Preparing for the Lord’s Day.
As much as we prioritize and anticipate our weekly gathering, we also recognize that our worship does not begin when the first note is played on Sunday morning. Long before then, embedded in the ordinary rhythms of the week (around meals, at bedtime, or in the car), a household can begin to lean towards the Lord's Day. What we read, sing and pray at home through the week serves to prepare us for the best day of the week.
What follows are not rigid rules or burdensome commands, but helpful suggestions for households in every season. This is for young families with toddlers on the floor, empty-nesters, singles and newlyweds. Take what serves you and leave the rest for another season. The goal is not a perfect program but a family and home that turns its attention, together, toward the Lord's Day.
Here are five suggestions to help you prepare for the Lord's Day.
(1) Start Small
The most common reason family worship never begins or quickly dies on the vine is imagining that it has to arrive fully formed with daily Scripture reading from the New and Old Testament, robust discussion, catechism, four-part harmonies and children who sit quietly, hanging on every word of instruction. That's called idealism, and it will paralyze us before we start, and so never begin at all.
Instead, begin with two essentials: read a short passage of Scripture, and pray. That is family worship. Everything else can be added slowly, over time, as it fits.
How much better to do the essentials faithfully over a span of years than to attempt everything for a week and quit. Start small, and let it grow the way all healthy organisms grow, slowly and from the root.
(2) Stack the Habit
New habits rarely survive on willpower and good intentions. Most often, they find their place among our routines when they are attached to something we already do without thinking. One author calls this "habit stacking" as it anchors the new practice to an existing one so that the old habit becomes the reminder for the new.
You already eat dinner. You already put the kids to bed. You already gather, in some form, at some predictable hour of the day. Why not add Scripture reading and prayer to that? Clear the plates but then linger at the table for a few moments. Or, at bedtime, before the lights go out, read a passage and pray. The meal, the bedtime, the breakfast table become the cue, and over time, the routine becomes the regular habit.
(3) Read Scripture
The heart of it all is simply this: read the passage, ask a few questions, and reflect together.
If the "ask a few questions" part feels overwhelming, you are not alone and thankfully, there are many helpful resources with great questions. The Family Worship Bible Guide (see resources below) pairs every chapter of the Bible with a brief comment and a handful of discussion questions. Read the passage, the brief summary and learn to let the questions carry the conversation. You still lead the time as fits your home and season of life, but it clears the excuse of, "I wouldn't know what to ask."
A simple pattern for younger families is to read a short portion, choose one verse to memorize, say it aloud several times as a family. For older children, lean into dialogue. The aim is not a lecture from Dad, while everyone waits for him to finish, but a real conversation. Over the years, a family that talks openly, asks questions, makes observations ends up talking about nearly everything under the sun as it is illuminated by Scripture.
Above all, don't measure a night by how profound it felt or how enraptured the kids were by your observations. Measure it by faithfulness. The Word does not return void (Isa. 55:11), and typically, it does its best work over years, not single moments. As I heard one wise pastor say, "The most important fruit we will see is typically not the fruit we see immediately." Be faithful, keep reading Scripture.
(4) Sing Together
For many homes, singing together is often the first thing dropped, and the last thing added. And for one reason: most of us can't carry a tune. Some of you may be gifted with a spouse or children who have musical sensibilities. If so, lean on this and give thanks! Have them start in tune and keep the pace moving forward. But even if there is no musical ability or ambition in your home, you probably have a wealth of music at your fingertips.
If you are looking to grow in familiarity with the psalms, hymns and spiritual songs we sing, consider the following:
Use the links in our weekly email. The "preparing for the Lord's Day" weekly email includes the songs we will sing on Sunday with a link to the digital version of the Sing! hymnal. Read the lyrics, listen to the melody and attempt to sing them at home so that they do not arrive as strangers on Sunday.
Build a playlist on Spotify or Apple Music of the hymns and psalms we sing as a congregation. Put this on in the background as you get ready Sunday morning. Play it in the car on the way to church and during the week.
Let familiarity do its work. I heard someone say that predictability leads to sing-ability. A hymn you have heard forty times in the kitchen becomes a hymn you can actually sing with all your heart and at the top of your lungs.
And remember, when you and your family sing, you are not merely making a joyful noise. You are teaching one another the Word and warming your hearts for the Day the Lord has set apart.
(5) Pray Together
Finally, as Sunday draws near, pray toward it. Not general prayers only, but prayers aimed at the upcoming gathering.
Pray that the Lord would prepare our hearts. Ask him to open his Word to us and to open our hearts to his Word. Pray that he would give us listening ears and humble hearts. Remember, we have an enemy who works constantly to snatch away the good seed before it takes root.
Pray for the preacher(s). Ask that the man who brings the Word would be carried and helped by the Holy Spirit, that he would open his mouth boldly to make known the gospel as he faithfully proclaims the message of the passage. I have always been helped by remembering to pray for the "4 C's": clarity, courage, compassion and conviction.
Pray for the gathered church, asking that the saints would be edified and that any unbelievers among us would be converted and brought to Christ.
Pray that God would be glorified. Above all, we gather to worship God, so pray that the name of our Triune God would be exalted when we meet.
I have always loved the Puritans' reference to the Lord's Day as "the market day of the soul." It is the day of the week in which we stock up on spiritual provisions, gathering heavenly wisdom and gospel balm to serve us in the week ahead. We come home from corporate worship with what we gathered, and we anticipate returning to God's storehouse again. This is a means of grace worth preparing for and praying our way towards!
And lastly, if reading this list makes you feel behind or defeated, please hear the most gentle encouragement: begin tonight with a few verses and a short prayer. The Lord delights to meet with you in his Word. Start small, anchor it to something you already do, and trust him to grow it.
Learning and growing alongside you,
Pastor Brett Wagner
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