Sermonette: Why it Matters

For the past eight weeks, I have shared with you all about a nightly faith practice called FAITH5. I’ve invited you each week to “Huddle Up in Faith” with your family to share these five simple steps:

1. SHARE your highs and lows

2. READ a Bible verse or story

3. TALK about how the Bible verse might relate to your highs and lows

4. PRAY together

5. BLESS one another with the sign of the cross

I’ve tried to make the case that investing just a few minutes each night to connect with your family and with God, will reap benefits in the present and far into the future. My passion for FAITH5 comes from my own experience with it.

Before moving to New Rockford last summer for my first pastoral call, I worked in children, youth, and family ministry for just under twenty years. Over those decades, I had the privilege of teaching FAITH5 to countless parents and kids both in my own congregation, and as a FAITH5 trainer traveling to churches around the country. Everywhere I went, I challenged families to try these five simple steps for just six weeks. Commit to it. Call it a holy family experiment and after six weeks, do an assessment.

Did you learn things about each other that you otherwise would not have known? Do you feel more connected to one another as a family? Are you reading God’s word more? Are you better able to recognize God’s action in your daily life? Have you gotten more comfortable with praying out loud together? Is bedtime more calm and predictable?

Time and again, I heard stories of how FAITH5 had been a blessing. Families who had no idea how to talk to each other now had a structure to do so. Single moms shared about how their teen boys were opening up and sharing in a way never thought possible. I heard stories of marriages being strengthened, and even saved, by this simple nightly check-in. Parents told of their kids opening up to them about being bullied, and suffering with thoughts of self-harm. Parents also shared the fun highs they got to hear about nightly.

Over these decades, I came to the conclusion that FAITH5 can’t NOT bless. Every step is powerful. And every step’s power grows the more you practice it. Do highs and lows a couple nights a week – blessing. Add prayer – more blessing. Add Scripture – more and more blessing. Do FAITH5 on occasion – blessing. Do it one night a week – more blessing. Do FAITH5 every night – more and more blessing.

The key here is that you cannot lose with FAITH5. It can’t NOT bless your family.

I learned about FAITH5 when my daughter Nicole was nine years old. At that point I was a divorced single mom trying my best to be a good parent, trying my best to raise a solidly Christian kid, with Christian values and identity. The FAITH5 trainer told me that these five simple steps would help me and my daughter to stay connected and communicating through adolescence. He said that I didn’t need to be a Bible scholar or a perfect Christian. I just needed to love God, love my kid, and be willing to take five minutes a night for FAITH5.

So, I came home that night and told Nicole that we were going to try this new thing called FAITH5. I remember being really nervous because I did not really know how to pray out loud and I felt sort of like an impostor. But I kept thinking, “Well, are you gonna use this tool or not? Who else is going to lead this family?” And so, we started what would become a nightly family ritual for us – the FAITH5 Home Huddle.

Most nights it would be quick, just two to three minutes. But on occasion, and I could never predict when, our FAITH5 would last much longer. Sometimes, something really hard had happened that day. Sometimes, something really wonderful had happened. And Nicole would open up and really talk to me about it. What I came to understand was this – it was the daily ritual of two to three minutes, the many normal FAITH5 nights, that made it possible for her to open up to me and share deeper on occasion. FAITH5 made the deeper sharing possible.

FAITH5 also resulted in long-term benefits for our family and for my daughter’s life. As I look back over who she was and who she became, I credit FAITH5 with being the solid faith foundation on which she grew. As Nicole grew into a teenager, it was clear that we had a closer connection to one another than most of her friends had with their parents. The FAITH5 trainer had been right. She never disconnected from me as a teenager. FAITH5 provided the healthy communication that allowed her to stay connected to me while also growing to be her own independent self. And, FAITH5 provided us both with a daily, real-life way to practice our faith in God. Daily we brought all of the ups and downs of our life to God, and daily we looked for God’s provision and action – and daily we found it.

So, once again I invite you, no, I challenge you to give FAITH5 a try. Commit to six weeks and see what happens. I guarantee it will be worth your investment of time and I guarantee you will grow closer to God and to one another. Start tonight.

To view video testimonies from real life families who tried FAITH5 for six weeks, go to http://www.faith5.org