Processing to church

While driving into work I was listening to Fr. Hopko's prefatory podcasts to his Worship in Spirit and Truth series on the liturgy. He made mention that the Divine Liturgy is a series of processions, the first of which begins with the people coming from their homes to the church. Certainly if we think back to the large processions of Constantinople and at the original placement of the initial prayers of the liturgy we can see that procession as seen through history holds more meaning than many place on it today.

Few people consider themselves doing something corporately with their fellow parishioners when they pile into the family car and make the drive up to church. For some this drive is quiet and contemplative, for others music/news radio listening as normal, and for others a stressful struggle with eyes darting to the car's clock to see just how late they're going to be.

So what should we be doing as we make our way to church? If it's within your tradition, and time the night before didn't permit, should the family do the pre-communion prayers together?

Should it be time to listen to the Ancient Faith Radio music station or "church music" CDs? I'll consider read the opinions of those people who don't see the point (or find disquieting) the idea of chant outside of a parish setting.

Is this a good time to have someone read the Epistle/Gospel and possibly discuss them a bit? From experience I can say that, depending on the proficiency of the reader, you may not always be able to understand what he is saying.

I can say for our family, we've sampled from all these alternatives. Sometimes the struggle to get all six of my children into the car complete with shoes (and if we're lucky a diaper or two) has the family so anxiety-ridden that the best choice for all concerned is quiet punctuated by parental "suggestions" for certain children on how they might make better use of their time in getting ready to the benefit of all.

What does your family do?