On Friday, Emily went with a friend to a Christian "club" for kids. Apparently, they play games and hear Bible type stories. The plan was for me to pick the girls up from school - get them fed, and the father of the friend would pick them up at 6:30, take them to the club, and then return them afterwards for a sleepover.
Emily had already announced to the friend that Mom and Dad didn't "do" church. I have to suffer the pitying glance of a nine year old who, I'm sure, is calculating my descent into hell postmortem.
But hey. I'm no religious bigot. If Emily wants to go and check these things out, no problem. She has attended church with her grandmothers and aunts, so she has a vague inkling of the rituals.
This morning, after the friend had gone home, I asked Emily how she liked the church club.
"It was pretty good", she said.
"Oh. What did you learn?"
"Well, God touched people with lepers and they were healed."
I pause. As a former Roman Catholic, I know my Bible stories.
"I think it was Jesus, honey - and the people WERE lepers. They had Leprosy and Jesus isn't god."
She pauses. "Who was Jesus then, if he isn't God?"
"Well - he is the son of God."
She takes this in. "So Where does Mary come into this?"
"She is Jesus' mother - and God was his father."
She stares off pondering the union between invisible spirit and Human.
"So Jesus is half God, half mortal?"
I raise my eyebrows. "Yeah. I guess you could say that he was."
Her expression smooths into understanding.
"Just like Hercules."
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14 Baleful Regards:
Oh Dawn,
Thanks so much for the chuckle today.
Your daughter is right- Just like Hercules. :-)
Hercules, Hercules!
I like her spin on the leper story - I can picture God poking some folks with a leper and yellin' "you are healed!" (says the also lapsed Catholic who's memory of that parable is kinda fuzzy).
That's fabulous! I love when children understand things better than adults do. :)
"Just like Hercules" -- hehe, I like that.
Ha!
This made my morning.
Ditto - this made my morning! Having read the first two of the Percy Jackson series we are far, far into the world of Greek myths. I take it Emily is too. Another thing our former Abenakis have in common! PS - we miss Emily, still! We aren't much for phone calls, so don't let Emily feel slighted, she is still well loved in Tooky.
Hey, that's totally a religion I could get into!
This is an awesome interaction. I love mythology; I love even more your daughter's ability to draw comparisons between texts (stories).
Smart cookie. I love your little girl. :-)
heehee!
heehee!
Hee. Well ... she's not wrong, is she?
"So Jesus is half God, half mortal?"
So does Jesus answer like Ringo in "A Hard Day's Night"?
well that little Miss Emily is certainly no slouch in the brainial dept., now is she, Dawn.
nor am I surprised. she doesn't hurt for parents sans brainiality.
xoxo
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