Nathan and I feel like we might be in a transition stage for us as far as what to do about church. We've been going back and forth about if we should find another church or not. I'd rather not say all of our reasons but I wanted to share something new for us. As we were deciding whether or not to go to our current church this Sunday morning Nathan said, "Why don't we just have church here?" I was a little surprised to be honest. I first joked and said, "Ok, you can be in charge of worship and I'll collect the offering." haha But I was intrigued by this idea because it isn't something I would normally hear from my husband so I wanted to give it a shot. Weston went down for a nap and Addison was watching tv. We sat at the table and Nathan opened with prayer and then we read the Bible together....for the first time. Yep, that was the first time as a couple we have actually read the Bible together. After we read the Bible we decided to start reading in our new Parenting book "Loving our Kids on Purpose" and read about 20% of it. As I've shared a little with you, Nathan and I have been going through a harder time in our marriage recently, but in that moment I felt closer to him that I have in a long time!
Growing up I wasn't raised to read the Bible. I never remember really being encouraged to read it myself or them reading to me. My mom used to gather my sister and I into the living room and we would pray together, but even though my father was a pastor and I would see him reading, I don't recall him reading it to me. I feel like I almost have this block up about reading the Bible. I know that I should but I don't. I go months without picking it up and make up excuses why I haven't been. I have grown to love reading in the past few years and yet find the idea of reading the Bible boring. But I want to WANT to read God's word! Reading with Nathan gave me a burst of encouragement. I read it again yesterday and today. My prayer is that the Holy Spirit would light a fire in my husband and I and make us hungry for the word of God. I have been struggling with so many issues lately, but in the presence of God I feel refreshed!
Jenn, this is really cool! I was encouraged to read the Bible as a child, but mostly struggled with it. I listened to dramatized stories of the Bible all the time though, and that laid a great foundation. I memorized scripture and was in church all the time. But I didn't begin to really enjoy reading for myself until I got a Message Bible. Not necessarily for everyone (as a fave), but man, I love it! It's brought new life to familiar KJV verses!
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I'm glad you guys had a great Sunday together! Awesome!
I thought this was an interesting post and has been on my mind since I read it. There was a period in my life where I read the Bible daily, and one thing that always stuck out to me was that Jesus' idea of Church wasn't a building - it was people. ("Whenever 2 or more of you are gathered in my name...") I think society tends to get caught up in which church you go to, or which you "belong to" or are a "member of" (both of which are very odd ideas to me) when none of that was very important to Jesus. I think it's awesome that you guys get back to the very basics of your faith, and that you build a foundation for your family on that. It will be much easier to make a decision about a church if you first are very grounded in what you believe and what you're looking for in a church.
ReplyDeleteHonestly, it was very surprising to me to hear that you don't read very often or with Nathan (because you two seem so strong in that respect!). Personally, I think that, like anything else, it's important to hear something from the source versus someone else's interpretation of it. Others may be able to lend a new perspective or understanding, but you need to be confident in the basis first.
I know all of this may sound very odd coming from me (!), but I think it's awesome that you're doing this. And I hope it brings you closer together as a family.