Tuesday, May 27, 2014

Being Quiet or Worshiping?

Here is a picture of my filled-in note sheet from Sunday's message.
The two purple sections are meant for family discussion.

The notes for the sermon were posted on Friday
and there were also some tips for preparing your child for the service.

Below are some quotes from Parenting in the Pew related to being in the service with your child.

Being Quiet
"It can seem paradoxical that to help a child to develop concentration and a sense of quietness for worship, parents have to talk more."
"If you sit close to your children, however you can give whispered instructions and reminders rather easily and with little or no distractions to others."
"An expectation of paying attention is foundational for learning to worship.  Parents sit with their children to help them do this, but there is more to paying attention than mere proximity will provide."
"Simply telling children to 'be quiet' is not the way to draw their attention to the worship that is taking place.  The purpose of parenting in the pew is to train a child to worship, not to be quiet.  Quietness at certain times may enhance their ability to worship, but quietness is a means to this effort, not an end."
Training children to worship does not always enhance our own experience of being before the Lord, especially at first.  On a feeling level, the experience of worship may seem impoverished by the demands of parenting in the pew.   

No comments:

Post a Comment