Preparing your kids for worship

New here? Easily read future posts by subscribing over on the right. Enter your e-mail address to have posts sent directly to your inbox. Or click on the orange RSS icon to subscribe in a reader. Thanks for visiting.

Want to help your child to enjoy attending worship with you?
Think of how you got to be good at doing something. Practice right?
To prepare your child for worship do a little bit of preparation and practice.

What better way to help your child feel comfortable in worship than to learn one of the hymns that will be used on Sunday morning. The recognition of hearing a familar tune will help your child to feel as though they are participating. The hymn Children of the Heavenly Father will be sung after the sermon. (Thus it is called the “Hymn of Response.” Since the sermon on Sunday is entitled “All God’s Children,” this is an appropriate song to sing in response!)

Preparation: Listen to the tune of this hymn: here. It is simple and short and easily learned. Here are the words to the first verse:

Children of the Heavenly Father
safely in His bosom gather;
Nestling bird nor star in heaven
Such a refuge e’er was given.

Practice: Gather together the family, at the family dinner table. (Or wherever your family is gathered together.) Learn this song! Explain new words.

• Describe a bosom as the part of a clothing that covers the chest. Picture Jesus hugging you!
• “E’er” is a fancy way of saying “ever.”
• A refuge is a safe, secure place. Neither a little bird nor a shiny star was ever given such a place to rest! Doesn’t that make you feel like a child of God?

What hints do you have for helping your kids prepare for worship?