Language and Experience

Another revision:

Experience gives meaning to language, especially faith language. Berryman's point is that words giving meaning to other words without appropriate (even non-verbal) experience is not enough. Jerome W. Berryman* "Children and Mature Spirituality." Children's Spirituality. Cascade Books, Eugene OR: 2004, p. 31

Carolyn Brown makes the same point in her book- that we often talk to children about spiritual things based on our experiences not theirs. Sometimes we say concrete vs abstract, concrete implying that the child has had real life experience or it's something they can touch and relate to as opposed to abstract which requires more complicated association or transfer or application. This applies to parents, Christian educators and pastors.

We are teaching children language in the wider cultural sense. We are also teaching them faith language in a faith culture.

Parents bringing very young children to worship can use that opportunity to teach them words to go with sights and sounds and smells and the things they touch and taste: people names, candle, chair or pew, Bible, star, light, the smell and smoke of incense, sing, guitar, organ, clap, dance, "shh," money, offering, walk, run, tip toe, worship folder (LOL!), bells, (depending on your worship experience) . "Listen. . ." "Did you hear..." "Do you see . . . ?" If you have stained glass windows look at them with your child and say the words for the things you see.

Not that you do all this for a full hour or hour and a half of worship. But you can do it before service, after service, or at opportune moments. But being aware that there are words and experiences tied to those words that we can momentarily focus on during worship is an important thing for us to recognize. Do we want them to learn Christianese? Probably not, but ponder language and faith at whatever age you child is.


*Jerome Berryman is the Executive Director of the Center for the Theology of Childhood. He has also written Godly Play & Teaching Godly Play.