Editorial
October, 1974
Volume 9, Number 4
Do you have a family altar? By a “family altar” we mean an established, regular, set-apart time when the family gathers together for worship in the home. The family worship period includes Bible reading and prayer. It may also include singing, the memorization of Scripture, and a systematic study of the Bible. All that is done should be done on a level that will involve and benefit the whole family. Family worship should be a daily occurrence.
With the gradual increase in the number of broken homes in the church and among church leaders, we wonder if the family altar needs some repair. One aged minister in our denomination has repeatedly declared that he has yet to find a separated family that during the years was careful to practice regular times of family worship. We wonder if it is even right to call our families “Christian” -if our homes are not graced with this daily devotion.
With the “run-around” ways of the average family today, many say there is no time for family worship. This argument reminds us of the family who felt they didn’t have time for prayer before meals. But a concern about omitting prayer became so strong that they decided to take time for prayer; and then if time did not permit, they would skip eating instead. You know, they soon discovered that whenever they prayed first, there was always time for eating too! If you don’t have time for the family altar, take time!
I grew up on a farm where itinerant men were frequent day laborers. We always had family worship before breakfast, and it often included those who were there to work for the day. It was common talk among those men that they had to first go to “Sunday School” before they could get breakfast. Their expression may not really have been misplaced; after all, the family unit is a little church congregation. What kind of small family congregation do you have – if there are never any meetings?
The Family Altar
by Kenneth H. Hershey
The best of spiritual judgment tells us that every home should establish a family altar. This refers not to non-Christian homes. Such homes need Christ first before they can worship together. However, the family altar is a necessity in the Christian home. Would you say that worshiping together is your family’s most important function – the most needed get-together? Is there anything more vital, moire everlastingly important than daily worshiping together as a family unit?
Families plan many things they would like to do together. Many of those plans never materialize, and if a planned trip to the mountains, or to the East Coast, or to Florida, or to the moon – if such plans never become a reality – it may not affect your family very much. But if your plan to establish a family altar never materializes (if that never happens), it will affect your family much more.
Many families raise an altar of neglect when it comes to worshiping God together in the home. The writer of Hebrews raises a serious question: “How shall we escape if we neglect…?” (Hebrews 2:3). Neglect what? Neglect to nurture our salvation. Neglect is a most grievous sin. It is so grievous that the Apostle Paul makes a most serious application in 1 Timothy 5:8: “But if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel.” If to raise an altar of neglect in the area of material things is so grievous, how profoundly grievous must it be to raise an altar of neglect against God and spiritual things!
Private devotions by any member of the family is commendable, but it will never produce the benefits and fill the need that is realized when the family worships together. The family altar must first be established in the hearts of the parents, for they provide the leadership needed in this manor project and adventure in the life of a family. This is a major project because the most important church is the church in your house! The family that worships together at home will have little difficulty gathering together to worship with other families, known as “going to church.” The home and church are dependent on each other, but worship begins at home.
The family altar may not guarantee a problem-free existence, but it will guarantee a place of refuge and a place for the sharing of family problems. Children will hear their names mentioned with the concern laid at the feet of the Heavenly Father, and parents will hear their children pray for them in a way that no one else can do. Thus the family altar is very much needed. A number of values grow out of the practice of family worship.
1. Family worship is a means by which the Word of God can be exalted in the home. The Bible should be exalted because it was given by the breath of God: “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be throughly furnished unto all good works” (2 Timothy 3:16-17). The Bible should be exalted because It was written for our instruction: “For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hone” (Romans 15:4). The Bible should be exalted because it is an unerring guide: “For the commandment is a lamp, and the law is a light, and reproofs of instruction are the way of life” (Proverbs 6:23).
2. Family worship is a means by which the complete family can pray together. The family altar may at times fall into the category of praying about problems and matters the family would not pray about in the presence of others. It is like closing the doors about the family unit and having a sweet fellowship with God. It is the type of praying mentioned in Matthew 6:6 – the closet type of praying where only God’s ears are welcome as the family prays for an answer to particular problems. On the other hand, while the family altar is pretty much the private prayer life of the combined family, there is no need to shy away from the practice when visitors arrive. Daniel knew someone was watching and he “prayed, and gave thanks before his God, as he did before” (Daniel 6:10). I remember one time, as our family was kneeling in the living room praying, a neighbor boy who had come on the porch, noticed, and knelt on the porch until we were through.
3. Diligently practicing the family altar will set an example for others. Paul wrote, “Ye are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read of all men” (2 Corinthians 3:2). Or, as Jesus said, “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.” We should let others know that we have a new life. Paul declares, “Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death, that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.” The family worship time can be a means of letting our light shine, and our engaging in the practice may serve as an incentive for others to try the same good habit.
4. The family altar is a means by which children can be taught their duty to God. Children should be taught to. remember God in their youth: “Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth…” (Ecciesiastes 12:1). Children should he taught to fear God: “My son, fear thou the Lord…” (Proverbs 24:21). Children should be taught to obey God: “and (thou) shalt return unto the lord thy God, and shalt obey his voice according to all that I command thee this day, thou and thy children, with all thine heart” (Deuteronomy 30:2).
5. The family altar is a means by which children can be taught their duty to parents. Children should be taught to honor their parents: “Honor thy father and thy mother, that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee” (Exodus 20:12′). Paul states, “Children obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. Honor thy father and mother, which is the first commandment with promise” (Ephesians 6:1-2). Children should be taught responsibility to parents: “But if any widow have children or nephews, let them Iearn first to show piety at home, and to requite (repay) their parents, for this is good and acceptable before God” (1 Timothy 514).
6. The family altar is a means by which children can be won to Christ. Children should be instructed in the ways of the Lord: “Gather the people together, men, and women, and children, and the stranger that is within thy gates, that they may hear, and that they may learn, and fear the Lord your God, and observe to do all the words of this law” (Deuteronomy 31:12). Children should be taught the way of salvation: “For by grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God” (Ephesians 2:8). Through the family altar, children can be presented to Christ: “Suffer little children to come unto me and forbid them not, for of such is the kingdom of God. And he took them up in his arms, put his hands upon them, and blessed them” (Mark 10:14-16).
7. The family altar is a means by which Christians can grow in grace: “But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 3:18). Christians should seek to be strong in grace: “Thou therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus” (2 Timothy 2:1). The daily reading of the Scriptures (God speaking to us), and the daily practice of prayer (our speaking to God), tends to strengthen our inner spiritual lives.
It is evident that American families stopped praying at home before the privilege of praying in schools was taken away. Many people make a great ado about their children not hearing Bible reading and prayers in school, but I seriously wonder if those same children hear it at home. I too wish for the return of unrestricted prayers and Bible reading in the schools. Nevertheless, the schools are not responsible for Christian education. This responsibility rests upon the church, and the church consists of families, who hopefully, are seven-day-a-week Christians established around family altars, where God is worshiped daily.
The cure for juvenile delinquency must begin before children are born. It must begin in the hearts of young people who walk away from the marriage altar to establish a family altar. The family altar will be a place where they will meet daily to quiet their hearts and strengthen their purposes to live out the covenant they made with God when they became Christians, as well as when they became husband and wife. When family worship is a daily practice, the dedication of one’s children will not be a mockery or a mere formality, but it will be the dedication of their own lives passed on to their offspring as a heart to heart and soul to soul experience.
The family altar may not cure all the ills, but it will bring faith and trust and comfort salvation: “For by grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God” (Ephesians 2:8). Through the family altar, children can be presented to Christ: “Suffer little children to come unto me and forbid them not, for of such is the kingdom of God. And he took them up in his arms, put his hands upon them, and blessed them” (Mark 10:14-16). There is no substitute for a family’s gathering together and worshiping God within the doors of the home. I recommend it highly. The family that prays together stays together.