# The Church Manual (Church of the Brethren)/Chapter 18

CHAPTER XVIII.
FAMILY WORSHIP.
The home or family life is the only true life. So God intended it should be, and therefore has adapted his creatures to this end.
The true family consists of husband, wife, and children. And that the family may be a home, union and peace must dwell there. To have this, religion must be the prevailing spirit of the family. Anything and everything that tends to keep alive and promote this, should be used and encouraged, and there is nothing that has a more happy tendency in this direction than regular and stated family worship. Therefore family worship ought to be established in every Christian home. There are three different kinds of prayer that should be observed in the home.
Family Prayer.
A time set apart for the assembling of the whole family together for a season of religious devotion. In this service no member of the household should be overlooked or excused. The children, the visitors, and the helps, — all should be invited, and expected to be present.
The husband, as the head of the family, if a Christian, should have the oversight of the services, but should always encourage every member of the household, at times, to take some part in the services.
The form of worship differs some in different families. Some open it by singing a suitable hymn, followed by reading a chapter, or part of a chapter, from the Bible, and prayer. Others omit the singing, and have only Scripture reading and prayer. In this prayer, one, two or more may engage, the last one closing with the Lord's Prayer.
True prayer is the desire of the heart made known unto the Lord, and therefore may be very simple in form. Yet how to pray was a question among the disciples, and they asked the Savior to teach them. The form he gave them is the most comprehensive of all forms, and, if carefully studied, in it will be found an excellent guide. ​1. An acknowledgment of God as "Our Father," our Protector, and our Preserver.
2. Thanksgiving and praise for his protecting care over us, and for his mercies shown to us, — for the hope of salvation through Christ our Mediator,— for the influence of the Holy Spirit, that we may be led in the right way,— for the Gospel privileges enjoyed, etc.
3. Ask for what we feel that we need. "Give us this day our daily bread," physical and spiritual. Ask for his watchful care over us and his blessings upon our business and labors.
4. Pray for our neighbors and friends, the poor and needy, sick and afflicted, the ungodly and the sinner, for kings and rulers, and for the peace and prosperity of our land and nation.
5. Pray for the peace and prosperity of the church; for its ministers and laborers; for its missionaries, and every work designed for the extension of Christ's kingdom on earth; and conclude with the Lord's Prayer.
A Morning Prayer.
Lord, thou who hast been good and merciful in all thy dealings with the children of men, we come humbly before thee, that we may render to thee our thanks for thy mercies shown to us. We thank thee ​for thy watchful care over us during the night. We thank thee for rest and sleep, for health and strength of body and mind, and for many and innumerable blessings that thou art ever bestowing upon us. We thank thee for home, for friends, for the religious liberty we enjoy, and above all, we thank thee for the gift of thy dear Son, our Savior, and the easy terms upon which salvation is offered to all. And we pray thee to accept this, our tribute of praise, for all thy mercies shown.
And now, we pray thee to take us into thy tender care for this day. Let thy blessing be upon us, and grant that all we do may be done in a way that will please thee, and in some way redound to our own good and to thy glory. Bless us in our business, in our labors, and in all things in which we are concerned; give to us those things which thou knowest will be best for us, and we pray thee to give us wisdom to use the gifts bestowed upon us to the glory of thy name and for the promotion of thy cause.
With us, we pray thee to remember our friends, our neighbors, the poor and needy, the sick and afflicted, the ungodly and the sinner. We also pray thee in mercy to remember the rulers of our land and nation. Bless them with wisdom and grace, that, under their administration, the peace and prosperity of our land and nation may be continued.
We pray thee to let thy special blessing rest upon thy church and people. Bless thy ministry and all that labor for thee. Bless the membership. Fill each one with thy truth and Spirit, that all may be profitable laborers in thy vineyard, and valiant soldiers of the cross. We pray thy blessing upon the mission work of the church, and those who are laboring for it and in it, that thy truth may be preached to all thy creatures, that souls may be saved from the ​power of sin, the kingdom of thy dear Son enlarged, and thy name glorified.
Let us, we pray thee, abound in thy love more and more, and, day by day, feel that thou art with us. Keep us ever near thy side, and when life's work with us is ended, own us as thine,|we ask for Jesus' sake.
"Our Father, who art in heaven," etc.
Private Prayer.
To every child of God there ought to be a time and place for private prayer, a personal communication with the Lord. When families have their family worship in the morning, the evening, before retiring, is a suitable time for private prayer. For these prayers we need no form. They become to us a precious and private communication between ourself and our Heavenly Father. We go to him as a child goes to its parent. We open out our hearts to him and tell him what we want and need as no other can. It is a closer approach to God than can be made in any other way. In public and in family worship we may go to prayer, and pass through the form, while our hearts and thoughts may be wholly given to something else. But not so in private prayer. To be alone with God is too solemn to admit of any other feeling than that of deep reverence and true worship. Christian parents should urge upon their children and give ​them every possible encouragement to have their time and place for secret or private prayer. It becomes to them a means of grace that has much to do in moulding their Christian character.
Children, early in life, should be taught to pray, even though they do not, at first, fully comprehend the nature of God and of going to him in prayer. In this way a religious habit is formed that, if properly guided, will grow into a spiritual understanding that will prove a safeguard to them in their after-life and be a means of bringing them into a relation with God that could be done in no other way.
For the benefit of mothers who may wish to teach their children some simple forms of prayer, we give the following selections:
Morning.
As now I waken from my sleep,
I thank the Lord who did me keep
Through all last night; and to him pray
That he will bless me all this day.
Evening.
As now I lay me down to sleep,
I pray the Lord my soul to keep:
And if I die before I wake,
I pray the Lord my soul to take;
And this I ask for Jesus' sake.
Morning.
I thank thee, O God, my Maker, that thou hast kept me alive and well while I slept. Be near to me and bless me all this day. Help me to honor my father and my mother, [to be kind to my brothers and sisters,] and to do to all persons as I would be done unto. May I love thee with all my heart, and though a little child, may I come to the Lord Jesus Christ as my Savior, and be prepared to live and reign with him forever. Amen.
Evening.
O Lord God, thou seest me by night as well as by day. I pray thee for Christ's sake to forgive whatever I have done wrong to-day, and keep me safe all night while I am asleep. Bless all my dear friends, [here the child may mention father, mother, and other relatives], do them good at all times, and may we all be happy and useful while we live, and dwell in heaven together after death. Hear me, O Lord, for the sake of Jesus Christ thy Son. Amen.
Table Prayer.
By table prayers are meant those that are offered at our tables prior to the partaking of our daily food, and they should be observed in every Christian family.
The object of these prayers is to acknowledge God as the Giver of "our daily bread," and to express our gratefulness to him for it, — to ask his blessing upon it, that it may nourish and strengthen our bodies and thus enable us to perform the moral and spiritual duties that devolve upon us as his children; that the food we eat may be sanctified to our use and that we may be sanctified to his service. ​The following form may be of service to such as have not yet observed this important religious service in their homes:
A Table Prayer.
Our Heavenly Father, thou who art the one from whom every good and perfect gift cometh; we desire to thank thee for the privilege which we now enjoy of coming to this table, so richly spread with these mercies from thy liberal hand. We pray thee to bless them to the use of these our physical bodies. And we pray thee also to feed our souls with the Bread of Life, that we may grow in grace and truth, and thus be enabled to devote our lives to thy service. Guide us, by thy Spirit, ever in the way of right; pardon our many sins, and at last save us all in heaven, we ask for Christ's sake. Amen.
CHAPTER XIX.
PARLIAMENTARY RULINGS.
Order is correctly said to be heaven's first law, as, without it, there could be nothing but confusion. In all deliberative bodies, to avoid confusion and economize time, there must be some rules of order. These may be simple in form, yet should be sufficiently comprehensive to meet the wants of all deliberative bodies. Let everything be done decently and in order, applies to religious meetings of all kinds, as well as to