"WE ARE GOING TO CHURCH" grrrrr.....

Even my family who seems to equate going to church with Disney has had these moments.  You want to go, you are excited to go, and more importantly you feel the need to go.  Then there it is world war three in your kitchen about all the reasons they don't or won't.  Your joy is squished and then you become the growling leader of your family.  Don't feel bad.  This is normal.  It doesn't have to be the norm however.  Isn't that the Good News! 

Here's the deal, if we allow ourselves and our families to get into the rhythm of growling at each other on Sunday mornings, then we will begin to loath instead of celebrate the Lord's Day.  Besides, we aren't going to get our check mark for attendance, but going to praise God for last week and get on bended knee for the coming week.  It is our celebration, our praise, our thankfulness, our prayer list a mile long that continue to call us to worship on Sunday.

Changing the tides can be difficult, but perhaps if treated like a spiritual discipline not so bad.  Below are a couple of tips for moving that growling group into a "I can't believe it's Sunday!" kinda group:

• Pray on it-you, your family, ask your neighbor to share the prayer
• Talk about what the schedule will be on Sunday with your family the day/couple of days before, "On Sunday we'll get up and go to church.  This Sunday we'll be able to thank God for _____" or whatever works for your family.
• Share your enthusiasm for worship with your family.  Why do you think everyone wants to go to Disney...it sounds fun!
• Look at the church website with your family.  Give them some time to have some ownership of their church.  Depending on their age, they can even receive the email updates on their own address.
• Make a family plan to make Sunday's special from the rest.  Maybe this means making Sunday "pancake day" or planning to out for lunch after church.  Routine and uniqueness from the rest of the week will help Sunday be something to anticipate.
• Read a passage from the Bible (better yet, get the readings for Sunday ahead of time and read those together).
• Invite a friend that you'll pick-up along the way and take with you to church.
• Pick out your clothes and have them ready.  Since this is the #1 fight in our house, I make it be the fight on Saturday instead of Sunday.  Why wait right?

These are some ideas that my family has used and ideas my family used with me as a child.  If you have other ideas please post for the sharing!

This is the last week of Summer vacation for our area.  Prayers continue for those first days of school and for the work that goes into getting kiddos into the classroom.

Peace and God's Blessings,
Lissa