Faith at home
St Giles’ seeks to support households in flourishing in faith. This happens on a Sunday and midweek in church. It also happens at home.
This page explores, conversationally (not dogmatically) how you might embrace this opportunity.
Some potentially helpful questions to ask ourselves? …
Many parents make the deliberate choice to send their children to a Church School. A lively faith can be pictured as a three-legged stool - held up by faith at church, school, and home.
St Luke’s Old Street is our wonderful Parish Primary School. www.st-lukesislington.co.uk
Do I pray at home?
Do I pray with your children, spouse, partner?
Am I modelling/teaching the children in my life how to pray, and how to grow in prayer?
Do we say a simple thank you Grace before meals?
How might I build mention of God and prayer into daily routines at home? To make ‘God talk’ a natural and normal part of every-day home life.
When I’m travelling do I make finding a Eucharist a priority, or is the first thing to be forgotten? Our children/family/friends will reasonably infer the value of faith if the Sunday Eucharist is something we seek out whenever possible, or if it’s so quickly dispensed with.
Similarly, how do we make choices as a household about how activities are prioritised? For many families with children, for example, life is packed full of enriching learning and extracurricular opportunities - how wonderful! Is church a priority undergirding education, music, sport, etc, or is it just what happens only when there is nothing ‘better’ to do?
Likewise, if we’re spending a weekend with friends, do we find the Sunday Eucharist in the next village or round the corner online as we plan our itinerary of museums, meals and other activities? And do I invite my friends to come with me (like I did to my favourite art gallery)?
www.achurchnearyou.com for English adventures, remembering that the Eucharist is Jesus with us even if the appearance or style of the service may differ vastly in different churches, denominations and countries - the gift of Holy Communion feeds us, body and soul, no matter the form or style of presentation.
Also, here is a link to a google doc’ called the ‘Faith and Life repository’. It is a draft collection of online resources and other things. Many people (especially teenagers and young adults) are exploring faith afresh in this generation - that is good news!
But there is also lots of strange and unhelpful stuff online, and algorithmic rabbit holes aplenty to fall down. Some online resources are deceptive - they appear soundly mainstream and well researched, whilst not being. Some have strange political or theological leanings that aren’t easily detected except to expert eyes and ears. This google doc is designed to help people make a good start, and train their algorithms in healthy directions! Please feel free to be in touch with the clergy about any of this too.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/192XLl7VFAih7ifUJ2BmyqDRkHQS6689pBEnO1QXwklA/edit?usp=sharing
