Childish understanding

We're trying to get back into the swing of "normal" since our move. Its been difficult, but there are glimmers of normalcy amongst the crazy. One area that is still far away from normal, is our church... though I should say our local gathering of like-minded people with a common vision to covenant together and become a church. But, in the name of brevity, our church.

To try to start feeling some sense of that normal church experience again, we have slowly been transitioning our kids back to their normal Sunday morning tasks. We are staunch believers and supporters of kids (once they have the ability to sit relatively calmly) being a part of the corporate gathering of the church. We want them to be with us to sing worship, to pray, and to hear the Word preached. To this end, our kids have previously been instructed on focused listening during church, with the intention of being able to discuss what was taught. We let them engage by allowing them to draw/color pictures pertaining to the sermon, and other such tasks. Now that they have gotten a little older, we decided that this Sunday, they would be tasked with answering 2 questions, with words instead of pictures:

What words from the songs, scriptures, prayers, or sermon are new to you, or you don't know what they mean?

What was something new you learned today, or a question you have about today?

Here is the point of my writing this today, to those who disagree with children being present in the corporate services of the church, or who think it is unfair to immerse children in teaching that is so far above their understanding, this simple exercise led directly to the following conversations over dinner last night:

Lydia, who is soon to be 8 years old, and has been sitting in "big church" for 4-5 years at this point, wrote down three words that she didn't understand as well as she wanted to: Mortal, Chronological, and a third one that we couldn't decide what it actually said. These words led us to a discussion on the temporal nature of our flesh, and the infinite nature of God. It led to the image-bearing immortal part of each individual. We talked about what it means in Romans 6:12 (she remembered the scripture reference that caused her to write down the word), what Paul meant about letting sin reign in our mortal body. It was a good conversation. Our look into Chronology, which netted a more practical discussion about the way the Bible is organized, and different ways we can go about studying God's Word, and the benefits of that.

Ben, who just turned 6 and has been sitting with us for 3 years now, wrote down no words. I teased him by asking what transubstantiation meant (a word used in the service). He of course didn't know, and actually didn't recall the word being used. But, even that allowed us the chance to talk about really cool words that he didn't get to learn about because he was struggling to pay attention.

But even cooler than any of that, when asked about new things that they both learned:

Lydia, a discerning Berean in her little body, picked up on something the pastor had said about Jesus' baptism, and how Jesus looked up into Heaven and saw the sky open up and view the Spirit. She was concerned because none of her experience with that story ever mentioned Jesus looking up. She was concerned about the validity of what she was being taught because it rang a different bell in her mind. We went through the New Testament accounts of Jesus' baptism, and she is right, none of the accounts actually say that Jesus looked up to see the Heavens open... simply that the heavens were open to Him. I explained that our pastor looked at those passages, and knowing that Jesus was here on Earth, and the Heavens are somewhere else (up from where Jesus was), that when they were opened to Him, he likely would have had to look up to see them. Ben had questions about this process too, questions of how God could open the heavens, what if God poked a hole in heaven so Jesus could see in, but then God accidentally fell into the hole? Such questions are, of course, silly to our adult minds... but it was a real concern for Ben, and allowed for deeper discussion of God's sovereignty.

Ben, for his part, picked up on hearing that none of Jesus' bones were broken. He wanted to know if that was really true. What a wonderful conversation about Old Testament prophecies, and Jesus' fulfillment of those prophecies. We talked about the likely search for Jesus' body by the Romans following the resurrection, and how no body was found without broken legs. We were able to relate that Jesus' body was never broken outside of the plan and will of God. In fact, the first reference we really see to Jesus being broken is at the institution of the Lord's Supper, when Jesus Himself broke the bread, declaring it to be as his body, broken for us. No one breaks the Son of God, but the Son of God who Himself breaks it. No one takes His life, only the Good Shepherd lays down His life for His sheep.

Don't sell your kids short on what they will pick up from a normal Sunday morning in the church. Don't shy away from allowing them to engage with God in a way that is challenging to their little brains. They won't understand everything, but they don't need to... God has ordained that He makes Himself visible and known to His children through the preaching of the Word. He will reveal Himself to our kids as they are prepared to receive Him, and it is very, very good.