Song Of Songs & Our Children

Dear Mom & Dad,

We are jumping out of 1 Peter 3 and into a 8 week miniseries on singleness, marriage, and sex from the Song of Songs this Sunday, January 26th!

There are so many voices influencing our children today in regards to sexuality and being single and being married and we want you to know how to have conversations with your kids. Not the kind of unprepared, stumbling-through-it, “hope this ends soon” conversations but the kind where you are confident in the word of God and what that means for your child. 

We know many of you have children who sit in the gathering and we wanted to give you a heads up that we are boldly engaging the text. The Song is beautiful and we are unashamed in preaching how God is passionate in his love and commitment to us, how he is near to us, and how we can express that holiness through these topics. 

While overall the sermons will be “PG,” there will be three in a row that will be more “PG-13” content and we want you adequately prepared.

  1. February 23 – Sex Without Shame (4:1-5:1)

  2. March 2 – Conflict & Reconciliation (5:2-6:3)

  3. March 8 – Pure Passion (6:4-8:4)

Options not in sanctuary:

  • Children – We will create as much space in our 3 month-5th grade classrooms as possible to accommodate your children these weeks.

  • Youth – We will have an activity during the sermon for them (more info to come)

Tips for those staying in the sanctuary those weeks, depending on age:

  • Have your child listen to an audio book. If you aren’t wanting your child to hear the content, you can bring headphones and encourage them to listen to a book on the iPhone or iPad. (Could be helpful for children younger than 10.)

  • Before the sermon, let your child know that there will be some content that we talk about related to intimacy in marriage. Tell them you’ll answer their questions. Follow up on the way home to see if they have questions or thoughts about the content. (Best for ages 8 and older.)

  • Use a busy bag. For our preschool—elementary aged children, a busy bag and fruit snack will be available. You may consider bringing some other favorite books or quiet toys from home as well. 

We are sure that God is already doing a good work in your homes and can’t wait to see what good things He does. May you be confident in Him.


Resources

Two thoughts for those of you on the struggle bus with these topics:

1. It’s never too late and there is always enough grace.

Don’t let feelings of, “Yikes, we missed that window,” or feelings of shame from your own experience determine your posture in these conversations. You can start now and can start by praying for the wisdom of God. He perfectly parents us and loves giving us wisdom for these conversations.

2. Home is best. 

One of our resources (listed below) says, “We believe the best place for a child to learn about sexuality is at home with those who care most about him. In the school of sex education, the faculty should be you.” *(page 43). A poor conversation with a parent who loves their child is better than an “expert” conversation from someone who isn’t loving your child every day. Please don’t hand over responsibility for these conversations to teachers, social media, or your child’s peers.

Song of Songs

God’s Design For Sex Series 

Other Books

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