by Sarah Phillips

I shall not die, but I shall live, and recount the deeds of the LORD. The stone which the builders rejected has become the head of the corner. This is the LORD's doing; it is marvelous in our eyes.
- Psalms 118: 17, 22-23

Most of you celebrated or will celebrate the Lord's resurrection. For many, it is a glorious day of rejoicing in the miraculous. It is a day where you reflect not only on the event 2,000 years ago, but on the resurrections in your own life. The day you were baptized. The day a long-awaited prayer was answered. The day sickness was healed or sorrow wiped away.

For others, this day only served as a reminder of your cross. You felt like you got left at Good Friday, weeping, while the rest of the world moved on to Easter Sunday. You wish you could celebrate, but you don't know how. You may have even apologized to God for your somberness.

You're not alone, I assure you.

In the past few months I've watched several Good Friday's and Easters play out in the lives of those around me. Engagements and babies ushered in cries of rejoicing and praises to God. Yet, cancer, infidelity, and financial hardship occurred uncomfortably close to these joyful events.

Most of life is like this. Happiness, unmixed, is not easy to come by.

So how do we deal with this reality? How do we deal with Good Friday and Easter coexisting?

I think we start with recognizing that the first Easter, the real Easter, was not just one event in time that occurred long ago. Christ's resurrection spanned the ages and has eternal consequences. It applies to you and me today just as much as it did to Christ's followers on Easter morning. It also applies to the future. Our hope, no matter where we may be today, is in the transforming truth of Easter.

Secondly, I think we need to remember that true faith in God does not rely on our emotions. If you cried on Easter morning because life has been wearing you down, God still accepts you. In fact, he died and rose for you so that he could more closely walk with you through these hard times. He knows, more than anyone, the heaviness of the cross.

Third, I think we need to remember that as awe-struck as Christ's first followers felt after his resurrection, they still didn't know what it fully meant… for humanity or for their personal lives. While the resurrection brought their beloved Rabbi back to them, he was different now. The resurrection simultaneously healed some wounds while opening a new can of questions, insecurities, fears, and even pain - at least temporarily.

Ultimately, all Good Friday's will lead to joyful Easter mornings if we cling to Christ. Whether you are in a season of hardship, rejoicing, or a mix of both, the key is to keep walking in faith one step at a time. Only the risen Christ can guide us through the foggy path of life. And when our final Easter morning arrives, we'll finally see with clarity that the journey was worth it.

Intersecting Faith & Life:

Reflect on the "little resurrections" in your life - the times God answered a prayer in a very tangible way, the blessings in your life, and the miracles you've witnessed. All these serve as reminders of the great work God will continue to do in your life.

Further Reading

Acts 2:14, 22-33
Psalm 16:1-2, 5, 7-11
Matthew 28:8-15

by Donald S. Whitney

Just Read, Pray, and Sing

Read the Bible

Chapter by chapter, read through books of the Bible together. The younger the children, the more you will want to use narrative passages and read shorter sections. As the children get older, set a goal to read through the entire the New Testament, and later through the entire Bible.

Read enthusiastically and interpretively. In other words, don't be one of those people who reads the Bible as apathetically as if reading a phone directory out loud. It is the Word of God - read it to the best of your ability.

Also, explain any words the children may not understand. Clarify the meaning of key verses. To improve their understanding, perhaps ask the children to choose a verse or phrase to explain to you, and then have them pick one for you to explain to them.

Pray

Whether prayer is offered by the father only, or by someone he designates, or by each member of the family in turn, be sure to pray together. Some people keep a prayer list. Some simply ask for prayer requests from the family. Whatever your approach, pray about at least one thing suggested to you and your family by the Scripture passage you have read.

Some families, regardless of where they were reading in the Bible, always go to the book of Psalms when it's time to pray and turn the words of a few verses there into a prayer. If praying through Psalm 23, for instance, after reading the first verse you might thank the Lord for being your Shepherd, ask him to shepherd your family through certain events or decisions, and so forth. As you have time, continue through the passage line by line, speaking to God about what comes to mind while reading the text.

By using this approach you will not only pray for your family (and in fresh and unique ways each time), but you'll also teach them by example how to pray.

Sing

If possible, get songbooks for everyone. Your church may have some unused or older ones closeted away that you could acquire, perhaps at no cost. Your pastor or a worship leader at your church may be able to recommend other songbooks too.

The lyrics of many older, public domain (that is, not copyrighted) songs are also available free on the Internet.

Some people sing a different song each time; some sing the same song for a week so they can learn it. As to music, some families sing along with recordings, while others use family musicians. My perception is that most families - even when it's only a husband and wife - simply sing without accompaniment.

Why Read, Pray, and Sing?

Why not just read and pray and omit singing? Or why not read, pray, sing, and also take the Lord's Supper together?

For starters, the earliest record of Christian family worship describes a pattern of reading Scripture, praying together, and singing praise to God.

Second, when you examine a list of the activities the Bible says to do in worship, only three things on that already short list are equally as appropriate in family worship or in private worship as in congregational worship. Those activities are reading the Bible, praying, and singing.

Often scriptural elements of public worship simply cannot be accommodated to private or family worship. Preaching, for example, requires both a preacher and hearers, so it wasn't intended for private worship. And preaching - especially when properly distinguished from teaching - is impractical in most family worship situations, not to mention the fact that the vast majority of Christians would not profess any sense of a divine call to preach that most churches require of its preachers.

So, what should we do in family worship? It's simple: read the Bible, pray together, and sing to the Lord. I've discovered in teaching this idea that sometimes people presume that they need to prepare some sort of lesson or devotional for family worship. Not so. Occasionally you may encounter an article, blog post, sermon illustration, or the like that you want to share with the family as a means of conveying biblical teaching. Great! Or from time to time you might relate an insight from your personal devotional experience that was unusually powerful. Wonderful! But apart from these exceptions, no preparation for family worship is needed other than someone choosing a song and deciding your method for prayer. Beyond that, just open the Bible to the place where you stopped last time and read, pray, and sing.

Spurgeon concurs that these three things should be the elements of family worship: "I agree with Matthew Henry when he says, 'They that pray in the family do well; they that pray and read the Scriptures do better; but they that pray, and read, and sing do best of all.' There is a completeness in that kind of family worship which is much to be desired."

About The Author:

Donald S. Whitney is professor of biblical spirituality and associate dean at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. He has written several books related to Christian spirituality, including Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life.