Understanding what Jesus intends for us.
If we were alive in the Gospel stories, if we lived in the time and world of Jesus’s incarnation, and a neighbor came breathlessly pounding on our door to inform us that he’d been spotted, Jesus was passing through our town, or village, or city,
and that he was last seen not far from here – we’d all do the same thing. We’d gather our households together– spouse, children, guests, extended family – and we’d take them by the hands, or gather them in our arms, or hoist them on our backs, or push strollers and wheelchairs in front of us, and we’d run out into the streets to follow the crowds, hoping to catch a glimpse of him. Because maybe, just maybe, we’d overhear him teaching the throngs in the street, or maybe, just maybe he’d spot us (us of all people in the mob!), and he’d come to speak to us, or maybe to touch us, or heal us, or set us free from something. That’s what we’d do. Every one of us.
And that’s all family worship is. We don’t live in the Gospel stories, but Jesus is still present in our world by his Spirit in the church and through the means of
grace (word, sacraments, prayer), and we all still desperately long for encounter after encounter with him. Because Jesus is God’s REDEEMER, we want more of him for ourselves and our children, and all who belong to us. Because Jesus LOVES to give himself to us, we go looking for him in the places where he promises he will be found by us – in reading and talking about the Bible together, in prayer, and in singing gospel songs. Family worship is simply gathering up our families and running after Jesus where he says we will find him.
This means that YOU don’t have to make anything happen in
family worship – you are not a performer, or a presenter, you are a disciple and follower, like everyone else dragging their families behind and running after Jesus. You may need to plan a bit to know exactly where you want to run out to look for him - which scripture passage will you read, what questions will you ask to draw you family to engage with the text, what will you pray about and how will you express it, what will you sing and why?– but the work isn’t yours to do. The WORK of it is the joyous work that the Redeemer has obligated himself to – he ministers to us, which is exactly what the Redeemer is sent to do. And it is exactly the work he has continued to do since his first Advent, and precisely the work he will continue through, and eternally beyond, his second Advent. The astounding GOOD NEWS of family worship is, family worship is NOT something we do for Jesus! Family worship is yet another thing Jesus does for us!
We do not live in the Gospel stories. We don’t inhabit the time or world of Jesus’s incarnation. But Jesus STILL inhabits our world by his Spirit, and he meets us when we chase after him in reading and talking about the Bible together, in prayer, and in singing gospel songs. He is near, now as always. Gather your family, and go after him. He will meet you, and you will be changed.
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