Church at Home (Week 1)

Today following the announcement that church meetings are suspended until the covid-19 flu blows over, was our families 1st 'sacrament meeting' at home. As I type this the kids are drawing a picture of Jacob teaching at the temple, or al least their 4 & 2 year old version of such a scene.

I've been attending church every week my whole life. I miss the rare meeting usually when away on holiday. This week, the closest comparison I can make to how this feels is a general conference Sunday.

After learning that all services would be cancelled I immediately recognised the need to make an active decision to choose to do something in our home. While I did make this decision and even made a few suggestions on the ward what's app group, I was not until Saturday afternoon I spoke with my wife about planning something.

My family consists of myself, my wife, my eldest boy (4), daughter (2) and youngest son (0).

During breakfast I planned a little schedule for our home service. After obtaining permission from the bishop the night before I was able include the sacrament in our little service.

We set the mood by playing book of mormon stories videos from you tube on TV. I didn't feel right leading our service in PJ’s, so I got dressed into Sunday clothes. We got the kids dressed up too. I set up the sacrament and my eldest watched closely, where I gave him a commentary of what we were doing to set things up.

Here is our service.

Opening Prayer
Announcements: were I explained what's going on
Song: I am a child of God
Sacrament
Book of Mormon video from this weeks study. Jacob 2-3.
Primary song: Wise Man & Foolish Man
Primary song: Dare to be Right
Primary song: Popcorn Popping
Closing Prayer
Draw pictures of Jacob teaching at the temple.

Things that I have learned/enjoyed so far, in no particular order.

-With a young family, the pressure to get to church for 10am was lifted and we could start whenever was convenient for us. We still chose to hold our service part of the sabbath day in the morning. We started once we put our youngest down for a nap to keep disruption to a minimum.

-Planning a sacrament meeting in your home is a lot less stressful than a formal Sunday service. I've been in charge of leading Sunday services before and it is stressful. Always wondering if everyone who's been assigned is going to turn up etc. No pressure among your family. If kids get irreverent then you just pause the meeting and carry on once they have recomposed themselves. No worrying about what those on the pews next to you are thinking or how their behaviour is disrupting the service for others.

-My eldest was able to get a bit closer to the sacrament ordinance than ever. We never get to church early enough to see the sacrament being set up. So this was new to him. When I asked him to sit with the family while I administered the sacrament he was upset. He really wanted to get involved. So I invited him to hold my phone up so I could read the prayer. I then passed him the plate to pass to the rest of the family. Some might say that's a deacons responsibility and a 4 year old does not have the Aaronic priesthood, but many members on the pews at church are not ordained deacons. I know it is a fine line, but here we had a young boy who really wanted to help. I wasn't going to deny him that in our own home.

-No time scales. We didn't need to finish at 11. We could have a service as long or as short as needed.

-This weekend my wife & I have been suffering from sore throats and runny noses. Its not coronavirus, its gust a cold, but given the latest guidelines, had we attended church we may have been judged or criticised by some. Staying home and somewhat isolating was an option. This weeks announcement made it easier to make our stat at home more meaningful as had the announcement not been made we probably wouldn't have put so much effort into doing something at home.

-I'll ad more thoughts as I think of them.