of that discussion, but for now a simple recognition that Jesus alone can actually fix the world (and us as part of that world) is a great place to start. I’ve always liked the idea of light and darkness. Watching a Sunrise (ps.19); lighting a candle in a dark room; shining a torch in the back garden at night time; or just flicking the switch for a bedroom nitelight… all simple ways of showing that Jesus (as light of the world) drives back darkness. Wherever light is, darkness isn’t. We see that enacted in the passage before us.
To be a Disciple of Jesus is to recognize His authority – though it’s baffling how many people try to be Christians whilst still deciding for themselves what they will believe and how they will live. The whole point of this section of Luke’s Biography of Jesus (Gospel) is showing us that He has authority – absolute authority. This gives you a great opportunity to explore how as a parent, your authority in the home is about helping your child(ren) to learn how to relate to Jesus’ authority. When your kid(s) learn to obey you they are being given the tools that will help them learn to obey Jesus (Matt.28:19-20). You can explain why the rules of your home are what they are… reflecting the rules of God’s home; and why you teach your children to obey ‘first time and straightaway’… because that is how we should obey the Lord. In fact, the only reason parents have authority is that it is delegated from God.
There are a number of ways into this… a simple game like ‘Simon says…’ that is about following instructions; or a list of instructions that end in finding a gift; imagining a game of football without any rules or referees… following rules (or in Jesus’ language: obeying everything He has commanded) might actually be a good thing! Discussing (or re-reading) any favourite stories that show a Monarch as a wise and benevolent ruler might be helpful here too (Lk.4:43).
Older children might benefit from a conversation about how authority structures are reflected not just in family life, but also in Church life, and in the life of a nation?
This could be a great opportunity to explore what your child(ren) are afraid of. There are frightening things in the world, things that can hurt or scare us. The way to deal with that is not to pretend they don’t exist, but to know that Jesus is more powerful than any of them. He has authority over us… and over everything else too! Do we trust Jesus to protect us? What does that protection mean? If you’ve lit the candle (see above), maybe this is a chance to chance to pray together about Jesus watching over us and protecting us from what scares us.
Luke 4:14-30 ideas for family worship
How are you doing with memorising Ps.119:9-12? Don’t forget there will be an opportunity at Church (on 11th) to encourage the congregation by showing us that you have committed this passage (or part of it, depending on how old you are) to memory. That is only the first step though. We hide His word in our heart so that we don’t’ sin against Him! Memorising Scripture is part of hiding His word in our hearts... but that is a means to an end!
Meanwhile at Nazareth... things aren’t going so well for Jesus. We often think popularity is a good sign of how good a preacher someone is. It might be. But on that basis you’d have to conclude that Jesus isn’t a very good preacher! Why not spend some time as a family reflecting on what make a good preacher? Why might people get angry with good preachers? Why did people get so angry with Jesus? How do we make sense of it when we find ourselves getting angry when someone is teaching the Bible? Maybe you could spend some time praying for those at MIE who preach week by week. This can be a great opoprtunity to help your child(ren) think through the importance of Scripture being at the heart of the Church’s worship.
Can you look ahead in Luke’s Gospel and find places where Jesus does each of the things He says he’s going to do here in 4:18-19... depending on how competitive your kids are, this could be presented as a challenge. How many ways does Jesus proclaim good news for the poor? ... enable the blind to receive their sight? ...set the oppressed free? ...proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour? This could be a great way of getting your child(ren) to read through Luke’s Gospel. You might want to have an age appropriate version to hand. We’ll be in Luke on and off for a few years, so it might be a worthwhile investment.
When they have identified passages where Jesus does what He says he will do, then you can have a conversation – based on those passages – about what Jesus means. Is this limited to people physical well being and circumstances? ... or does Jesus have more than that in mind?
Older children might be interested in the idea that Jesus is fulfilling the Year of Jubilee (the Year of the Lord’s Favour). You can read about it in Lev.25 – what a great interactive way of teaching the OT Church! How do the various elements of the Year of Jubilee teach us about who Jesus is, or about what He will do? How would living through the year of Jubilee have helped ancient Christians to understand the Gospel more fully?
If you do nothing else with this week’s passage, it would be worth spending a bit of time on Jesus’ teaching in Lk.4:24-27. Jesus is underlining how God’s heart has always had an eye to those outside of the Church. God is the original evangelist. Why not have a chat with Tracey and find out how the Alpha Courses are going? ...maybe spend some time as a family praying for those wo are turning up and hearing about Jesus...
Luke 4:1-13 Ideas for family worship
The underlying aims of family worship include bringing our child(ren) up in the training and instruction of the Lord (Eph.6:4). Teaching through a Catechism, or helping children learn and understand the Bible aren’t ends in themselves. These spiritual disciplines – and others like them – are tools that the Spirit can use to re-forge the image of Christ in us and them.
What does that mean? It means that we are like Jesus. We do the same sorts of things He did... like resist temptation by having our minds saturated by and shaped by the Word of God. When we say we are disciples of Jesus, but don’t aspire to actually emulate what we see of Him in the Gospels, we risk sounding disingenuous. Jesus’ relationship with the Scriptures is profound. We have already seen that Jesus’ life before His public ministry is defined by His engagement with the Bible. And here at the outset, it is equally clear that His awareness of who He is, and what He is to do, is likewise defined by His engagement with the Bible. This has to be one of our greatest ambition for our child(ren): that they are like Jesus... that, like Him, their self-understanding is demonstrably shaped by what they read and understand from Scripture.
It’s one of the reasons we are encouraging families to build into the structures of their life together the opportunity to engage with the Bible in a context of worship and prayer.
It’s also why we put such a premium on memorising the Bible. Again, that isn’t an end in itself – but the reason Jesus is able to hold on to His Father’s vision and call on His life in the face of such severe temptation, is at least in part because He had internalised it.
Few other things will equip us or our child(ren) as effectively for godly thinking, living and decision making more effectively than memorising and internalising the Bible..
Chuck Swindoll wrote, “I know of no other single practice in the Christian life more rewarding, practically speaking, than memorizing Scripture. . . . No other single exercise pays greater spiritual dividends! Your prayer life will be strengthened. Your witnessing will be sharper and much more effective. Your attitudes and outlook will begin to change. Your mind will become alert and observant. Your confidence and assurance will be enhanced. Your faith will be solidified”. There is absolutely no reason to assume those benefits are exclusive to those over the age of 21.
In our reading this week we see Jesus using Scripture He has memorised to specifically resist temptation. It is the enacting of: “I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you” (Psalm 119:11, though see also Rom.8:13; Eph.6:17 etc.). As we face temptation, we call to mind a word of Scripture that recalls us to the superior worth of Christ and our imitation of Him. When Jesus was tempted by Satan in the wilderness he recited Scripture from memory and put Satan to flight (Matthew 4:1-11).
So this week, let’s simply put this into practise. Here is a section from Ps.119 that speaks very directly to what we are thinking about. It’ll be introduced in our Sunday Groups too. Why not memorise it as a family? It is 4 verses long (Ps.119:9-12), but can be shortened for younger children.
How can a young person stay on the path of purity? By living according to your word.
I seek you with all my heart; do not let me stray from your commands.
I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.
Praise be to you, Lord; teach me your decrees.
There’ll be a chance to show the Church Family how well you’ve memorised the passage! So we look forward to hearing it...
Luke 3:21-23 Ideas for family worship
For such a short passage there is an incredible sense of layers of meaning, which will really help as we fashion our Family’s Worship after Sunday’s service. If you take a look at the Introduction I’ve written for this week’s Home Groups Bible Study you’ll see how Jesus’ baptism is the fulfilment of Lev.8 and the ordaining of Jesus to His Priestly ministry (hence Luke’s including Jesus’ family tree here after the account of the baptism – you could draw / map out your own family tree, or at least a couple of generations as a active way into the passage). If you listen to my sermon from Sunday you’ll see that other OT passages are finding their fulfilment here. Noah, Moses leading the people through the Red Sea, Psalm 2, and others are all in the background. This makes these 2 or 3 verses an incredibly visual and rich moment to reflect on as a family…
If ‘Jesus as priest’ is where you’d like to focus, then the key thing to realise is that the Priest’s job included teaching, dealing with anything unclean in the camp, and sacrifice. picking out a handful of passages from Luke’s Gospel that show Jesus doing each of these would be a great way to show our Great Priest in action!
Why does the Holy Spirit descend in the form of a Dove? There are many other images associated with the Spirit throughout the Scriptures, yet He chooses this one. The scene evokes a memory of Noah’s Ark, with Jesus as a greater Noah, who comes through the water of judgment (i.e. baptism) into a renewed creation. There are plenty of activities you can do that will show the link with Noah’s Ark and help your child(ren) begin to understand how some of those OT stories work as they point towards Jesus. Or here is a ‘dove craft’ if that’s where you’d like to put the emphasis. There’s plenty more online.
Or perhaps the fact that this is John’s baptism catches your imagination. Why is Jesus undergoing a baptism that is all about repentance – He doesn’t have anything He needs to repent of. The idea of baptism as cleansing if a powerful one for children to grasp. Simply drawing the analogy with washing might get the point across. Alternatively, a simple craft activity: sprinkle some Icing Sugar on a baking tray. Draw or write in the sugar things that we need to be forgiven of. pour some (warm) water in and watch it dissolve the sugar – and whatever is written in it. Maybe get out your children’s baptism certificate, or photos of their baptism and reflect on what it means for them to have been baptized. You might want to use a confession that we use in Church, so that there are some familiar words that help our kids make the connections!
Part of the imagery here is that Jesus is identifying with us as sinful humanity. In the Incarnation (the Christmas story) Jesus becomes human. But he remains without sin. Here, Jesus is getting into the water which everyone else’s sin has been washed into. This is where He begins to ‘take on’ – maybe absorb (?) - our sinfulness. It’s part of the reason why Jesus will later call the cross His baptism.
Of course, you may want to take a different line. Something about God as Trinity, or to reflect more fully on the question of baptism... but hopefully these few ideas will give you something to work with!
Luke 3:10-20 ideas for family worship
John’s ministry is great for family worship. It is graphic and powerful, clear and unambiguous. It is straightforward and we may find that our children are better at grasping John’s meaning than we are as parents. We immediately jump into rationalising why John can’t possibly have meant what he said... but a child reading this passage will artlessly assume he did. They are more likely to simply want to do what John says! So you might need to think ahead of time about how you’ll respond when they say they want to give away clothes and pocket money! in fact, Family Worship this week could be as straightforward as working out how to help our children experience the joys of a repentant life.
Why were the people wondering if John was the Messiah? This could be explored using a detective game format. Looking for clues in the OT about what the Messiah would be like when He came. Seeing how John could have been mistaken for Him...? In what ways are John and Jesus similar? in what ways are they different? What imagery in their preaching is similar? What teaching is similar... can you find elements of Jesus’ teaching the reflect what John is saying here? But what about their deaths? Both can be seen as tragic... but are they? What does Jesus’ death achieve that John’s can’t?
Another powerful image is that of Jesus baptising with the Holy Spirit and fire (3:16), and the connection this has with separation and judgment. Jesus will destroy a world that is built on His being rejected. That world, and the way of living life to which it gives rise, is empty waste: chaff. We will need to help our children understand the way in which Jesus brings division, and the basis on which that division is experienced. Any game or activity that features separating out two groups could be used as a context for this conversation. Working out the implications of this information can be challenging – especially if we have family members who aren’t disciples of Jesus. Maybe this is a great opportunity to bring them with you to Alpha. This helps our children see that the most appropriate response to the prospect of Jesus’ winnowing is to be active in sharing our faith.
Luke 3:1-9 Ideas for family worship...
‘My First Books and more’ have a helpful children’s catechism that runs through the book. This is great place to start as we get into Luke 3:1-9, and John’s baptism of repentance.
54. What does it mean to repent of your sins?
I am truly sorry for my sins, I hate them and want to stop doing them. I want to live to please God (Is.1:16-17).
You might want to unpack that just a bit further. John explains that we must ‘produce fruit in keeping with repentance’. That suggests a step beyond Q&A 54, to include a change of behaviour. It would be great to begin to talk about what that means – though we’ll be coming back to that conversation next week!
But for this week, perhaps using the image John develops to help everyone realise that through our experience of repentance, God is changing who we are... and so we will see the fruit in our character and lives changing to reflect that. Helping our children identify that in their own experience and lives can be a source of real joy as they see the evidence of the Spirit’s work for themselves!
I’ll leave to parental discretion whether to press the imagery on into v.9. I’d recommend we do – I think we rarely serve our children well by avoiding passages we might find difficult. Often times we find our children are far more receptive to such things, and helping them work through harder parts of the Bible is a parent’s privilege. One way through might be to put the whole question of judgment (one that Jesus Himself uses, Matt.7:19) on a less defensive footing. We may feel we need to apologise for such teaching, but in fact we can find encouragement in knowing that God will not be fooled by hypocrisy, nor will He let the wicked prosper indefinitely.
Older children might find it helpful to work through Psalm 73. They might need a little bit of help, but the basic overview is of someone who is struggling as a Christian, because of injustice and the fact that wicked people get to keep being wicked... and that is causing damage to others. Only when they consider that there is a Day of Judgement, can the rest in God’s justice.
…in the Prentice household, there would of course be some (carefully supervised!) chopping of wood as part of family devotions this week!!
Luke 2:41-52 Ideas for family worship
Well, few passages lend themselves to family worship better than this one!! One of the greatest gifts we can give our children is a clear vision for family life. What is it parents are called to… what is it that children are called to… and that all fits into God’s strategy for raising mature men and women of God. Jesus and his family submit to that vision and it is adequate for raising the Son of God, so that seems a pretty good endorsement!
There are at least three great conversations that you could visit with children of any age. The first is that of Festivals. We’ve just had one, so there is a sense of immediacy about this.
Jesus and His family go up to Jerusalem to celebrate on the of the Festivals that was embedded in the structure of the Ancient Church: Passover. Festivals are designed to give a rhythm to the worship of the Church, constantly re-connecting us to the great works of God in the past and/or lifting our eyes to focus on the works of God in the future. They mark our pilgrimage, and punctuate the Christian year. Our Culture has its own Festivals, some of which they hijacked from the Church! But working out as a family how you can mark, celebrate and benefit from your engagement with the Church’s Festivals would be a great way to use ‘Family Worship time’. Marking them on the calendar, talking through the focus and curriculum of each, thinking of ways to engage them… how will your family celebration interconnect with the Church-family’s celebration?
We did do an All Age series on the OT festivals (and how they connect with the NT Church’s worship) a couple of summers ago, so you might want to dig out the Youtube services from Summer 2021.
A second area to talk about would be Jesus’ engagement with the Scriptures, and His study with others. This is a great pattern for Children to follow, and is actually how Jesus learned about His own identity and mission. You have a great opportunity here to explore why the Bible features so much in your own life, and in the life of your family. If appropriate, you could study together the story of the Passover (maybe over a Passover meal, see e.g. here: PASSOVER MEAL), and explore how it would have helped Jesus grow in His understanding of what His Father had sent Him into the world to do! It’s also how we grow in ‘wisdom’ (v.52). It’d be great to read the Passover account in Exodus…
Another option would be to reflect together on Jesus’ pattern of obedience to His parents. It always helps us to know why we are being told to do something. Jesus’ obedience to Mary and Joseph is part of how He ‘learned obedience’ to His Heavenly Father (Heb.5:8). Similarly, our families are schools in which we learn how to obey ‘first time and straightaway’. It’s where we learn to trust those who love us to instruct us and train us. If you wanted to develop the idea of imitating Christ from this passage, His humility is deeply compelling. He submits to the structures of worship found in Scripture, to His parents, and to the limits of His humanity. What might it look like for us to follow His example of humility? Have a look at Phil.2:1-11 if you’re struggling to come up with an answer!
Luke 1:39-45 Ideas for Family Worship
Don’t forget that there are two great resources for families with younger (grand-)children that are particularly helpful during Advent. The first is the travelling crib, which gives you a chance to make the Nativity scene a centre piece in your home for a few days, and to reflect together and worship. You can find out details and get ideas from Lizzie Kent, who does so much to support our Family’s and Children’s ministry at MIE. Alternatively, you can use the Jesse Tree Resources, which can be found [here].
If you are focussing on this week’s passage (Lk.1:39-45), you might want to read the introduction to the Bible Study I’ve written for Homegroups to use. It reflects on the humanness of those caught up in the events leading up to and surrounding the birth of Jesus of Nazareth. These are people capable of great faith and great fragility. I try and capture that with the idea that we are a blend of dust and glory. You could explore this with your child(ren) or grandchild(ren) as you mix gold glitter with play-dough and form it into the figures of the Nativity.
We can also reflect in our Family’s worship on the importance of encouragement. Mary is so vulnerable to gossip and slander. At this point she remains misunderstood and rejected by those closest to her. That is in part why she gets ready and hurries to a town in the hill country. But Elizabeth and Zechariah can support her in ways she can’t even begin to imagine. They too have experienced an angelic visitation and a miraculous conception. They understand far more deeply than Mary could have anticipated. Imagine her relief when – after all the defamy she and her Child have been subject to, Elizabeth assures her that both she and her Child are in fact ‘Blessed’. Who can you encourage in these days running up to Christmas? Someone in MIE? Someone further afield who is perhaps experiencing marginalisation for their faithfulness to God?
For the more artistic, why not copy out Elizabeth’s song, and decorate it as you meditate on what she exclaims by the Spirit? How does Mary – as the mother of Jesus – have a unique love and worship for Him? How can we honour her as ‘Blessed among women’ without venerating her in a way that would be inappropriate? What is the Spirit doing for Mary as she visits with Zechariah and Elizabeth? And what is the Spirit doing for them?
For older children... how does this short story help a ‘Theophilus’ to ‘know the certainty of the things you have been taught’ (1:4)?
As a family, have think about the place of hospitality in your home. Why not discuss passages such as Heb.3:1-3, or I Peter 4:9. How can this become a more significant place in your discipleship together?
Why do we celebrate Christmas on 25th December?
There are a lot of traditions associated with Christmas. That’s true of families, Churches and - often less helpfully - wider society. Amongst those in the latter category will be the usual tedious outpouring of articles and pundits pontificating on a plethora of myths that are designed to benignly undermine and discredit the Feast of the Nativity of Christ, or as it’s known to most of us: Christmas.
Amongst these will be well-worn myths calling into question the historicity of the Gospels’ accounts of history. We’ll be told that the virgin-birth wasn’t ‘virginal’, and likely was never expected to be; the star wasn’t a ‘star’; there were no angels, and they didn’t appear to shepherds… and that it was all really just another ordinary day in Bethlehem that somehow got out of hand in a rather Monty-Pythonesque sort of way!
And irritatingly, this wearying nonsense will be presented as if it is the result of cutting edge scholarly research, the conclusions of which are now beyond reasonable doubt. And of course, written between the lines will be the slightly patronising dismissal of those ‘poor uneducated Christians’ who still believe all that primitive imagery and legend as if actually happened… And with a despairing chuckle, said pundit will shake their head on cue, grateful that they are counted amongst the enlightened ones… Ho! Ho! Ho!
But there is another, way of undermining our celebration of the birth of Christ, which calls into question the origin of the Festival. Jesus, we are assured was not born on 25th December. We’re all expected to be shocked and traumatised by this revelation. What’s worse we’re told - before we’ve managed to catch our breath - the whole thing is just a Christian veneer plastered over a pagan celebration in a clumsy and rather ill-conceived attempt at evangelism. The story is that a variously attributed pagan festival (Saturnalia is common) was celebrated on 25th December, usually associated with the winter solstice, or the sun, or light, or fire… something warming to keep us going through the depths of winter. And then those pesky Christians, trying to stop everyone having fun, hijacked it and turned it into a Church service. After all, why invent your own festivals when you can just nick someone else’s.
It’s all rather irksome, especially when re-iterated by Christian leaders, trying to be edgy and radical.
Like I said, tedious. I do wish Christians would read history… actually, just generally read. And read longer than it takes to learn how to ask (sometimes important) questions. That’s a serious point actually. A lot of Christians have read enough to know there are questions to be asked, and then they stop, as if living with those questions is a virtue. It isn’t. Keep reading and you’ll find that there are generally great answers to those questions… and that actually the questions aren’t particularly new or revolutionary. The same tired questions and attempts at undermining Christianity have been around almost as long as the Gospel itself. They certainly aren’t the result of contemporary scholarship! They aren’t new, radical, or edgy…
Anyway - I’ve drifted a bit. Why do we celebrate Christmas on 25th December. Well it’s all to do with a Libyan genius, a polymath called Sextus Julius Africanus. As far as we can make out he lived c.160-240 AD, was incredibly well travelled, served for a while as a soldier in Rome’s legions, and afterwards seemed to enjoy some political prestige in the Empire, with access to the Imperia Court. He was also incredibly well educated, and studied at the Christian Catechetical School (an early DTP) at Antioch around 215, possibly under the Church Father, Origen.
Julius wrote a book in which he sought to provide a unified history of the whole world. Like I said… educated, though to be fair there was less history 1,800 years ago. And for a variety of reasons to do as much with theology as history, he arrived at the conclusion that the appearance of Gabriel to Mary (and thus her conception) would have happened on 25th March - which was the date of the Spring Equinox in 1 BC. I’m not saying I agree… just that it’s what he thought.
It doesn’t take a polymath to work out that 9 months after 25th March would have been the 25th December. And so he proposed the Church celebrate the Feast of the Nativity of Christ then. And after about a century of discussion and debate, some of the Church decided they would. Not all of the Church. The ‘Eastern’ Church that looked more to places like Alexandria and Antioch for leadership, thought 7th January made more sense (which in itself calls into question the whole' ‘we nicked a pagan festival’ narrative). But, I’m not getting into why they did that just now (it was to do with different calenders)… though they still do think we should celebrate Christmas on 7th January.
But the point is, there isn’t a pagan festival in sight. We might not agree with the (theo-)logic of the decisions the Early Church made, but we can at least try to understand why they made them; and not just go along with some nonsense about them rather clumsily and stupidly hijacking a festival that didn’t even belong to them! By and large, the Early Church Fathers had good reasons - and by good I mean Biblical and theological - for structuring the Church’s worship as they did. And some yahoo pastor trying to be edgy 2,000 years later, or some scholar hoping for their five minutes of fame on daytime TV, churning out the same old tired cliches really isn’t something that should bother us overmuch.
Luke 1:5-25 Ideas for family worship
This is such a great passage for All Age worship, especially for younger children. It is multi-sensory, and helps create a context for praying together.
The altar of incense is in the Temple, right up against the curtain that separates the Holy Place from the Holy of Holies. IT’s right in the midst of the Ark (throne of the Father), the Table of the Bread of the Presence (Christ), and the seven-branched lampstand (Holy Spirit). The Altar itself, and the incense rising from it, represents the Church at prayer (e.g. Rev.8:2-4; Psalm 141:2, hence the comment in Luke 1:10). That in itself is pretty amazing. When the Church is praying we are right at the border between heaven and earth (what the Curtain represents), and is caught up into the midst of the life of the Trinity. We are joining the Fellowship of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Both the Son and the Spirit are described as interceding for us (Heb.7:25 ; Rom.8:27).
So, why not lay out the Temple so that everyone can see it (there is a plan below). Or if you are feeling creative, and have time in the midst of getting ready for Christmas (!), why not make an Altar of Incense, and burn some incense so that you can smell and see the smoke. Then just add your prayers. You may want to have written those before hand if you or your children aren’t confident praying out loud. If you can’t think of anything else to pray about, why not pray for some of the Christmas events going on over the next few weeks, or the Alpha Course in January? Here is a plan of the Tabernacle, on which the Temple was modelled:
And this is what the Alter of Incense looked like:
OR:
You might find it helpful to take the opportunity to talk together as a family about what it means to turn the hearts of children to their parents (1:17). What do you think this means? What does it look like? How does it tie in with e.g. the 5th Commandment? Why might parents and children’s hearts not be turned ‘to’ each other? What can you do about it? This gives us a chance to talk with our children about what it means for us to love them and for them to honour us, as we lead our families in the worship of the living God.
Or another angle might be the rebuke that Gabriel gives as Zechariah questions his words, brought as they have been from the ‘presence of God’. How should we respond to such words? What should such words evoke in us? How are such words brought to us today?
And don’t forget to use the Jesse Tree Family Worship for Advent if that works better for you. You can find it on the MIE Website, here.
Luke 1:1-4 Ideas for family Worship
Luke is a Doctor (Col.4:14). And he brings his training and experience as a Doctor to the health of the Church. When he sees a disease spreading through the ‘body of Christ’ he is quick to diagnose it and treat it so as to restore health.
The disease Luke sees lurking in the shadows of the Church is insecurity. People aren’t confident in what they believe about Jesus, or why they believe it. That’s a pretty serious thing. If children aren’t secure and confident in their parents’ love for them, or their expectations about their behaviour, or the consistency of their character and relationship, that could lead to some serious issues. We need confidence and security if we are to mature in a healthy way. It’s the same for our spiritual growth. Insecurity and uncertainty cripple our progress as Christians, and lead to unhealthy spiritual development.
Luke’s course of medication is 24 Chapters of reliable, historically verifiable history.
Faith is often presented as a leap in the dark... something you do when the evidence runs out. That isn’t at all how Luke sees things. For him, when you look at the evidence, believing in Jesus is the only sensible and informed thing to do. To reject Him is the leap in the dark. I’ve recommended Lee Strobel’s ‘Case for Christ’ recently. I’d do so again here. if not the book, then the film (2017) might make for good Christmas watching... and for conversations afterwards.
You can stream the movie online here.
This could be a great opportunity to get your child(ren) or young people talking about the questions they have about their faith. It can be exciting to help them think and talk, and pray, their questions, doubts and fears through – and it takes away the power for those questions to undermine faith.
Some other questions you could have fun with would be: Who are the servants of the Word Luke refers to in 1:2? He means the prophets of the Old Testament. One of the most helpful things we could do here would be to identify a handful of the prophecies that Luke appeals to – even in the first couple of chapters of his Gospel account... draw a timeline and draw (or make from Play Dough) different prophets and place them on the time line. What prophecies did they make about the coming of Jesus? How long ago? How were they fulfilled by Jesus? There are well over 300 – so plenty to choose from. Celebrating God’s faithfulness and wisdom, and His ruling and over-ruling of history is a great way to worship together as a family.
If you have older children, then as we come into Advent, you might want to do a similar exercise about the SECOND coming of Christ. Can you piece together the Bible’s teaching about His return? Reflect together as a family on how we can best prepare for that coming!
If you are thinking about creating an Advent theme to your Family Worship, don’t forget the Jesse Tree series on the MIE website. It takes you right through Advent and is packed with ideas for family worship. There are some other great Advent Resources you might want to have a look at...
big truths for tiny theologians
OK - here is soemthing you can listen to with your kids, or just have them listen to on their own… Tiny Theologians is a podcast that is aimed at younger children. It comes with an array of other merch, which you can buy into or not… the podcasts themselves are about 10 minutes long, and comes with a bunch of ideas for family worship and discipleship… like: Dessert and Discipleship! I’m going to be honest - sometimes it’s a bit cheesy… but maybe kids don’t pick up on that!
anyway - you can hear the podcast here.
Why reading Bible stories to your children can be dangerous...
I’m still helping us think through the question of parents discipling their children in ways shaped by the Bible’s vision… but when we talk about this, there are so many assumptions we have unthinkingly imbibed that need to be challenged. One of them is that children can’t do theology! We would rarely put it like that, but the outworkings of that assumption are fairly easy to spot. It comes out when we ‘just read our children Bible stories’. Why? Not that Bible stories are bad - they’re not. But why do we think that is all children need, or are capable of engaging with? And before you say it: yes, Jesus did use stories, and yes, stories are great teaching tools. But let me also say:
When Jesus used stories it was as much to hide truth as it was to reveal it (Matt.13:10-17). That’s important to realise. Stories that aren’t explained can darken as much as illuminate, confuse and much a clarify. JUST reading Bible stories to our children can be quite dangerous! It can leave them confused, drawing false conclusions, or developing inaccurate or incomplete half-ideas. That danger is exaccerbated when we only tell some of the stories.
The whole point of parables was that they needed to be explained: what is this teaching us about Jesus and His reign? The disciples came to Him and asked what the parables meant… and it is only when he explained them, or indeed as He explained ‘stories’ from the Old Testament that they become means of grace and revealers of truth. The stories on their own didn’t do that.
So yes, stories are great teaching tools… when they are explained! Otherwise, no, they’re not. When we read Bible stories to our children, it is critical that we are able to explain what they mean, and why they are being told. If your children are around Church, they are in a community that will help then make sense of the stories of the Bible… but that should be supporting and reinforcing what they are hearing consistently and systematically done at home.
And - at the risk of stating the obvious - stories only make up part of Jesus’ teaching ministry (and interestingly, the part of His ministry aimed largely at those not yet His disicples). There are extended sections of Jesus’ teaching without a story in sight. He spends long discourses explaining to His disciples the nature of reality, the reality of God, and the Church and the Kingdom, of discipleship and the Scriptures. Actually, it’s quite a long list - but the point is that we are selling our kids short if we only teach them the stories Jesus told. Or even the stories of what Jesus did. Or even the (His)stories of the Old Testament. These things need to be explained… and explained well, or we can leave our children ill-equipped for life as a follower of Jesus. We are to teach them the whole counsel of God.
Little Children can be Big Theologians. In our culture, we tend to assume that no-one can really be a theologian, least of alll children - but they might in fact be best placed to be the best theologians of us all (Matt.11:25). Here are a couple of things we’ve come across this week that really help us as we help our children grow to be those who understand the whole Bible.
This would be a great Christmas present, and fits brilliantly alongside a catechism. The story begins when two children stumble across a priceless treasure in the cold basement of a Cathedral. It is structured along the lines of a traditional theology, so it builds in helpful categories; but it uses analogies and word pictures, illustrations and examples to help younger children grasp abstract concepts.
And there is a companion album that goes along with the book, that celebrates the truths taught in the book in worship songs that the whole family can engage with!
You can buy the book - or at least find out more about it - here. And the accompnying album here.
I’ll be posting about anohter great resource next week.
Why we should take advantage of the Evening Service
Even in Churches that prioritise Bible teaching, discipleship, the dignity and centrality of worship, the general pattern is that the evening service is the Cinderella of the Sabbath. Generally, the evening service is an endangered species. A growing majority of Churches simply don’t have one, and there is a sense in the shrinking minority that days are numbered. At MIE, where our combined congregations might see about 200 people through the doors on an average Sunday, we would expect only 30-35 at our joint evening service at 6.00 pm.
The reasons for the demise of the evening service over the last 3 decades are many and complex - though in most of the world they would carry little weight with the rank and file Christian. In many contexts, the Lord’s Day is precisely that, the Lord’s Day, and as such consists of worship and fellowship and feasting throughout the substance of the day. For many of us, Church is simply one more thing we fit in when we can amongst a competing claims on our time and energy. Sunday evenings are often simply a chance to stay in and catch our breath before Monday morning.
It will be an almost impossible task to try to reverse the trend, but our current trajectory will not help the churches - or Christians - in the long run but only hasten their unravelling. Here are a handful of thoughts in that direction:
1. We Cannot build church communities by not meeting TOGETHER FOR WORSHIP…
Church, according to the New Testament, is relational. It is about people meeting together with Jesus among them. Church is family. Church is the interconnected and mutually supportive body of Christ. But those Christ-focussed relationships between God’s people will not flourish by halving the amount of time we spend together. Further, the evening service particularly gives time for fellowship to grow. We often spend time in prayer together, are able to take a more sustained look at Scripture, and to explore parts of our faith that rarely surface in the morning service. The services are less pressured, and time is less pressured - there generally isn’t a rush to get home, or to the ‘next thing’, whatever that may be. Young parents can ‘tag team’ while their partner cares for the children and so have uninterrupted time for informal and ‘grown up’ conversation and even prayer after the worship.
2. The Lord’s Day is still a part of Christian obedience, and rhytm of discipleship
The novel and recent idea that one of the 10 commandments (the only one linked to both our creation and redemption) no longer applies to the church has done and continues to do immense damage to the churches. On any given Sunday I expect about a third of our regular attenders to be missing. There is little sense that meeting together is a Christian priority around which the rest of life should be ordered. Joining with God’s people in corporate worship is not something that should be forsaken lightly. We spent a full year at DTP exploring the significance and centrality of corporate worship in our own experience of disicpleship. Frankly, we should be making more of Sundays, not less, and the sense of not making progress as a Christian is deeply and directly linked to our engagement with the corporate worship of the Church.
One of my favourite sermons from centuries gone by was preached on Psalm 87:2, by Rev. David Clarkson, and was entitled: Why public worship is to be preferred over private. It gives 12 reasons why… which can be read in summary form here.
People, made in God’s image, are made for a one day in seven rest and true rest is found in fellowship with God. The need for that rest has not ceased. Further the book of Hebrews in the New Testament specially concerns ‘the world to come, about which we are speaking’ (Heb 2:5). Therefore, to insist that ‘the Sabbath-rest which remains for the people of God’ (Heb 4:9) is solely about resting in Christ now will not wash. Our weekly celebration of the resurrection each Sunday anticipates and witnesses to the fact of that coming rest—when Christ returns. We have reflected on this together as a Church… you can find some resources on our website here.
3. Putting family before God won’t help in the long run
One of the most common reasons for not making it to Church, sometimes even once, let alone twice, is our prioritising of family. The idea that Sunday is a family day is not totally wrong, but when ‘family’ is not put in the context of ‘Church-family’ we are definitely heading in the directin of totally wrong. If we allow Sundays to revolve around the family / children instead of the worship of God, we are teaching children that family is more important that Church, perhaps even God, and sometimes that other activities - perhaps even activities they would rather participate in - are more important than Church, perahps even God. We may not do this consciously but nevertheless when we continually skip church for family it is there. And then many Christians lament the fact that their children don’t continue in the faith when they are old enough to make their own decisions. We must face the possiblity that we (inadvertently?) gave them the impression that actually God is not very important? Jesus warned us about loving our families more than him, Luke 14.26.
4. Leadership AND DISCIPLESHIP requires DEEPER commitment to the church
Many promising potential leaders, preachers and worship leaders are ‘oncers’. They are there only at church most Sunday mornings. They are gifted, perhaps wanting to grow as Christians, maybe even have a good grasp of Scripture; but their availability to serve the Church is massively curtailed because they are only there once on a Sunday—and their secular jobs / other commitments often preclude them from being at DTP, or even the prayer meeting. Many who are involved in leading Sunday Groups, or who are otherwise committed to serving the Church during the morning services do so to their own impoverishment. There is always a cost to being directly involved in facilitating a service in whatever capacity. Managing the sound desk, providing music, helping at a Sunday Group… however our service looks, it necessarily means we aren’t engaged in the service as others are. Historically, the effects of this were mitigated by attending the evening service. That isn’t necessarily the case in the contemporary Church scene. It is unlikely that we have fully appreciated the cost of our current assumptions and arrangements, either for ourselves, or for MIE.
5. A closed church building on a Sunday evening is a sorry witness
As cynical non-Christians go about their business on a Sunday evening, to see a church building withthe lights off and the doors locked is going to do nothing but confirm them in their belief that God is dead. They still know that Sunday is the day of Christian worship, but perhaps it occurs to them that Christians may claim to worship the living God, yet they seem less than enthusiastic about him.
One of the great marks of true revival is when God’s people can’t wait to get to church. On the day of Pentecost, God came by his Spirit and the people came too—even people who were as yet unconverted (Acts 2:6). They couldn’t help themselves. The fact that we are so far from that and seem comparatively unconcerned by that as Christians seems a terrible indictment as to our true spiritual condition as ‘Western’ Christians.
6. There is more to say
Many folk complain of not knowing the Scriptures. We complain that we don’t understand them well enough to teach our own children, let alone lead a children’s / youth / home group. We freely confess that we don’t understand our own faith… And yet we don’t turn out to the very place where all that could be rectified. In the evening service we are working through the Old Testament. We’re almost finished I Kings. The plan is to work through the chronological books, bringing the other writings in at the point where they ‘fit’ in the narrative. This means that we are covering huge sections of the Bible we will never touch in the morning services, and wrestling with the dynamics of Christian belief and practise in ways that again, are simply not possible within the constraints of a morning service.
The fact remains that we believe that God speaks through the preaching of his word. So, is it true that God has nothing more to say to us or to teach us for the week as a church than what we learn in a 30 minute message on Sunday morning? Do we genuinely believe this is adequate for our growth as Christians, and the developing and renewing of our minds?
But there is more to a service that our exposure to Scripture - though that does remain critical and foundational. Each Sunday is a statement about the reality of the resurrection of Christ, a weekly - and needed - entering into the reality of Jesus death and resurrection. And is an opportunity to renew the Covenant. If you don’t come to the evening service, you are likely receiving Communion only once a month.
If you can survive on that diet, you’re a stronger Christian than I am.
Why should we catechise ourselves and our children?
Even though for centuries this was standard practise for Christians and their families, the practice of catechising has fallen into such disrepair that many haven’t even heard of it, let alone appreciate its importance. Hopefully as you’re working through Catechism questions in your own time with the Lord, and in families… and as we use them periodically in services, you are beginning to appreciate the practise. But here are some good reasons for rehabilitating this ancient spiritual discipline and practise:
Every Biblical truth has at least one error, perhaps even a heresy, that stands in opposition to it, and competing with it for our acceptance. And given our sinful bent, our tendency might be to accept that rather than truth. There are obvious examples, such as the Deity of Christ. Since the days of Arius, and more recently in a number of cults and unfortunately in the minds of some Christians give Jesus a less full participation in Deity. As our culture loses sight of the Bible’s teaching means that those errors and heresies are far more prevalent, and both we and our children need to be able to recognise them for what they are. Catechising means we systematically work thorugh the doctrines of our faith in a way that helps us do that far more effectively than we would otherwise be able to.
Remember: every time you find a biblical truth and you will find a lie - or likely several - crouching nearby.
True Christian education is intentional and one excellent way to intentionally teach children the tenets of the Christian faith is by catechism. A catechism is a memorised question followed by a memorised response. It comes from the Greek word katēkhesis which means ‘to instruct orally’ (cf. Luke 1:4; Acts 18:25; 1 Corinthians 14:19).
The reason catechism is so effective in our family worship is that it makes good use of that period in their development when children are designed to be able to memorise, even if they can’t fully understand what they are memorising. When we train our children to memorise critical doctrines, we do not expect them to fully grasp what they are learning. Rather, we are helping them commit to memory truth that they will come to understand and apply as they mature.
‘Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old, he will not depart from it.’ (Proverbs 22:6)
This verse is not a promise but rather a truism. Generally, when people are trained as doctors, they go on to become doctors. When they are trained as teachers, they go on to become teachers. In the same way, when a child is trained as a Christian, he generally goes on to believe the doctrines he was taught. Even those who become prodigals very often come to the faith later on due to the training in the truth that they experienced when they were young. There is a problem in that our sense of what it means to train children is hopelessly inadequate! So often we think that reading a Bible story, saying prayers and playing worship music fulfils the criteria. Hopefully we are beginning to appreciate how far short that falls of what the Bible calls parents to do!
Those who are not trained, or not trained adequately, in the truth generally do not go on to believe the truth when they are old. The books of Judges cited the example of the people of Israel, who were not taught by their fathers the works of the Lord nor of his mighty deeds: ‘And all that generation also were gathered to their fathers. And there arose another generation after them who did not know the Lord or the work he had done for Israel.’ (Judges 2:10). Within a generation, the legacy of faith is lost.
God will never leave himself without a witness and the true church will never fade nor perish. Nevertheless, God has a means by which he accomplishes the propagation and preservation of the church from one generation to the next. David writes, ‘One generation shall commend your works to another, and shall declare your mighty acts’ (Psalm 145:4). Those of us who are true believers in Christ have a responsibility to teach the next generation the truths and tenets of the Christian faith. This is true of us as a Church and particularly the responsibilty of those called to be parents, and grandparents (Ps.78:5-6)
We are naive if we think that all error is outside the Church. We need to equip our children to recognise when they are being taught something that isn’t true. But more positively and constructively, when Churches have people in them whose convictions are so consciously shaped by the Scriptures, those Churches will be strong and healthy. It is knowledge of the truth that leads to godliness (Titus 1:1), and it is by speaking the TRUTH in love that we grow to become the mature body of Him who is the head (Eph.4:15). a mature Church can only come about when people have deep foundations of knowledge and understanding of the Word of God. When people - by their own admission often - don’t know the Bible, the Church is inevitably weak.
When you study the history of the Church, it is remarkable that catechism features so prominently. many of the ‘big’ names of Church history wrote catechisms and expected them to be used in family worship and personal devotions. We might worry about the repetitive nature of working through a catechism. But a moment’s thought shows us how groundless such a superficial concern would be. We know how important revision is, and revisiting material we might not know as well as we thought. The same is true of what we are learning about Christian truth.
William Gurnall - one such older preacher from history - writes that ‘A preacher should not apologise for preaching the same truth over and over.’ to he[ us udnerstand the importance of doing so, he describes how boundary lines left untended become forgotten and future generations will never know where borders to a piece of land once stood. In the same way, where doctrine is badly taught or barely taught it will be destroyed by the weeds of untruth and forgotten by the next generation. Like the man who preserves his borders, we parents are particularly positioned to mark out the boundaries of truth in our children’s lives and to teach it again and again and again. And perhaps to learn it ourselves…
‘Teach me your way, O Lord, that I may walk in your truth; unite my heart to fear your name.’ (Psalm 86:11).
Overview of Wisdom & Proverbs
During Lockdown we had a Bible-Read-Through Breakfast on the whole question of Wisdom and the Book of Proverbs. I’ve reposted it here, in case you’d find it helpful thinking through the context of this week’s reading and Bible Study notes… We’re exploring the relationship of Wisdom to Jesus, what the Book of Proverbs is designed by the Spirit to do, and how we can read Proverbs in a way that will help us to become more like Jesus…
