Narrative Lectionary Key Verse for Today
“Keep these words that I am commanding you today in your heart. Recite them to your children and talk about them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you rise.”
NL Daily Devotion for Saturday, January 16, 2021
by R. M. Fergus, Clergy Stuff
“God talk” was just normal in my house growing up. I mean, it’s not like we sat around discussing it or even that my parents said anything expressly about it to me. It was just sort of in the air that I breathed and the water I drank. Whenever I would fight with my brother, my mom would sigh and say sarcastically, “Behold how they love one another.” (Tertullian). The phrase “This is most certainly true” (Martin Luther) was frequently bandied about. Bible verses were quoted. Bible songs were sung. My dad and my older brother used to argue about Paul’s writings at the dinner table (I tuned them out). Honestly, it was so commonplace, I didn’t think anything of it until I was an adult and actually paying attention in church and life. I kept reading or hearing things in the Bible and saying, “Ohhhhh. That’s where my mom got that from!” I took for granted that everyone knew the stories in the Bible and was frequently surprised when they didn’t. (I once asked a congregation in a sermon who knew the story of David and Bathsheba and only five or six hands went up. I was flabbergasted!)
So, yeah, I’m a church nerd. That’s not everyone’s story. My point is that it’s powerful when our parents, and when we, as parents, are open and expressive about our faith, and share God’s word with our children directly and even indirectly. God commanded God’s people to talk to their children about these things, to recite God’s word together, to make it a part of the fabric of everyday life. It behooves us to look at how we are fulfilling that commandment in our lives.
How can I weave my faith and God’s word into the fabric of my everyday life?
