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On Family Worship, for fathers

       Guide for fathers leading family worship

Make an effort to conduct family worship daily.  Twice a day, at morning and evening, is best.  Sometimes it is easier to make it shorter in the morning and a little longer in the evening.  As God has not prescribed a particular order for family devotions, it is flexible.  However in keeping with good order and the logical nature of the human mind, it is a good idea to plan beforehand on a particular order for family devotions.  This will help your devotions to go smoothly, to capture everyone’s attention, to enhance memory, to be fruitful, and not to drag on.

Follow the basic outline of a Christian order of worship.  You may use the order of worship from your church or from the worship bulletin as an outline, omitting certain items as needed in order to save time or for other reasons.

Here is one example of an order for family worship adapted from historic Reformed liturgies:

(I often like to begin by singing Psalms loudly while everyone gathers.  This lets the family know it’s time for family worship.  In the morning, it helps everyone to wake up!)

I.                   Call to Worship or Votum

Say this or another similar verse: Our help is in the name of the LORD, who made heaven and earth. Psalm 124:8

II.               Prayer of Confession of Sin

Pray a prayer together confessing your sin and asking for God’s forgiveness for the sake of Jesus Christ.  This may be said in unison or with the father saying the prayer and the family following his words in their hearts.  You may confess your sins together using Psalm 6, 32, 38, 51, 102, 130, 143; Nehemiah 9:6-37; Daniel 9:4-19, Job 7, 10; or Jeremiah 14:2-9, 17-22.  You may instead use John Calvin's Prayer of Confession of Sin from the Genevan Liturgy, one of the prayers of confession taken from the Book of Praise (described below), or other Reformed prayer forms.

III.            Assurance of Pardon (optional)

Assure yourselves of God’s forgiveness using one of the following or a similar Bible verse:

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.  John 3:16

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.  1 John 1:9

IV.              Psalm of Thanksgiving

Sing, giving thanks to God in response to his forgiveness in Christ.  This is a good spot to express thankfulness to God through meditation on his law (eg. Psalm 1, 4, 5, 15, 17, 119—break this one up into sections!)

V.                 Prayer for Illumination

Pray to ask God to open his word to your hearts and to teach you all by it.  Traditionally in Reformed worship this prayer is always a free prayer not fixed to a particular form. (Or, at least, the minister was free to choose any form appropriate.)

VI.              Scripture Reading

Read one or more chapters of Scripture to your family.  This is best done sequentially through books of the Bible from beginning to end.

VII.          Discussion/questions and answers

Give family members a chance to discuss the text just read.  Make some comments on the content of the passage which you read.  Allow anyone in the family to ask questions about it, and provide answers the best you can. 

VIII.       Prayer after the Scripture Reading

First gather prayer requests from the family.  Then pray that God would bless the word of God to your hearts, making it effective for your holiness.  Pray for particular concerns and needs of the family, the church, the government, relatives, and give thanks for particular blessings.  If desired, you may start by using the “prayer after the sermon” from the Book of Praise or another Reformed prayer book.  This prayer may end with the Lord’s Prayer said by the whole family in unison.

IX.              Creed (optional)

Recite the Apostle’s Creed, Nicene Creed, or a portion of another historic creed or confession in unison.  This would also be a great time to drill family members on the catechism.

X.                 Psalm(s) and/or Gloria Patri

XI.              Prayer for God’s blessing

Use one of the following, changing the 2^nd person pronoun YOU to 1^st person US:

The high-priestly blessing (Numbers 6:24-26):   The LORD bless US, and keep US:  The LORD make his face shine upon US, and be gracious unto US:  The LORD lift up his countenance upon US, and give US peace.

The apostolic blessing (2 Corinthians 13:14):  The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with US all. Amen.

Materials for Family Worship

1.  Holy Bible with metrical Psalms, Trinitarian Bible Society

A Bible with metrical Psalms will provide one handy resource for family worship which includes all of the instructional and devotional material that you will ever really need.  This volume is available in various sizes and bindings (vinyl, calfskin, etc.) in the Authorized (King James) Version at a comparatively low price for this level of quality.  The advantage of these beautifully-made Bibles is that they contain the Scottish Metrical Psalter (1650) in the back, perfect for singing, praising, and making melody in your heart to the Lord.  This is the Psalter which was approved by the Westminster Assembly and the Scottish General Assembly which approved the Westminster Standards.  These are the exact songs that were used for centuries for Christian worship in the hills of Scotland, in Ulster, and on the western frontiers of Pennsylvania and the Carolinas.  These Psalm settings are quite accurate to the original Hebrew Scripture text and they are almost all in what is known as common meter, which makes it very easy to pick a tune that everyone knows which will match any particular Psalm.  For example, the well-known tunes to Amazing Grace and O For a Thousand Tongues to Sing will work for just about all of the Psalm settings in this Psalter. It’s a great resource for getting your family singing Psalms! 

This volume is perfect for family devotions, containing ample material for Bible readings since it has the full text of the Holy Scripture in the Authorized Version.  A Bible reading plan in the appendix is helpful to those who would like to read through the whole Bible once (and twice through the New Testament and Psalms) in two years. The fullest, most expansive, and most ecumenical of Christian devotional books, the Book of Psalms, will provide all of the guides and forms for prayer or praise which may be needed.  For example, common prayers of confession of sin may be taken from Psalm 6, 32, 38, 51, 102, 130, 143.  The Lord’s Prayer is found in Matthew 6:9-13 and Luke 11:2-4.  The Appendix contains a Bible dictionary and maps section.  I prefer the centre reference edition, but if you can do without the references you can get a great deal from TBS on a calfskin Bible with metrical Psalms in a handy size.  The last I checked it was only 32$, which is a great price for calfskin.  A durable binding in genuine calfskin leather will last a lifetime with proper care.

2.  Book of Praise: Anglo-Genevan Psalter, available from Inheritance Publications          

This is the only English Psalter which uses all of the Genevan tunes written by church composer Louis Bourgeois in Geneva at the time of the 16^th century Reformation.  These tunes are beautiful, majestic, catchy, and written purposely according to the mood and content of each particular Psalm.  This music is the precious heritage of all Reformed Christians.  These musical settings were immortalized during the faithful suffering of the French Reformed Huguenots who through their centuries "in the wilderness" sang these tunes, enduring papist persecution in Roman Catholic France.  These tunes were emanating from the last breath of many a French Protestant martyr.  The Roman Catholic authorities tried to ban these tunes, but to no avail.  The Huguenots just kept on singing!  The music is annotated here just in one-part melody for those who can read music.

It contains metrical settings of the 150 Psalms plus the 65 hymns approved by the Canadian and American Reformed churches (including the New Testament canticles and many other Scripture passages from the Old and New Testaments set to music, as well as other traditional hymns.)

This volume is a valuable devotional resource since it contains all of the following: The Apostle’s, Nicene, and Athanasian Creeds, the Belgic Confession, Heidelberg Catechism, and Canons of Dordt, prayers dating to the Reformation (public confession of sin, morning prayer, evening prayer, prayers before and after meals, prayer after the hearing of the word, prayer for all of Christendom, etc.), and the Order of Worship of the Canadian Reformed Churches, all in very modern English (which has its advantages.)    

3. The Westminster Shorter Catechism

Any family worship routine would be incomplete if it did not in some way include the ancient Christian art of catechesis.  This historic catechism is a great tool for teaching children and adults alike the cardinal doctrines of the Christian faith in a useful question and answer format.  I recommend rote memorization for small children, and fuller instruction on the meaning of the catechism for older children and adults, or when small children begin to ask questions about the meaning of certain words and phrases.