Cultivating Family Thankfulness

Recently, we heard Jason Myers teach regarding Colossians 3 especially regarding the old self and new self. We heard the Word of God: “In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self[d] with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.” (verses 7-10).

This summer on Sunday mornings, your children have been growing in knowledge after the image of our creator. Each week we have considered a characteristic of God that we learn from the Holy Scriptures. Many of our children have committed these precious words to memory –stored them in their hearts and minds. These same Holy Scriptures that make us wise and reveal to us the very God who created us! How can any of us know who He is? How can any of us put away the anger, slander, and lying that comes to us almost naturally in our old selves? If we truly want that for ourselves and for our children, we must walk with God through the power of His Spirit. And how can we walk with Him in faith and confidence? By knowing Him for who He truly is.

“Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.”  Colossians 3:16

I encourage you to view your family life together under this verse – let the word of Christ dwell in your home. When you are together, be teaching and admonishing with wisdom. Ask the Holy Spirit for His gift of Wisdom! Sing together! Practice thankfulness! I encourage you to play music that will help form this environment and sing together!  You have access to the Word of God that has been put to music that we are using on Sundays (if you haven't grabbed a CD or download code, you can find them in the Grove!). This is an easy way to cultivate this environment at home or in the car when you are together. You could also be listening to hymns and other worship music that is full of truth. Other ways to cultivate Colossians 3:16 in your home are to use the Book of Common Prayer and to cultivate habits of thankfulness. There is a short “Family Prayer” that can be incorporated to your mornings together on pages 67-68. If evening is easier for your family’s rhythm, you can find that on pages 73-74. This is a shortened family prayer. You can even find it online here.  Simple ways to be thankful together include offering thanks whenever you share a meal together. You could try starting a Thankful Jar now and see how full it is by Thanksgiving when you could open it and remember the things that you have been thankful for through the Fall. If you are a Pinterest person, you could search there for other creative ways to cultivate this together. I am confident that the Spirit will bless this work and use it to continue to renew you and your whole family into the life of Christ – the new self. I am praying for you, families of Redeemer, that God will make us a thankful and wise family of God.

Leah Wall, Lead Catechist