p. 7 | Family Worship by Arthur W. Spaulding

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Nov 14, 1912

Family Worship

By Arthur W. Spaulding

Come, Let Us Live With Our Children — No. 7

Family Worship

ARTHUR W. SPAULDING

There is much need among us of a fuller observance of family worship, and there is much need of many improvements in the manner of conducting family worship. No home can be called Christian that does not observe family worship. Morning by morning the father, as priest of the household, should gather his family around him, to give thanks to God for his care, to ask in Christ’s name for the forgiveness of sins, to invoke God’s blessing upon the thoughts and deeds of the day. Evening by evening the incense of grateful prayer should rise to the throne of God.

Morning worship should be held before breakfast. “How appropriate it is for parents to gather their children about them before the fast is broken, to thank the Heavenly Father for his protection during the night, and to ask him for his help and guidance and watch-care during the day!”—“Testimonies for the Church,” Vol. VII, page 43. Before breakfast the mind is clearer and more able to grasp the meaning of the service. There is no cluttered table or untidy house for the angels to see as they come to bless the worshipers with their presence. To argue, as some do, that it is not so easy to get all the members of the household together before breakfast as after, is simply to acknowledge a lack of system and authority in the home. We can not be too scrupulous about cleanliness and tidiness in house and in person when we come before God. Because God will hear prayer when we are in rags and dirt, gives us no warrant for choosing such conditions in which to come to him. A man in rolled-up shirt sleeves, tousled hair, and muddy shoes is not a priest acceptable to God.

Make the worship season short. It is not necessary always to read a whole chapter. It is far from necessary to make long prayers. Sometimes I think good Christian men do not know what is a long prayer. But be sure the child knows. Take for brevity the model of the Lord’s prayer.

We should gather for worship quietly, reverently. To come in a bustle and a hurry, to be talking about common things up to the moment of opening the Bible or the song-book, is not pleasing to God. Fathers and mothers have a duty in this matter, to exemplify and enforce quietness and reverence. Let us teach the children, as well as ourselves, that we are coming into the presence of God. The atmosphere of the worship hour is not to be depressing, but it is to be quiet and reverent. Fathers and mothers, let us come up in this matter. There are few homes where this point is sufficiently observed.

During the time of worship our children must be taught to be quiet, in prayer to kneel with eyes closed. Fathers and mothers will find they can help their children to do this by offering short prayers. It is unjust to a child to require him to kneel for fifteen minutes in prayer, and keep quiet. One-minute prayers are far better. Leave the long prayers for the secret closet. But when this has been provided for, see to it that the children, even the smallest, are controlled, are quiet. This teaching must begin with the child as soon as it can understand anything. It is a shame to parents to allow a two-year-old child to babble in the midst of prayer, or to run about the room during any part of the worship. Having dealt for years with some of the most nervous, restless, and determined children, I know that any sane child can be taught to observe proper decorum. And it is painful indeed to see the laxity with which some parents treat this matter. It will take persistence to accomplish the good results, but it can be done.

Be sure that the child properly trained in family worship can also be controlled in church. For a father or mother to let a child run about in church, or to disturb the meeting in other ways, shows simply an incompetence as a parent; and to bribe that child by means of a cooky or an apple is scarcely a lesser evil. We need more of that pronounced authority of Abraham, who commanded his household after him.

But the chief matter to be considered in worship is to make it interesting and profitable. First of all, let us sing. Song is an integral part of worship. I believe that every household can sing, if there are no more than two to take part, and if they have no instrument to accompany their voices. And I believe that any family, once their attention is called to the importance of this matter, will make song a part of their worship if they have any real interest in the worship. A song at the beginning of the service, and a verse at the close, gives it a setting that unites it to the more impressive services of the church. I am sorry to find many young married couples who have set up the family altar, and who are well able to sing, neglecting this out of pure indifference. And there is a greater number of older people—perhaps more excusable—who do nothing but read, dryly, uninterestingly, a chapter from the Bible, pray, get up and casually wander out,—and call that worship! I do not say there can be no true worship without song, but I believe God expects song from those who can sing or who can learn to sing. “O come, let us sing unto the Lord: let us make a joyful noise to the Rock of our salvation. Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving, and make a joyful noise unto him with psalms.” Ps. 95:1, 2.

The father is naturally the one to offer the prayer. This need not be invariably the rule, but in large families it is seldom well to expect all the members to pray at morning worship. “In a sense the father is the priest of the household, laying upon the family altar the morning and evening sacrifice. But the wife and children should unite in prayer, and join in the song of praise. In the morning before he leaves home for his daily labor, let the father gather his children about him, and, bowing before God, commit them to the care of the Father in heaven. When the cares of the day are past, let the family unite in offering grateful prayer and raising the song of praise, in acknowledgment of divine care during the day.”—“Ministry of Healing,” page 392.

The evening worship hour may, if it is early enough, be made somewhat more of a study, but nothing tiresome should ever be allowed to come into it. In some cases it may be advisable for a short study period to precede the worship hour, and this study period may be more informal. The hour of the evening worship should be carefully selected. A mistake is made in putting it so late that all the children are sleepy and inclined to be cross. Yet there is difficulty in putting it early enough for them and yet late enough for the working hours of the father. In some cases it may be necessary for the youngest children to have their story-time and prayer alone with the mother, as they should be asleep before the regular worship hour. But if possible, all members of the family should be brought together in the evening worship hour.

When the father, for any reason, can not conduct worship, it devolves upon the mother. Fortunate is that family where both are united and both are present. But in those too-common cases where only the mother is a Christian or in sympathy with the truth, the obligation, while harder to fulfil, is nevertheless as great and as important in the training of the children.

Family worship must be made joyous, helpful, inspiring. It can be so, if thought is given to its planning and if correct principles are carried out. It is an important part of the training of the child, and if parents and children really live together, it will be a delightful as well as helpful association.