Article March 10, 1928 Issue

Signs of the Times

with contributions from A. Grant Evans, Melville Dozier, Daniel L. Marsh

[From an editorial in the Congregationalist, Boston, Massachusetts]

We doubt that any religious custom receives greater sanction by church people to-day, and yet is followed less by them, than the observance of some form of family worship in the home. Family prayers and grace at meals are all right, we say, but just try to find time and place for them in our home! Much has been said and written concerning the close observance of this custom in days gone by, and many reason have been given for the lax observance of the custom in the present era. It would be trite to repeat them here. Nevertheless, we venture to raise the question as to whether or not the mother and father, in whose hands rests the guidance in this matter, have mastered the conditions of spiritual life of to-day which will enable them to lead the children of their household into closer communion with God. Unless they have, can we expect that family worship, or any other recognition of the fatherhood of God, will find a place in the home? For as Prof. George A. Coe once said, "Parents cannot communicate a life that they do not possess." ... This does not mean that the father and mother must become expert in theological interpretations, but it does mean that they must see in the fellowship of their own family the outworking of that larger fellowship of the kingdom of God on earth, to which every home gives or fails to give. Within the family parents and children should work together for the things of benefit to both.

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