Praying as a Family

From Pastor Peperkorn (pastor of Messiah Lutheran Church, Kenosha WI), as published on his Lutheran Logomaniac blog:

Prayer isn't something that just comes naturally. Prayer must be taught. Our Lord Himself demonstrates this when He teaches the disciples how to pray. He says,"Pray then like this: "Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name…" (Matthew 6:9 ESV) We know that God both hears and answers our prayers. We know that it is a great benefit and blessing. But thanks to our old sinful flesh, we pass on our desire to hide from God and refuse to talk to Him. Our children learn not to pray from us.

Praying as a family can be almost as hard as praying alone or praying in your marriage. In some respects, it is even harder. How do you find the time? What if I don't want to pray? What if the kids are acting up or there's a game on that I want to watch? The reasons not to pray seem to go on and on.

The great thing about the Christian faith, though, is that it is never too late. Each day begins anew. Things can and do change. They can get better. How important is that to remember, as we bask in the glow of the resurrection!

So then, let's get to it. Here are a few simple steps to help make prayer a part of your common life together as a Christian family:

• Do it. Nike got it right. You don't debate whether to brush your teeth or eat breakfast in the morning. Christians pray. It's that simple. Think through how to make this a habit . It typically takes about six weeks to establish a habit. Give yourselves that six weeks. Make reminders. Put a note on the steering wheel or on the fridge (or on the remote control!). Make a commitment that as a family, we are going to pray together once a day (plus meals, which we will cover next month).

• Keep it simple. The Lord's Prayer and Luther's Morning or Evening prayer would be a great place to start. We've done that for years in our family, especially while our children are young. But by making that a part of our life as a family, it has slowly been ingrained into us and our children.

• Teach the words. Children learn how to speak from their parents. They learn how to pray from their parents, too. Give them the language of faith. Be deliberate about it. By being deliberate about it, you are telling your children that this is important, and that it is worth learning and doing. Start with the Lord's Prayer, and then work your way out to other prayers.

• Give yourself the context to succeed. You know your own family. When are they going to be the most likely to actually hear and pay attention? Nine o'clock at night? Right after supper? Right after breakfast. Each family is different. I would encourage you to think about what is prime time for your family, and then figure out how to work prayer into that prime time. If your children are tired, crabby and just want to either go to bed or fight with each other, that may not be the best time to work on praying.

• Don't despair! It is very easy to get discouraged with children. It's work. But it is totally worth it.

This is a gift you can give to them that will literally last forever. Pray for patience for yourself and your spouse. Pray for your children, that they learn how to receive God's Word and speak back to Him what He has given to them.

The blessings will flow from this. Believe me. I hope you're ready!

+ God be with you +

Pastor Peperkorn

[From the April 2010 Messiah's Messenger

Jesus: the Only Truth from Heaven

More words to treasure from H.W. Gockel:

One of the deepest cravings of the human heart is to know the truth. The anxious mother's heart would give anything to know the truth about her wayward boy. The lover is hungry for the truth of his beloved. The worried family tosses restlessly on sleepless pillows because it does not know the truth about a father, son, or brother who has been reported missing from the field of battle. —If only they knew the truth, there would be an end to this agony of uncertainty.

But a far deeper hunger for the truth is gnawing at the heart of every man and woman. Even the person who professes to have no religion at all will confess in his honest moments that he is troubled by a torturing uncertainty. In the presence of others he may boast that he can get along without a faith in God. He may even proudly assert that there is no God. In his secret heart of hearts, however, he cannot down the haunting question: But what if there is? What if there is a God?

If there is a God, what kind of God is He? What does He think of me? What does He intend to do with me? How do I fit into His plans for the universe, particularly His plans for the human family? What is my personal relationship to Him — and His to me?

Whether a man lives in Chicago, Cleveland, or New York, in Bombay, Calcutta, or Shanghai, he is distressingly conscious of a hunger for the truth about these questions....

I know that men have given answers to all these questions. Philosophers have crowded our libraries with learned books on just these subjects. They have spun impressive theories. But what I need as the polestar of my life — my guide, my chart, my compass — is not a theory that has been invented by a man who is just as subject to error as I am. No, I need the truth — God's truth.

I have found that truth — in Jesus!

I have placed my trust in the words of Christ, first of all, because God Himself has told me that the words of Christ are trustworthy.... And so I look to Jesus for the truth.

But more. God the Father placed His stamp of divine approval on His Son and on His teachings both at the occasion of the Savior's Baptism and again on the Mount of Transfiguration.... I accept the words of Christ as truth, then, because God Himself has vouched for the truthfulness of His own beloved  Son.

I place my trust in the words of Christ, furthermore, because Christ with His own lips has assured me that His Gospel is the truth. "If you continue in My Words," He says, then are you My disciples indeed; and you shall know the truth, and the trtuth shall make you free." ....

I place my trust in the words of Christ, finally, because the whole Bible is nothing but one chorus of testimony to the heavenly wisdom of the Savior. To the holy writers, Jesus is God's truth come down from heaven. "In Him are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge," the Bible tells us. "In Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily." John, the disciple whom Jesus loved, opens His Gospel with the well-known words: "In the beginning was the Word [Jesus], and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.... And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us; and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the Only-begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth." ....

In a day such as ours, when "darkness covers the earth and gross darkness the people," when men's hearts are failing them for fear, when the hope of ever coming to the knowledge of the truth in spiritual matters is gradually begin given up as vain and futile — Christ is still mankind's only hope. He is still the Light of the world. He is still the Way. He is still the Truth.

Source: H.W. Gockel, "What JESUS means to me," St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1948, pp. 73-79. N.b. language of Scripture citations lightly updated by blogger.

Jesus: My Savior From Sin

Words to treasure from H.W. Gockel:

Of all the things that Jesus means to me He is, above all else, my Savior. By His suffering and death in my place upon the Cross He has paid the penalty of all my sins. The Bible assures me that though my "sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool." And why? Because "the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanses us from all sin."

I know that to many people today the word "sin" does not mean very much. Sin, they say, is a mistake or a fault which can't be helped and which therefore is not so serious. Sin to many people is just a flaw which somehow or other will be forgotten when God begins to settle His accounts. There are man and women who shrug off the idea of sin as being — "just one of those things."

But God thinks otherwise. No matter how lightly men may speak of sin, no matter how cleverly they may seek to explain it or excuse it, God has placed His curse upon it. "The soul that sins, it shall die." The "wages of sin is death." "Cursed is everyone that continues not in all things which are written in the Book of the Law to do them."

Sin, according to God, is a frightful thing, which if it remains unforgiven, will result in the eternal separation of a man from his Maker....

I, too, have felt the dreadful weight of sin. Again and again I have had to say with the Apostle Paul: "I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) dwells no good thing." With David I have had to confess: "Behold, I was shaped in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me." As I look back to my childhood days, I see the undeniable truth of God's verdict: "The imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth." I must agree with Him when He says that by nature I was among "the children of wrath, even as others."

But why speak about my sin — when I began to speak about my Savior! Because no man can tell what Jesus means to him until he has first told what sin has meant to him. To tell the full story of a rescue at sea, one must first tell the story of the shipwreck which made that rescue necessary....  If Christ is to be our Savior, we must know from what we must be saved.

Right here is where Jesus stepped into my life and filled it with a joy and a peace which surpass all understanding. For in Him I have God's assurance of full and free forgiveness of the entire burden of my sin. Without Christ there would have been, there could have been, no forgiveness. Without Christ the course of my life would have led straight to a judgment which would have been too terrible to contemplate. For "none of them can by any means redeem his brother nor give to God a ransom for him; for the redemption of their soul is precious, and it ceases forever." "Neither is there salvation in any other; for there is no other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved." No other name than the blessed name of Jesus!

Source: "What Jesus Means to Me," by H.W. Gockel, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1948, pp. 9-10, 12-13.  N.b. Language of Scripture citations lightly updated for language.

The First Thing Jesus Did

Thought-provoking comments from Touchstone editor Patrick Reardon:

“That instant of the Resurrection of Jesus was the most decisive moment in the history of the world. It was the event of deepest importance for every human being who ever lived. It was the supreme kairos. The Law and the Prophets were fulfilled in that moment, and the existence of the human race took on an utterly new meaning.

“What, however, was the first thing Jesus did when the Resurrection life came surging into His body? The simplest and plainest thing imaginable: He reached up, pulled the kerchief from His face, folded it, and set it aside, as though it had been a napkin used at breakfast.”

“The universal Christ, the eternal Word in whom all things subsist, was still the same Jesus, to whom an act of elementary neatness came naturally. He spontaneously did what He would likely have done in any case, much as another man might unconsciously scratch his ear, or yet another look around for a stick to whack the weeds with as he walked along.

“The risen Lord was the same Jesus His friends had always known. He had just returned from the realm of hell, where He trampled down death by death. He was on the point of going forth as a giant to run His course. He was about to begin appearing to His disciples, providing them with many infallible proofs, being seen by them during forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God.”

“Nonetheless, He was still the same person, whose instinctive habits remained identical. First, He took a moment to fold the kerchief He had used, and only then did He stride out to change the direction of history and transform the lives of human beings.”

via Touchstone Magazine – Mere Comments: The Christ of the Folded Napkin.

The Great Fifty Days

What great joy, what rejoicing lives in the hearts of God's people during these fifty days. As Easter, the Feast of the Resurrection of Our Lord, is the Queen of All Feasts, so the Great Fifty Days of Easter is the heart and center of the Church Year. Alleluia! Christ has risen! He is risen indeed. Alleluia!

The following text is from the LC-MS website:

Just as the calendar year is divided into the seasons of winter, spring, summer and fall, so does the Church divide its calendar into seasons like Advent, Epiphany, Lent, etc. The weeks following the celebration of Jesus' resurrection are often called the Easter season. There is, however, another phrase that was historically used to designate these days: The Great Fifty days.

The Great Fifty Days begins with Easter Sunday and concludes on the Day of Pentecost. (The word Pentecost actually comes from the Greek word for fifty.) The seven weeks that span the time between Jesus' resurrection and the sending of the Spirit are sometimes even called a "week of weeks."

During these fifty days several customs are often observed that assist in highlighting the festivity of the season.

• The paschal candle is moved from its normal place near the baptismal font to a prominent place near the altar.
• The liturgical color of white is used during the entire fifty days-longer than at any other time of the church year.
• The "Alleluia," which is omitted during the penitential season of Lent, is restored to the liturgy as the premier expression of joy celebrating Jesus' resurrection. 

While such customs may or may not be celebrated in every parish, they point to the fact that the fifty days following Easter are a time of profound joy for the people of God.

Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen, indeed! Alleluia!

N.T. Wright on the Great 50 Days of Easter

Bryan Owen over at Creedal Christian offered up this interesting quote from Anglican Bishop N.T. Wright's book "Surprised by Hope" (New York: HarperCollins, 2008). I neither own Wright's book nor have I read it, but this excerpt struck me. I was, in fact, saying virtually the same thing (although far less winsomely) just the other day to the Ninjawife.

I think this quotation resonates with me because I feel the very same way. We put such effort into Lent and Holy Week... everything builds and builds and builds to this fantastic climax and peak of the season... and then it's over in a heartbeat. Part of me is always left there, standing bereft, and saying "that's all there is? All this build-up and it's over in the blink of an eye? What about the services and the celebration of Easter Monday, Easter Tuesday, Easter Wednesday? Easter Sunday, the Feast of the Resurrection of Our Lord is so huge, so fantastic... but it's over so quickly..."

Anyway, here's the excerpt from Wright:

I have come to believe that many churches simply throw Easter away year by year; and I want to plead that we rethink how we do it so as to help each other, as a church and as individuals, to live what we profess. I am speaking here particularly from, and to, the church I know best. Those who celebrate in other ways will, I think, be able to make appropriate adjustments and take whatever they need to apply to their own situations.

For a start, consider Easter Day itself. It’s a great step forward that many churches now hold Easter vigils, as the Orthodox church has always done, but in many cases they are still too tame by half. Easter is about the wild delight of God’s creative power – not very Anglican, perhaps, but at least we ought to shout Alleluias instead of murmuring them; we should light every candle in the building instead of only some; we should give every man, woman, child, cat, dog, and mouse in the place a candle to hold; we should have a real bonfire; and we should splash water about as we renew our baptismal vows. Every step back from that is a step toward an ethereal or esoteric Easter experience, and the thing about Easter is that it is neither ethereal nor esoteric. It’s about the real Jesus coming out of the real tomb and getting God’s real new creation under way.

But my biggest problem starts on Easter Monday. I regard it as absurd and unjustifiable that we should spend forty days keeping Lent, pondering what it means, preaching about self-denial, being at least a little gloomy, and then bringing it all to a peak with Holy Week, which in turn climaxes in Maundy Thursday and Good Friday … and then, after a rather odd Holy Saturday, we have a single day of celebration.

All right, the Sundays after Easter still lie within the Easter season. We still have Easter readings and hymns during them. But Easter week itself ought not to be the time when all the clergy sigh with relief and go on holiday. It ought to be an eight-day festival, with champagne served after morning prayer or even before, with lots of alleluias and extra hymns and spectacular anthems. Is it any wonder people find it hard to believe in the resurrection if we don’t throw our hats in the air? Is it any wonder we find it hard to live the resurrection if we don’t do it exuberantly in our liturgies? Is it any wonder the world doesn’t take much notice if Easter is celebrated as simply the one-day happy ending tacked on to forty days of fasting and gloom? It’s long overdue that we took a hard look at how we keep Easter in church, at home, in our personal lives, right through the system. And if it means rethinking some cherished habits, well, maybe it’s time to wake up.

The Road to Emmaeus

Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!


Below: the trailer for Northwestern Publishing House's "Journey to Emmaus, a 30-minute film released last year.


Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!