Bono on God and faith

Between the Madeline L'Engle novels I've been rereading lately and this interview with Bono on Grace, Karma, the Pope, and religion, I'm  feeling good.

ghosts

While in the drop off lane yesterday morning, Leila started telling us about what they'd done Monday on the field we were inching past. She and her friends had told scary stories and someone had said there was a ghost at the gym next to the field.
Ali said that someone had told him there was a ghost at their school, as well. He sounded worried, and the night before had woken up from a scary dream involving ghosts. Leila said there isn't any such thing as ghosts, but there are spirits.
I reminded him that God is stronger than any ghosts or spirits, and he should remember that if he got scared. But I also assured him that there wasn't a ghost at school and nothing would bother him. Then he said, "You can be friends with ghosts." I let him know I didn't want him being friends with any ghosts.
Last night he lingered on my bed after story time and prayers, too scared to go to bed even though he rooms with his sister. I prayed one more time, specifically about his fears, and he went off to bed happily.

Weighty thoughts

We saw a dead squirrel near the kids' school today, and then just before home, a squirrel and SUV just avoided each other.
Ali asked me, "Can squirrels go to God?"
I didn't really know how to answer him. Leila said the body didn't but the spirit would. I thought that was fine.
Then it got heavier-
"I don't want to die. I want to live a long time," Ali said. I told him I wanted that too, and gave him a hug, thinking of others' recent losses. Leila's response: "Dying is a good thing. At the right time."
"I don't want you or daddy to die, either. Daddy won't die. He's walking and doing exercise."
Everyone has to die someday, but I pray that my children outlive me and do get to live a long time.

Women in the church

The Episcopal church (and the Anglican one) read through a lectionary in three year cycles. They've recently revised it, partly in order to highlight stories of women in the Bible. So today, for the first time in the lectionary, we read the story of Tabitha/Dorcas who Peter raises from the dead. She was a woman who took care of the widows in the church, sewing clothes for them, so when she got sick and died, there was a lot of grief. When Peter hears about it, he goes into the room where they've laid her out, and takes her hand, and she lives again. (Acts 9:36-43).
I'm looking forward to hearing about other women in the weeks to come.

"Coffee is tea"

Ali told me, several times, in a professorial voice accompanied by demonstrative gestures.
I explained, "Tea is made from the leaves of a plant and coffee is made from the seed of a fruit.And kisses," I added, leaning down to kiss him, "are made from..." "God," he finished, falling to the floor to evade the kiss.
"Why God?"
"God makes kisses."
Pretty good theology there since kisses are about love.

Reflections from the Kitchen Sink 2

The other day H was pulling into the parking lot at the church where Ali attends pre-school. It was a tight fit, so he tapped his horn to call the attention of a truck driver pulling out. As he drove into the lot, a woman driving out behind the truck said, "That wasn't a very Christian thing to do!"
H, who is not a Christian, asked me later, what did she mean? What she meant was that it wasn't a kind thing to do. There are three interesting assumptions about her comment. The first one is that she assumed he was being unkind. Perhaps in America horns are only used to express anger. To me, and to H, horns are a way of communicating with another driver, either in anger or in attention getting (The light turned green- go, or Watch out! I'm right here.) The second interesting assumption is that Christians have the monopoly on being kind, and we all know that isn't true.
The final assumption was that anyone driving into a church parking lot is a Christian. Sometimes Christians live so in that little world that they forget another world exists. We can see this in the language that gets used and in the assumptions that people make. (Read Kathleen Norris' book Amazing Grace for more about the way we don't think about our language.) I am not putting all Christians in this category- first of all, I don't want to put myself there, and second of all, I've seen too much grace in action through others' lives. But I really appreciate the perception I have through living in a distinctly non Christian world. I didn't make the choice to live this way in rejection of God, but more in rejection of becoming blind to this perspective. And from the almost outside looking in, I see lots of good, but I also see lots of chances for missed grace- for example, trying to follow procedure rather than looking to fill the needs of a person, or assuming that everyone is like us, and missing the wonder of their diversities.

My vs. Our

Yesterday the kids were fighting over the big pumpkin H bought for a jack o' lantern. They've spent the last couple of days wrapping it up in blankets and towels, getting it dry and warm in preparation for its facelift. But yesterday I heard, "It's MY pumpkin." "No, it's MY pumpkin." Much crying ensued. So I sat them down and explained that it is for everyone, it's OUR pumpkin. ALi repeated this easily, but Leila wasn't so sure. "You can't play with it if you call it 'my' pumpkin. You have to say 'our'," I tell her. She agrees, at least for a while.
Sojourners has a blog post about this in terms of the election. It isn't about what is good for the individual who is voting, it is about the common good.
And well you are over there, read this post about Bishop Desmond Tutu's recent speech in Chicago. What a wise man.

Community

God's love sets me free to enter into community with other people - even when the community is a very limited one and is not the total communion that my heart desires. Only when I live in communion with God can I live in a community that is not perfect. Only then can I love the other person and create a space in which we might be quite distant or very close, but we can still allow something new to be born - a child, friendship, joy, community, a space where strangers and guests can be received.
--Henri Nouwen (Once again, Sojourners!)
I wrote about community and my place in mine a couple of years ago (but not in this blog). This is kind of what I said, but a lot prettier. I mean, look at all the people who call themselves Christians. Do I really want to be in communion/community with them? Probably not, but then, they probably don't want to be with me either. So, grace steps in to allow us all to be part of this ungainly body, with such a beautiful head.