Ok, I confess…I am a bibliophile. I love books; rather I
love to read books. So when Tim brought us a stack of coffee the other week, he
also brought us a stack of books. In preparation for Tim’s flight to BJ, Mark
had asked our GBC secretary to send some book titles that we might use to begin
a book table at BBC so she sent 1-2 copies of a variety of books and booklets with
him. What a joy to see some new young people that we had over for dinner last
Friday get excited about good, theologically rich books. We sold about 3 of
them that night.
The next day as I converted the USD to CNY, I got distracted
by one particular book, called Parenting
in the Pew by Robbie Castleman, an EXCELLENT book. I ended up reading half the book then &
there and skimming most of the latter half. I decided in this international
culture that has so many different perspectives, this book is an excellent
source of applying what it means to worship.
The first half of the book could really apply to all people, not just
children or families with children. I almost would like to write the author and
encourage her to rework the first five chapters for an adult audience and
entitle it something like “How to train ourselves to worship God.” As I read, I
created a short summary of each chapter.
Chapter 1 – Why even go to church? It is just a habit (albeit
a good one)? Does it make us feel good? Does it start our week out right? No –
we go to church to worship God, the
awesome, good, & righteous God of Heaven.
Chapter 2 – What is worship?
Worship is for God. It takes
participation, practice, and patience. How do we as adults come to worship?
Chapter 3 – How do children
worship? Children of all ages, tots to teens, have substantial capacity to worship
God. In fact, in one example in the book, a teen who began to pay attention to
the worship and listen attentively to the sermons, stated something like “I
never knew a sermon could be so interesting.”
Chapter 4 – How do we prepare
for worship? Start the night before. Have an expectant attitude. The book gives
so many useful ideas for adults and families to prepare for worship.
Chapter 5 – How do
we worship? How do we train our children,
or ourselves, to worship? Practical ideas to encounter God.
Chapters 6 to the end of the book– How to use specific elements in the worship service
to teach us how to worship. The following chapters give specific applications
and examples of how to use music, praying, tithing, baptism, the Lord’s Supper,
etc, to teach children how to participate in the worship of God. Admittedly, I
skimmed this section but noticed that it contained lots of practical help in
these areas. Then I loaned the book out before I finished.
Because the author is Presbyterian, some of the ideas and
suggestions involve what some might call “high church” elements, but the book
contains such a variety of ideas and suggestions that anyone can learn from
them. In fact, it gave me ideas to use in an international, hotel setting in a
country that doesn’t have resources.
So I highly recommend this book, such that I believe each
family unit should own a copy. Maybe in my second life, I should be a book
reviewer and get paid for reading. Now that sounds good.
