Wherever man is found
Wherever human hearts and human woes abound...
The Comforter has come...
--From the 1890 hymn by Frank Bottome, The Comforter Has Come
Today, we sit in the backyard and drink root beer floats. Sullivan downs his fast and asks for another. I say no, it'll make you sick, and then he asks what all kids ask while drinking rootbeer floats: Did God die?
I don't pause. I don't act surprised. I don't change my tone. I say well, sort of. He asks how and I say on a cross. He asks what a cross is. I think to myself are you kidding me? My son doesn't know what a cross is? I think for a moment about the electric chair, but I abandon that thought and tell him a cross is two big pieces of wood, and then I say hold on a minute.
I go inside and I take the cross off the shelf in his room. It is the cross I bought at the Rosary Bazaar. It's adorned with bottle caps that serve as picture frames for images of Jesus and Mary. I bring it back outside along with Bridgy's flip flops. I say this is a cross. Now, listen. Are you listening? I have a story I want to tell you.
I know his attention span is only 90 seconds long, so I have to make this quick. I tell him again that I have a story to tell him and is he sure he's ready? He nods his heads yes.
I say Jesus was nailed to a giant one of these. They put nails in his feet. They put nails in his hands. And, he died.
Then I hold up one of Bridgy's flip flops and I say pretend this flip flop is God. Then I hold up the other and I say pretend this flip flop is all the people in the world. Now, Jesus died on a cross when he was a little younger than Daddy is now. Not really thinking of the doctrine of theosis vs. the doctrine of atonement, I tell Sully that this cross bridged the gap between God and the world. See, like this, and I put the cross between the flip flops.
Then I hold up one of Bridgy's flip flops and I say pretend this flip flop is God. Then I hold up the other and I say pretend this flip flop is all the people in the world. Now, Jesus died on a cross when he was a little younger than Daddy is now. Not really thinking of the doctrine of theosis vs. the doctrine of atonement, I tell Sully that this cross bridged the gap between God and the world. See, like this, and I put the cross between the flip flops.
I tell Sully that God has three parts. The God part, the Jesus part and the Comforter we call the Holy Spirit. I say the great thing is Jesus came back to life. After that, He went to heaven. He sits right next to God. I tell him before Jesus left he sent the Comforter because He knew we would miss Him.
Sully asks if Jesus cried when He was on the cross. I say yes.
Then she holds the cross to her chest. I say oh, let mommy take a picture, and I snap a picture of Bridgy clinging to the cross because honestly, I've never seen anything like it before.
She asks if Jesus was sad when He died.
I say, yes, I think he was sad. I think He felt alone.
She shrugs her shoulders and says,
Well, He's with us now.
Four hours later it dawns on me: Immanuel.
6 comments:
Jen--
This is TOO Precious! Thank you for sharing this timely moment.
Love you-- Mom
out of the mouth of babes eh. much blessing on your beautiful family - you have blessed my day x
oh my goodness ... these moments are just amazing ... treasured time indeed le xoxoxo
Cool moments still remembers :)
Thanks for sharing. This is a beautiful post and reminds us how great the faith of a child is. And, how much we too can learn from their faith and child-like understanding.
Talk about teachable moments, especially two way teachable moments.
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