I first saw this as inspiration for a great "Immersed" event (see Artisan Church website to find out what I mean by an "Immersed" event).
But then I realized that there's more to ponder. Here is a little boy with a better "knowing" of what the word "altar" means than I have after more than half a century.
We're not talking about idolatry. The word "altar" is in the scriptures. It's a word in our Protestant Evangelical vocabulary.
Remember we talked about "concrete," "experience," "language," "kinesthetic," "multi-sensory," "engaged"? This story shows us all these things. It tells about grown-ups and children giving and receiving from one another. It tells of a child's role in a family, an extended family, a larger faith community. It talks about a child setting up his own meaningful "sacred" space. He's sharing his faith with those who come through his home. There are lots of observations to make here. There may be experiences like this in the lives of your own children and the children you work with - concrete times, places, things they use to process and make sense of their faith. Children grow and learn through play and play is real. This is real.
I think our fear of religiosity and idolatry probably kept us from considering the role of ritual, tradition, and the "concrete" in the spiritual development of our children. Maybe the fear that it would be just that, instead of just a step towards something invisible, more real, and more permanent.
In what ways do you show God how much you love Him in concrete ways that your child can see and touch and hear and experience with you while they're still thinking in concrete terms? How do you tell them God's stories? How do you tell them about the ways He answers your prayers?
Funny that children are so concrete and yet their faith fully embraces the mysteries of God in ways that we grown-ups often deem childish. Is an adult whose child-like faith still embraces the mysteries of God superstitious, or more faithful than we who deem ourselves materially satisfied and well "educated"? I wonder. . .
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This is good stuff, Margie.
ReplyDeleteMy eight year-old son struggles sometimes with the reality of spiritual things, but he's never had any problems with the believing in the myths of the tooth fairy or Santa Claus. (Here in the UK Christians don't tend to see Santa as the spawn of satan or even as competition with Jesus.)
Both the tooth fairy and Santa have very concrete things that go along with them: teeth under the pillow, stockings to hang. But in the Christian tradition that I come from, there is nothing concrete to touch.
The big exception, of course, is communion, but that tends to happen only in the church building. I'm thinking that at the very least communion should come into my home. My wife and I will have to think about what else might be valuable in helping our children grasp the reality of God in everyday life.