Hi, I’m Parker Smith.
I’m an amateur dad and careerist-turned-creative from the medical device, software agency, and Web3 industries. I started Beginner’s Apprenticeship at the confluence of Anglicanism and a career transition, while leaning into my roles as father and husband. My day-to-day involves being a part-time stay-at-home-dad while running Snapmarket.co, and I occasionally talk about work and faith on the Working Theology podcast.
About
Beginner’s
Apprenticeship
What is it?
Beginner’s Apprenticeship is an inter-denominational prayer resource for families and households with small children. We pair prayer with song in an effort to give grown-ups and kids resources to pray in the moments they have available, like in the car, at the dinner table, or before bed. We’re praying for a generation raised and saturated in prayer, hoping for a renewal of faith, and doing our best to be faithful to our small part of “Your kingdom come, Your will be done.”
How it got started
Finding a quiet moment can be difficult for anyone, let alone parents with small children. And for me, somehow prayer seemed to be among the first things to get edged out by the busyness of parenthood.
I know when my first son was born, I felt like my ability to pray all but flatlined, unable to connect with God through sleep deprivation and fatigue. So for months, what had finally become a vibrant routine of daily prayer became, well, nothing.
Or I thought it was nothing.
As I emerged from those early days and my son began sleeping with some kind of regularity, I noticed a pattern that had taken the place of my pre-fatherhood prayer practice: diligent story time.
The pattern
Every night around 6pm I would sit with my family and read kid’s books. Dozens of them. Some with cows, some with flaps, some in Spanish, some without words at all. Some interesting, some about Jesus, and some downright pointless.
And several thoughts coalesced: this time is formative for my family, this reading time is a pattern, and I want to prayerfully include God in this routine.
What if we took the best of my morning prayer experience and combined it with the stories we were reading at night? What if we made an accessible, substantial prayer guide for the whole family?
The project
Starting with the liturgical seasons (Advent, Lent, Easter, etc) I self-published The King is Coming, A Family Liturgy for Advent including corresponding music. The affirmation, support, and buy-in from my local church and creative community was incredibly affirming (All Saints Dallas and Art House Dallas, respectively — see my presentation at the 2022 Visual Showcase), not to mention the effect I experienced first-hand by using these resources with my family: functionally teaching my son prayers of repentance and grace, the Lord’s Prayer, and the general arc of Advent as we wait for King Jesus to make all things new.
This brings us to my second book/music project based on the Prayers of the Hours (Morning, noon, evening, compline, Examen, etc): Good Night, God: A Family Liturgy for Bedtime Examen.
Good Night, God is an effort to resource families not just in a single liturgical season, but in the recurring time of evening prayer. Something that can be utilized daily, regardless of time of year.
I’m particularly drawn to the Prayer of Examen for many reasons, including my experience at a local Jesuit retreat center where I was guided through the prayer, in addition to the simplicity and accessibility of the concept for children. As a bonus, I find the opportunity to reinforce my own emotional awareness valuable.
FAQs
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Daily prayer storybooks are meant as guides for families to engage with common prayers and practices in a way that’s accessible to various ages.
It might look something like:
Gather together somewhere quiet and undistracted.
Read (or sing) together: this book is prayer, song, and story!
Direct your attention using the optional prayer notes (at the top left corner of most pages)
Dig deeper with Bible readings as children are able (scripture references are all throughout the book)
Be gracious - this is a guide, not a script
Enjoy God’s presence and peace
Repeat (For example, we read this as a family when we turn on the lights in the morning)
As a guide, the goal is not to read every word on every page (though if it happens, yay!). The goal is to create habits that form the faith of each member of the household.
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The target audience for this book (and series) are Christian parents and children ages 0-8 in denominations open to rhythms of daily prayer.
In my experience, for children ages 0-1 the function of the book is more for the parent to be able to maintain a daily rhythm of prayer and study (however simplified) considering parents are likely up very early with their children anyways. This also simply introduces children to the rhythm of going to God’s in prayer first thing in the morning.
Children ages 1-2 will be drawn to the style and graphics while the book remains resistant to tearing, slobber, and baby fingers (being a board book). In my experience, first thing in the morning before any other distractions tends to work well, otherwise it may very well feel more like practice than progress.
Children ages 3-5 will begin to memorize the simple prayers and stories with quick references to chapter/verse if parents want to explore in more detail.
Children 5-8 will be the most likely to resonate intellectually with the themes in these family liturgies, and I’ve specifically had big publishers reach out to publish Good Night, God in this age range. The beauty of the board book format is even though most of the market uses the form factor for small children, it will hold up to repeated use while also being accessible for younger siblings when read together or passed down.
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Beginner’s Apprenticeship is entirely self-published without a book publisher or music label.
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Each book has a corresponding full-length album with a song for every page. Just search “Beginner’s Apprenticeship” on Spotify or Apple Music!
Music for “Good Night, God” coming 2023.
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For example, Advent:
There are many traditions around Advent, and some that I enjoy are Advent Wreaths and Nativity Scenes. Beyond that, it’s great to gather with community and anticipate Jesus together!There are also a lot of creative people inspired by the Jesus’ first and second coming, and some of them are my friends!
Check out:
Good News, Great Joy by Graham Jones (Spotify)
Advent by Liturgical Folk / Ryan Flanigan / Fr. Nelson (Spotify)
A Seed, A Sunrise: Advent to Christmas Songs by Caroline Cobb (Spotify)
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Great question! I started with Advent because it seemed like the best way to communicate the Beginner’s Apprenticeship concept, but as you may know, there are several other liturgical seasons in the church calendar!
Advent is the start of the church calendar, followed by Christmastide, then Epiphany, then Lent, then Holy Week, Easter, Pentecost and more Ordinary Time, with even more traditions and feast days to draw from. There’s a lot to unpack!
My hope is to expand the series to provide Daily Prayer Storybooks for each liturgical season, including prayer of the hours for daily prayer.
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