Sunday Morning "Church" and Evening Family Time

Sunday morning, Grandma and Pop came over for a brunch and church. We've been home-churching now for a year and a half, and it has been - and continues to be - a wonderful experience.

Our "service" looks something like this:

Prayer
The Doxology
"Message"
Prayer
Singing

Now, our "message" is somewhat different from what most people might think. Instead of a pastor getting up and preaching for thirty-five minutes, ours looks more like a discussion/study period, led by Dad.

Sometimes Dad prepares a study on a section of Scripture (i.e. something in Hebrews) or a certain subject (such as forgiveness) and we go through it together.

Sometimes Dad picks out a chapter in a book (sometimes Ekklesia) to read through and discuss.

Sometimes we listen to a message on CD (many times from Vision Forum) on a subject that we would like to learn more about.

Sometimes we go through a video series (on ... say ... presuppositional apologetics).

Yesterday, Dad read an article called "Don't Waste Your Cancer," which was given to him by a good friend. We discussed how it applies to us and looked up the Scripture passages that were cited.

Dad hopes to write some articles on home-churching on this blog sometime in the not-too-distant future. Mom would like to share some things from Don't Waste Your Cancer with you all.


Yesterday evening, our whole family sat down in the family room to start on the third - and last - book of the Crown and Covenant series, Rebel's Keep. These books have been a tremendous blessing to our family. Anytime you have Christians (Scottish Covenanters, in this case) "waring" against non-Christians (King Charles and his minions), the subject must be treated with extreme care. Douglas Bond does a fabulous job of portraying the battles faced by the Scottish Covenanters in a Biblical and historically-accurate light. (Although the relationship between the Covenanters and Cromwell is pretty confusing!)


These family reading times are so special, and we all appreciate that Mom and Dad are willing to take the time to read to us ... even though we can all read for ourselves now. : )

A typical evening of reading begins with Mom saying, "All right. We'll sit down and just read one chapter. It's already late."

She then reads the said chapter, which (hypothetically) usually ends something like:

"Angus caught his breath as he saw Turner and his men descending swiftly on the unsuspecting gathering. He had to warn his family! Eyeing the distance between himself and the bluff, he calculated whether or not he would arrive before the horsemen. Looking back at the cloud of dust which marked the location of Turner's dragoons, he realized that there was no time. The sweat stood out on his brow and ran in trickles down his face. He couldn't just watch as Turner surrounded and then destroyed the faithful Covenanters. Could anything be done? Then, something caught his eye in the distance on the moor."

And so ends the chapter. (Hey, maybe I should write my own series!) There is a moment of silence in the room, and then the words, "Oh, Mom! We can't end there! Please just read one more chapter!" Mom willingly agrees, especially when Dad chimes with the cry of, "Just one more chapter!"

And so it goes until we have met with a chapter that has an actual ending to it ... a characteristic normally possessed by about one chapter out of four.

Family time is special.