My Home is a Church
Today marks the 12th week that our normal Sabbath services in the chapel have been suspended. And the 12 Sunday holding our own family Sacrament Meeting and Sunday School in our home. While we strive to make our home worthy of holding such meetings, there are few things I have learned that have helped us make this possible:
- Try to start at a consistent time every Sunday
- Prepare the home on Saturday to be clean and orderly on Sunday
- Prepare a program/schedule with hymns and speaking assignments before Sunday
- Invite those who will be speaking and teaching early in the week
- Follow the same order that is used in the in-chapel meetings
- Invite all to participate each Sabbath in some way
These points are the objective, and we work (to varying degrees) to make it a spiritual experience. For our family this is not always an easy task. With 4 young children in the home, we must keep our talks and lessons brief. Talks by the two oldest children usually take the form of reading a story from the Friend magazine and hopefully elaborating and sharing a testimony on what they learned. We sing hymns accompanied by the Sacred Music app connected to a speaker
turned all the way up.
We have had some meetings where the influence of the Holy Spirit is felt, and some that are cut short to prevent an overflowing of contention. I have appreciated and at the same time felt the weight of this responsibility. Maintaining a sanctuary of faith takes a lot of work, but it is possible.
"We hope and pray that each member’s home will become a true sanctuary of faith, where the Spirit of the Lord may dwell. Despite contention all around us, one’s home can become a heavenly place, where study, prayer, and faith can be merged with love. We can truly become disciples of the Lord, standing up and speaking up for Him wherever we are." - President Nelson, April 2019 General Conference