Devotionals, Family, Presbyterian, Catechisms, Heidelberg 

"Starr Meade enables families with school-age children to participate in satisfying devotions together by taking them through The Heidelberg Catechism explaining its answers in short devotional readings accompanied by relevant Bible passages."

"I also see this book helping two kinds of people. First, for people who have interacted those in reformed churches who seem smug, who seem like they have all the answers, and who seem dry--this book will show that it's a result of their sinful heart and not a result of the catechisms used. You can't read through the HC and meditate on the biblical rich devotionals Starr writes missing that these catechisms are alive and practical and tethered to Scripture.

Second, for people like myself who didn't grow up in reformed churches and are not familiar with the HC, Comforting Hearts, Teaching Minds will remove some of its mystique and our fear. I know I look at the Westminster Shorter Catechism and the HC and feel overwhelmed. That's a lot of questions and answers. Could you really learn all of those? And would it really be beneficial? Starr demonstrates just how beneficial they can be. Someone who breathes the gospel air of the catechisms will learn to live and die well in Christ.

That's something many recent devotionals and Sunday school materials are missing. They talk a lot about living, but little of how to die well. That's something you are confronted with in question one of the Heidelberg Catechism.

The beauty too of the HC is that immediately it knocks you off balance. Anyone approaching these catechisms with a bent towards fear of failure and fear of acceptance by God is immediately assured:

He has fully paid for all my sins with his precious blood,
and has set me free from the tyranny of the devil.
He also watches over me in such a way
that not a hair can fall from my head
without the will of my Father in heaven;
in fact, all things must work together for my salvation.

Because i belong to him,
Christ, by his Holy Spirit,
assures me of eternal life
and makes me wholeheartedly willing and ready
from now on to live for him.

There's no anxiety learning and studying these catechism because we "belong--body and soul, in life and death--" to Jesus Christ. We do not learn because we need God's acceptance. We study because he's transformed us and makes us willing and ready to live for him. Amen."