Sour grapes

One of the things that I pride myself on as a pastor and parent is that I take the time to prepare my son for worship—pointing out to him changes or additions in the sanctuary that indicate something new or different will be happening in worship, making sure that he has his own bulletin and hymnal so that he can fully participate in worship with his father and me, even pointing out to him things that I think are strange or weird in worship, helping him recognize our worship habits or notice when we stray from them.

Preparing children for special worship and for the sacraments is something that I have written about before, and I have a favorite post encouraging parents to prepare their children to participate in Ash Wednesday services. But sometimes I worry that my selective sharing of the benefits of worshiping with children might give the impression that our worship life as a family is full of success and only the rare frustration. 

This is not the case. at. all.