The thing is, I do affirm that family devotions are a beautiful thing. I also think that there are Scriptural sex roles that are important, such as a father’s responsibility to be the servant, spiritual leader of his household. But I see a big problem when family devotions takes priority over the local assembly, when I think the opposite should be the case.

This really grows feet when I start thinking about what this means for the reformed marks of the church: preaching of the Word, adminstration of the sacraments, and exercise of church discipline. It seems like an over-emphasis on family devotions most immediately runs the risk of undermining church discipline, disregarding the sacrament, which would end in a distortion of the Word. It is NOT a necessary outcome, but it is a danger if the nuclear family has priority over the church.

I’d like to see you read Reforming Marriage and flesh out this post a little more. I like where you’re going with it. I will say that I think the problem that you raise is more of a problem of singular emphasis on the father, rather than on God working through all of his people, birth to burial. I think family devotions are a great thing, as long as they’re at the altar of the Lord, not the altar of daddy. (I’m not accusing any one of this, just wanting to make a clarification.)