Sunday began as most Sundays do, only this one is different.
Tomorrow is New Year’s Eve, and today is the very last day of the ‘3 hour block’ for our church meetings. Today we begin preparation for our next Sabbath – the first one in 2019. On that day, we will go to church one hour less, and have been invited to invest that hour (and more) in a renewed, or new pattern of Gospel learning at home.
In the Sunday School hour today, we sat in small groups of 5 or 6, and explored thoughts about the new resource for home-based learning Come, Follow Me – for Individuals and Families. Our group consisted of my husband and myself, our 18 year old son (affected by autism), a busy father of two young girls (ages 4 and 2), and a young man, about 12 or 13, siblings are all older and recently off to college & parents who attend church, but rarely have Gospel discussions at home. Our other two teenagers were members of other small groups.
So, we’re a group for an hour. Tasked with having a discussion about how to implement this new program at home.
How can this one resource apply to all 4 situations/people?
- parents of teenagers who homeschool
- an adult with autism, living at home & learning at an elementary or pre-teen level
- parents of very young children
- a young man whose parents may or may not choose to embrace the new program
What do we have in common? Where do we begin? Once we begin, where do we go and what do we do?
Is this meant to be simply a revision to the concept of Family Home Evening, with a lesson, a song, and a homemade treat afterward? Or maybe an assignment to actually prepare better for when we gather together at church (to eliminate or reduce the blank stares when a teacher or discussion leader asks what we have learned this week)?
Perhaps someone will come up with new activities, lesson plans, products, websites, and things we can print or buy to help us do this at home? Is this one more thing to do that we must add to our already overwhelming list? Do we sit this one out, coast along and see if the new program lasts?
Perhaps it is an encouragement to start where we are, wherever that is, with humility and a desire to learn, and begin anew a journey of discovery, guided in direction and pace by the Spirit and the words of the Son of Man, who invite us to Come, Follow Me. Learn of me. Become, even as I am.
That last one feels right.
For the young man whose family doesn’t have Gospel discussion at home, perhaps Come, Follow Me is a season of personal growth, where he chooses to quietly read the suggested scriptures on his own before school or before bed, begins writing in a journal and noticing the impressions that come to his mind. Perhaps when his mother makes a family dinner on Sunday (seeking to draw college-age brothers and sisters back home for a meal), he sets down what he is doing and helps where he can and spends time with his parents and siblings, or chooses time with family over some other activities during the week.
For the busy parent of young children, perhaps Come, Follow Me is a decision to do something, however small, every day to include an expression of Gospel principles and learning in the lives of the little ones – reading a picture story book before bed, act out a Bible parable with toys during playtime, take a walk together and notice out loud how the physical world teaches us of spiritual things, sing a children’s hymn as a lullaby or while preparing a meal. Perhaps for this busy parent and father, Come, Follow Me is a decision to be more deliberate about taking a few moments to connect with his girls’ mother, to pray together and seek God’s guidance for the day, to listen to audio scriptures or an inspirational podcast in the car or as the daily tasks are completed, to jot down brief insights and questions in a notebook, to find a moment to share insights as a couple. The Come, Follow Me lessons are simple – two pages each week. The suggested scripture reading a few pages more.
For the young adult with a cognitive disability, perhaps Come, Follow Me is providing others around him with an opportunity for inclusion and service, watching a video provided by the church about the Savior’s life and teachings, participating in the fabric of family whose goals are to maximize a love of learning, and support one another on the journey home.
For this family – our family (homeschooling parents of teenagers), Come, Follow Me is a call to continue with more diligence and step up our efforts a notch or two. To be more valiant and consistent in things we are already doing. To model, by pursuing our own individual learning and growth, what we hope our teenagers will follow. To structure more time in the home for individual Gospel learning by getting up a little earlier or foregoing an alternative activity or errand. To prioritize better among all the competing demands for our time.
All of these scenarios and ideas of how one might choose to approach implementing the Come Follow Me ‘program’ involve three principles:
- Choice or the exercise of agency
- Using that agency to establish and refine daily habits that, over time, result in deeper conversion to the Gospel, improved character, and
- Inspire, not require others we love to come along with us on the journey
Let’s get started!