⁴ Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. ⁵ Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. ⁶ These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. ⁷ Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. ⁸ Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. ⁹ Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.

Deut 6:4-9

This week we talked about how we as Dad’s keep the word of God present with our children, based on this passage.

Questions Dads have and Struggle With

• Why would my son want to build a relationship with God because he sees me do it.
• How do I help him feel it? 
• How do I make him not be monkey see monkey do. 
• Is seeing me enough?

Practices to Apprentice our Children to Christ and His Word and Apply it To Life

Prayer at Home

• Pray for our children
• Let you children see you praying in the morning when they wake up
• Let them see you praying with your wife
• Praying for children and laying hands on them before sleep.
• Walking the rosary
• Praying as a family before anyone leaves in the morning.Having a devotional at dinner

Scripture at Home

• Taking them through Scripture
• Reading the bible before bed. Action Bible (graphic novel format) is great.
• Watching a small snippet of the Jesus Film before bed
• Daily Bread Subscription Conversation around the Dinner Table
• Superbook on Amazon Prime
• Scripture memorization with kids

Talking at Home

• Asking the family how they helped someone today at dinner

Talking as you Go

• Talk about anything that is frustrating the children in the car.
• Use opportunities that would be frustrating to help create empathy and compassion.
  • Example: A Driver that is driving crazy and cutting people off:
    • What if they are trying to get to the hospital?

Scripture as You Go

• Listening to Kid’s Bible Stories podcast in the car
• Talking through each line in The Lords Prayer and reciting it together in the car ride
• Talking through each line in Psalm 23 and reciting it together in the car ride

Prayer as You Go

• Praying first thing after all the kids are buckled in the car.
• Praying out loud as parents whenever you need help.
• Micro-prayers out loud as much as possible. Little snippets of asking God for help.

One thing that really stuck out to me is that one dad said he was formed by his father reaching out to God in prayer in the midst of struggle. His father would say, “I don’t know how I’m going to do this, let’s pray.” He saw God answer prayers in miraculous ways and his life was transformed because of it.

Deut 6 is Also the Main Confession of the Jewish Faith

This passage is known as “The Shema” by the Jews and is a central part of Jewish tradition and is considered the main confession of Jewish faith.  It’s like the Nicene Creed.

It is said upon arising in the morning and upon going to sleep at night. It is said when praising God and when beseeching him (v. 7). It was commanded that it should be carried about with them wherever they went (v. 8) and written on the entry to their homes (v. 9). The Shema is written on parchment that is contained in the mezuzah that Jewish people affix to the doorpost of their home, and in the tefillin that they bind to their arm and head. The Shema is the first thing that a Jewish child is taught to say (v. 7).

The Shema is a call to be completely faithful to the covenant, its focus is on daily life rather than in liturgy. When the Shema says to “love God with all your heart,” it means to use not only your “good traits” like kindness and compassion to do god’s will, but also to use your more challenging traits to serve him. How you respond to God’s love is to be demonstrated by actions (“a sign on your hands”) and to keep the covenant in your forethoughts (“fix them as an emblem on your forehead”). The living, active expression of doing is the ultimate “evidence” or sign of our faith. 

The Shema was and is Judaism’s Creed. Jesus, Mary and Joseph, and all Jews recited it morning and evening and because of Jesus all Christians are familiar with its beginning.