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Content about Family -- Religious life

June 1, 2008
Praying for Illumination at Church and at Home

This is the fourth in a series of articles with suggestions for how to be deliberate about encouraging faith nurture in your congregation’s worship.

June 1, 2007
Giving Thanks in the Words of Our Children

This service centers on the theme of giving thanks for country, church, and children. Each of the three sections features a litany, meditation, and prayer that involve a number of participants from the congregation.

June 5, 2005
Table Graces: Connecting Sung Prayers in Church with Meal Prayers at Home

How many North American families, in our harried, push-God-to-the-margins culture, still pause before eating in order to pray? One recent poll suggests a dismal 29 percent, another, an encouraging 64 percent. But a more important question might be, What sort of prayers are they? If daily prayers underscore and help children make sense of what happens in corporate worship on Sunday, what do children learn from the awkward moment of silence, or a perfunctory “Good food, good meat, good God, let’s eat” before dinner? We can do better.

March 3, 2003
How to...Plan Worship for a Family Reunion

Are you planning a family reunion this summer? Don't forget about worship! If your reunion includes a Sunday, and especially if your group is very large, you may want to consider planning a worship service for your family.

March 1, 2001
Living by the Spirit: a Prayer for Mothers

As Spirit-filled parents and children, we all need the Spirit’s guidance each day. I prepared this prayer of thanks and petition for mothers based on the characteristics of the fruit of the Spirit as listed in Galatians 5, which was read before the prayer. Although Mother’s Day is not part of the liturgical calendar, it is certainly appropriate to pray specifically for mothers. This prayer could be used as part of the intercessory prayer on Mother’s Day or any other Sunday.

June 1, 1999
Family Style: Praying to God together

In the dying days of 1958 I was a “just from the boat off” eight-year-old immigrant p.k. in a small town in Ontario, Canada. That had its rigors. It also had its rewards. The prayers during worship were especially profitable. In fact, on one notable Sunday afternoon between my dad’s opening “Dear Lort, on dis Sunday afternoon we haf com togesser . . . and his closing “Ah-men,” I came out 35 cents richer.