Seven Mile Road, some of us grew up in homes that did family worship, and many of us did not. For both groups, family worship can be intimidating. For some, you wrestle with guilt because your home doesn’t  worship together with the consistency or regularity that you experienced when you were growing up. One person told me, it was a known rule in her home that no matter what, at 10pm you had to be home for family prayer. You could go to China in the morning – that’s fine – but you better be home by 10! Others of us never worshipped with our families. And so now that you have a family of your own, you have no idea what you’re supposed to do. Maybe it sounds like a good idea, but how do you do it?

Here’s the most helpful thing I’ve ever heard about this whole thing:

Keep it simple.

You may have visions of gathering with quiet, well-behaved, attentive, children who sit at your feet and hang on your every word as you teach them from the Heidelberg Catechism. In reality, it’s more like one is hanging off the couch, the second is falling asleep, and you’re wrestling down the third while trying to read whatever is the shortest chapter in the Bible. Ah, Psalm 117 – a family favorite.

Just keep it simple. It doesn’t have to be long. It shouldn’t be boring. Say ten minutes, two or three times a week. Build from there. And here’s three simple ingredients for how to do it.

Sing

Buy a hymnal. Or grab your phone and look up song lyrics online. Email Siby for a list of songs we sing at church. If you have young kids, let them bang on the toy piano or strum on the Fisher Price guitar. Whatever, but sing a song to God together.

Read

One chapter. Or one story. That’s it. Read it out loud. If you have young kids, perhaps act it out. I guarantee you they’ll love that. Not to mention that there are a slew of resources and aids out that can help. In fact, as I was typing this, I literally just got an email for a new ESV Bible to help with…wait for it…Family Devotions. It must be a sign.

Pray

Not long. Not eloquent. Simple. Honest. Talk to God.

In fact, let something you read from the Bible shape what you pray about so that every night doesn’t become a routine rendition of the same prayer. If you have little ones, it’s like riding a bike. You run behind them for a while as they say out loud the words you tell them to say. And then one day, you let go and they keep pedaling on their own. And before you know it, they learn to pray.

The Bible expects that any Christian parent can help lead their kids toward God (Deut. 6:4-9; Ps. 78:1-8). If you became a believer this morning, this is something you can do tonight. From a mature believer to a new convert – this is something all of us can do.

So, keep it simple. Sing a song. Read the Bible. Pray together.

Photo Credit: Ligionier