Connectogons

Elisabeth received a set of "connectogons" for Christmas, which she loves. I've tried to find them online and can't find them at all. Has anyone else heard of them? They're fantastic!

Little churches

"The families of Christians should be little churches."
(Richard Baxter in his Christian Directory, quoted in The Family Worship Book p17)

As I am reading through The Family Worship Book, I find Baxter's claim ringing true. If the family functions as a little church in regular worship, confession, prayer, reading, instruction and catechism, would not the church benefit greatly?

If it would not only benefit the church, but is in fact the responsibility of parents, then what greater service could the Church offer than to equip parents to lead its "little churches"? The Church would be rightly shifting the responsibility for spiritual nurture back to parents and equipping them to fulfill that responsibility.

I see the consequences spiraling:

1. Parents realize the gravity of parenting.
2. Parents pray daily with their children and for their children.
3. Children grow to understand worship as a daily, not weekly, activity.
4. Children daily see their parents confess sin and worship Christ.
   
5. The worship of many families (on Sundays) mirrors and reinforces the worship of the "little churches."
6. Suddenly children's "programs" are not as critical.
   
7. Children participating in Sunday worship (rather than going out to their programs) is more normal, because they are learning to worship every day of the week.

I can't think of a negative consequence!

Ardor for Order

"Puritan teachers thought humane family life, in which Christian love and joy would find full and free expression, could not be achieved till the ordered pattern they envisage - the regular authority-structure and daily routine - had been firmly established. Their passion to please God expressed itself in an ardor for order; their vision of the good and godly life was of a planned, well-thought-out flow of activities in which all obligations were recognized and met, and time was found for everything that mattered: for personal devotion, for family worship, for household tasks, for wage-earning employment, for intimacy with spouse and children, for Sabbath rest, and whatever else one's calling or callings required" (J.I. Packer A Quest for Godliness p 273, quoted in The Family Worship Book p18)

Although I have read A Quest for Godliness (and highly recommend it as an excellent overview of the Puritans), I found this quotation in The Family Worship Book extremely helpful in pushing me to make time, particularly in the new year, for those things that matter most.

Merry Christmas!

Reading Paddington

Elisabeth found the best place to read the adventures of Paddington Bear: in Uncle Gordon's lap.

Nap time after party time

After her birthday party on Saturday, Elisabeth and Uncle Gordon were ready for a nap.

Making ornaments

Elisabeth had a blast making ornaments out of pine cones.

A birthday without a post?

How could I neglect to record and celebrate my daughter's birthday? Well, she got sick at preschool (which meant an early trip, and abbreviated in-class celebration), and we came home to find that the roof had sprung a leak. So there was not much time for anything.

Now the roof is patched, and Elisabeth is in bed, so there is a bit of time.

I have loved the past year for a multitude of reasons:

• Bedtime is now a peaceful, happy routine.
• Bathing is happy, as getting water in your eyes isn't the end of the world.
• Elisabeth loves to help: cleaning, doing dishes, etc.
• She can make responsible decisions.
• She can make a polite request instead of falling to pieces.
• She can enjoy a book that doesn't have pictures on every page.
• She can solve problems rather than simply reporting them.
• She can share, even when she'd rather not.
• She initiates sharing!
• We can enjoy talking about a shared experience.
• She is even more affectionate and articulate. (Elisabeth regularly comes up to one of us, unprompted, and says, "I love you, Mommy [or Daddy]!")

I am so thankful for my daughter, and for her fourth year of life. What a wonderful gift of grace!

4 years ago....

Tomorrow Elisabeth turns 4....

We didn't worship yet!

In an attempt to move from bed-time Bible reading to family worship, we have been using the Seeds of Praise CD to sing our worship. (I'm hoping that our family worship time will push me to learn to play the guitar that I was given two years ago . . . and still can't play.)

Last night we were late in getting Elisabeth to bed, and I announced, "OK, time for bed!" to which Elisabeth responded,

"We didn't worship yet!"

O how I want that to continue, so that she eagerly anticipates our worship time each evening!

Catechism music

Elisabeth is addicted to a catechism bootleg. It is a recording from a preschool in Tennessee, and is very, very good. So most nights she listens to it as she goes to sleep.

I saw another music catechism product from Monergism today. I'm not sure that the musical quality will be as good as the bootleg, but it is good to know that others are actively putting these great questions in the format that children learn fastest: music.

Playing memory with Uncle Roger

I have the best in-laws!

Last week Rebecca and I took a 3-day getaway to celebrate her birthday - while Elisabeth stayed with her grandparents. I thought that it was very kind of my in-laws to be willing to take care of her for that time. But when we made the handoff, I was even more amazed that they had packed a basket of treats for us for our getaway! We were spoiled - and grateful.

I have the best in-laws!

We were gone for several years

We spent about two weeks on the road spanning Thanksgiving (which is one of the reasons I have been so sparse in posting). When we returned home Elisabeth announced:

"We were gone for several years!"

Clearly she has grasped that a 'year' is a long time, even if she hasn't quite figured out just how long it is.

A commandment always practiced

This evening I was talking with a friend about spiritual lethargy that we are both experiencing. As we talked, I realized that I receive so much wise counsel from John Owen on overcoming sin and temptation. I opened up his book and my gaze fell on this sentence:

"A commandment that is always practiced is always new . . ." (379)

There is a wonderful remedy for my lethargy: to practice! He continues:

"And he that really improves [practices] gospel truths, though he hears them a thousand times, they will be always new and fresh unto him, because they put him on newness of practice; when to another, that grows common [bored] under them, they are burdensome and common unto him, and he even loathes the manna that he is so accustomed to." (ibid.)

How good it is to have wise counselors who point me back to such simple, true spirituality.

That smile

Believe it or not, it is getting harder and harder to capture a genuine smile. I'm just not quick enough on the trigger. But this one made me smile.

Noel Calendar

Last year my sister-in-law told me about the Noel Calendar put out by Desiring God. It was too late in the Advent season to use it by the time I got it, but I packed it away for this year. I took it out tonight (thanks to my wife, who found where I had tucked it away) and Elisabeth and I did the first three days of the calendar together.

I was delighted to see how she engaged so readily with something that she could see and touch, which would help her connect with the story of the Invisible God, who became a baby to be seen and touched. I pray that this Advent she (and I) will be in awe of our God who was born among animals.

Family Driven Faith

"You are not likely to see any general reformation, till you procure family reformation. Some little religion there may be here and there; but while it is confined to single persons, and is not promoted in families, it will not prosper, nor promise future increase" (Richard Baxter quoted in Family Driven Faith p213)

Baxter's wise observation is the foundation of this book. Clearly Voddie Baucham has internalized the necessity of "family reformation," the turning of the family together to Christ. Furthermore, he does not write without experience. Having grown up in a single parent home, and then raising three children in a faithful marriage, Baucham is not naive. He knows the challenges, and what is at stake.

I highly recommend his section on family worship (pages 139-148) which makes a strong case for the importance of family worship, and offers practical encouragement for how to establish the practice in a home that doesn't have a history of family worship. I was convicted afresh of my own need to move from Bible reading and prayer routine into family worship that incorporates reading, prayer, dialogue (through catechism) and worship. It became very apparent to me that the centrality of worship in family life can have an entirely different tone than even faithful reading and prayer may produce. Now I need to put it into practice!

I also recommend the final chapter, A Radical Departure from the Norm, not as a prescription for how to change, but as a helpful glimpse into family-integrated church. He identifies the following distinctives of family-integrated church:

1. Families worship together (rather than sending kids out during the service)
2. No systematic segregation (worship, discipleship and evangelism are age diverse)
3. Evangelism and discipleship in and through homes (through daily family worship)
4. Emphasis on education as a key component of discipleship (i.e. private or home schooling)

For me, it was an eye-opening glimpse into another possible way of worship, discipleship and evangelism.

Unfortunately, I can't recommend this book without qualification. The author is very opinionated, and makes statements that go much farther than I would go. So for those who are easily offended, I wouldn't recommend this book. If you can sift well (and aren't easily riled), this book is a helpful one for encouraging parents lead their children into the knowledge of God.