Family prayer time: Eeew! Is it necessary? Does anybody do it?

We do. No, we don’t pull out a hefty Bible, chain the kids to their chairs, and blab for 45 minutes until everyone is in a spiritual stupor. In fact, we don’t pray together as much as we used to or as much as I would like; but I believe that prayer is a key element in our family’s life. It provides an important, invisible tie that links us together.

So why don’t we pray together more often?
When the kids were younger and we controlled their schedules, we could enforce a time for family prayer. Now, everyone is increasingly scattered. Simply being together in one room is something of a miracle for us.

But that’s not our main impediment. Praying is very intimate. It can be hard to open up around our families -- especially for teens who are trying to be independent of their parents. Prayer, if it isn’t superficial, requires a voicing of matters of the soul. It involves expressing the passions of the heart. And this can be embarrassing. My wife and I have had to work for years to be able to pray aloud together, and often we still pray individually. Prayer is difficult for families to do -- my family is no exception.

So what does our family do?
We take a different approach. We pray before meals, even in restaurants. We take turns offering these prayers of blessing so that everyone has a chance to be the voice of the family. Each night, my youngest and I still say our prayers together. And it pleases me to see my 15-year-old son reading his Bible before bed. He’s making faith his own. Even if he and I are not praying together, there’s an acknowledgment between us that we’re both praying.

Whenever we’re going out of town, my family prays aloud for traveling mercies and for protection on our house. Everyone likes to remind me of the time when we forgot to pray before leaving on a trip. Forty-five minutes down the road, the van hissed, spewed, and ground to a halt! I don’t think that our breakdown was punishment from God, but I did learn a lesson about how we all feel more secure and complete when our trips start with acknowledging our need of God.

We also pray for our children in particular situations. When one of our kids is struggling with a relationship or with a teacher, my wife or I may put a hand on that child’s shoulder and say a prayer. We like to remind our kids that we’ll be praying for them on days when we know they will have a lot of stress. And there are still times when we do gather as a family to pray. Every day, prayer is there for us, underlying our whole lives.

Family prayer is not easy. If your family isn’t used to it, you might have a hard time getting it started; but it’s worth it in the end. Praying together helps families experience the invisible ties of love that bind them together.

DIG DEEPER
We always give thanks to God for all of you and mention you in our prayers, constantly remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.
- Thessalonians 1:2 (NRSV)

Try It: This week try to make family prayer a reality for your loved ones. Here are some ways to get started:
• Volunteer to say the blessing before a meal.
• Tell your parent that you will pray for him or her throughout the day, and then do so.
• Ask your family members what they’d like for you to hold in prayer.
• Read a passage of scripture with a sibling and pray for each other.
• Ask a family member to pray about something in your life.