A Family of Faith Across Time and Geography—

The theme of “Knit Together in Worship” strikes a powerful cord for me because we had young children in the pew with us for over  thirty years as our nine children grew up. My husband and I realized that we are knit together in one huge Church family which spans time and geography, and we are a piece of that Church family in our community today. As a Sunday school teacher and author of biographies for children, I’d like to share a few insights from history that encouraged us as we raised our children.

If we could share one thought, it would be that all of life is worship. John Calvin taught this idea, and his emblem was a hand holding a heart up to God. For us, this meant focusing our hearts on the Lord. My husband and I had to help each other ignore little anxieties and irritations every day, and especially on Sunday, as we hoped to point our children to the Lord. (We often failed, but we grew a lot!) We prepared for participation in Sunday worship with habits such as setting out our shoes to be ready the next morning or taking notebooks so we could focus on the sermon through note-taking alongside our children. In the midst of those years in the pew, we appreciated Calvin’s hymn “I Greet Thee Who My Sure Redeemer Art” to remind children: “Our hope is in no other save in Thee.” No, our hope is not in perfect behavior in church (or out of it). It’s not even in good sermon notes. Rather, “Our faith is built upon Thy promise free.” Focusing on the heart helped us aim for a life of everyday worship, as well as including our children in Sunday worship.

Another encouragement for us came from William Tyndale, who cherished the Scriptures. He wanted to translate the Bible into English so that a boy at his plough could understand God’s Word. In Tyndale’s day, Bible translation was dangerous, but he faced the risk for the surpassing greatness of the Word of God. Before he died at the stake, he translated the New Testament and much of the Old Testament. Miles Coverdale, his faithful friend, translated the remainder. Only three years after Tyndale’s death, King Henry VIII authorized Coverdale to publish an English Bible in 1539. A copy of this “Great Bible” was chained to the pulpit of every church, and people crowded in to hear the Scriptures read in English. One man would stand and read until his voice grew weak, and then another would take his place. Today, we still give the Bible and the preaching of the Word a central place in our churches, both through the location of the pulpit and the focus of the worship service. For us, Tyndale’s costly sacrifice inspired a lively devotion to the Bible. When we hold a Bible in our hands or hear it read, we consider the privilege we have to be people of the Word.

Celebrating God through music came through the story of Johann Sebastian Bach. Though our family is not musical, we deeply appreciated the music in worship. We learned how Bach studied the Bible for hours as he composed his church cantatas. You can still read the notes he made in the margins of his favorite Bible commentary. Bach noted how King David’s worship was a splendid proof that music was instituted by the Spirit of God. In his Christmas Oratorio, he traced the idea that the “new song” of the Psalms referred to the gospel—all the way to the Christmas story, where the angels sang at Jesus’s birth. He believed that music was one of the richest expressions of worship that God gave to tell of His salvation. At the beginning of his scores, he wrote J.J. for Jesu Juva or Jesus, help me, and at the end he wrote S.D.G. for Soli Deo Gloria (To God Alone the Glory). Bach published his cantatas in booklet form, and his students delivered them to subscribers so that they could participate in the music every Sunday. In addition, one of his supreme joys was teaching his students to sing and play instruments for worship, because they were giving the heavenly host great pleasure. As we learned about Bach, we shared this joy of celebration through music.

For my husband and me, the stories of these saints inspired us to be knit together in worship. Their testimony added to the strong preaching and instruction in our church and the caring fellowship of our friends. We grew by giving our hearts to God daily, cherishing the Bible, and celebrating in worship. We now look back on our family of faith as one that reaches across time and place. We hope our children will too.