Jesus had a rotating cast of dinner companions—friends and disciples, sinners and tax collectors and new converts, pharisees and lawyers, detractors and skeptics. Whole tables full of strays and stragglers, devotees and fanboys, and come-as-you ares—an ad hoc extended family. Inevitably, somewhere in the middle of dinner, family worship broke out:
Prayers were offered;
Scripture was proclaimed;
Praises were blurted;
Questions were asked, answers floated, and debates volleyed;
Hearts were changed;
Hearts were hardened;
Once, a luxuriant, over-the-top offering was made that scandalized everyone at the table, and Jesus gloried in its extravagance.
The details varied from occasion to occasion, but the outcome was always the same with Jesus serving up heaping portions of his presence, and grace, and reconciliation, and restoration.
One of the best ways to jump start your family worship is by imitating Jesus’s example and expanding your guest list. Put the extra leaf in the table and bring in extra chairs from the other rooms, then invite another family from church to join yours for dinner and family worship. If you still have empty seats, invite a young couple who don’t have kids yet, but probably will before long, Lord willing, or a single who feels disowned and less-than in the rhythms of church life, or maybe a widow or two, or an adopted set of grandparents who live hundreds of miles from their own grandkids. Your dinner party can be as holy and mismatched as the ones Jesus presided over. OR, if that sounds lovely, but overwhelming, just invite one other family. Do what you are able.
Be clear in your invitation, though. You are inviting your guests for dinner AND family worship. Assure them you’ll muddle through it together.
Keep dinner simple and easy. You aren’t angling for a Michelin Star. The simpler and easier you make it, the more likely you are to make it happen at all. Enjoy the meal and each other. Take your time. Fellowship is holy, too. And as dinner is winding down, invite everyone to help clear the table, because it’s time for family worship.
Keep this part of the evening simple and easy, too. Know what you are going to read and talk about ahead of time. Pick a VISUAL passage, something with action, and characters, or easily interpreted metaphors. Pick a scripture text that is easy to read, and easy to talk about, like the dispute between Mary and Martha in Luke 10, or the parable of the lost coin in Luke 15, or Jesus welcoming children as disciples in Mark 10.
Have bibles for everyone. Or make photocopies. Everyone should be following the text - it makes discussion much easier, and much fuller.
Share the responsibilities. Ask for some at the table to read. If the scripture text is long, you can break it up. If the text is short, ask a few people to read it, explaining that hearing the verses read a few times will help us to feel closer to the text and more comfortable in discussion.
Have a handful of questions prepared, 3-5 is optimal. Start with easy questions, questions that are observable from the text. Move to open ended questions that require some interpretation and faith. (If you have really young worshipers in the mix, you may want to craft a question especially for them, and announce that this question is just for the young ones).
Try to have a one sentence gospel summary to close the discussion - something like, “Jesus calls us to be less busy and to make more room for worship. Our hearts will be freer if we do”; or, “Your heart and life are as valuable to Jesus as the lost coin was to the woman”; or, “Children are richer in the Kingdom than adults, because children are always asking for things, and Jesus is always giving.”
Then pray. Maybe ask a few people at the table to offer prayers - one person could pray about what you discovered in the text, one could pray for friends and neighbors who need to hear the gospel and for opportunities to share, one could pray for fruitful ministry in your church and for your pastors.
Then sing. Sing a hymn that fits with the text, or just a favorite gospel song your church loves to sing. Have copies of lyrics ready to pass around, and don’t feel pressured to sing the whole song - you can sing a verse or two. Remember, you don’t need a guitar wizard or a virtuoso pianist to sing well. You can sing acapella, and if you start off key, laugh it off, regather, and start again.
Keep things moving, and keep it short. In a larger group, 15-20 minutes is enough time for a lively and encouraging family worship session. The general rule is, you want to close it down before it fizzles out on its own.
The secret to all of this is, there is no secret. GATHER with others, HEAR the word of the savior, DISCUSS, BELIEVE, PRAY and SING. You will find what all those dinner guests in the gospels found - Jesus gives himself as a feast to fill our hearts, and minds, and bodies.
Comments