...Well, that's what my son meant to write when he drew this picture on the first Sunday of Advent. A few letter reversals are to be expected from a 1st grader!What was most striking to me was not the reversal of his "d" and "b", but what he drew. At first glance it looks like your average Christmas picture drawn by a child during a church service. That's what I thought until he started explaining it to me.
Yes, there's the manger and the animals, and the wise men, and the baby Jesus with Mary and Joseph. There are also angels in the sky, and if you look carefully at the angel in the upper left hand corner you will see that he carries something in each of his hands. The angel is carrying a chalice full of wine in his left hand and the bread in his right. The angel on the right carries two crosses, one in each hand. I thought this was somewhat unusual for a nativity drawing, so I questioned my son about why he included these elements in his picture. He looked at me and said, "Mom, Jesus didn't just come to be born, he came to die for us. You have to tell the whole story!"
Indeed, son! He was born to die so that we might live.
In these moments I am profoundly grateful for the liturgical worship which shapes the thoughts, ideas, and feelings of my children. They see, hear, taste, and even sometimes smell (yeah for incense!) the presence of God. They experience the Gospel concretely every week. God is not merely an abstraction for them. He is Someone who is actually present and knowable in the liturgy. Every Sunday, before the Eucharist, they hear our priest utter the same words from the prayer book:
Holy and gracious Father: In your infinite love you made us for yourself; and, when we had fallen into sin and become subject to evil and death, you , in your mercy, sent Jesus Christ, your only and eternal Son, to share our human nature, to live and die as one of us, to reconcile us to you, the God and Father of all.
He stretched out his arms upon the cross, and offered himself, in obedience to your will, a perfect sacrifice for the whole world.
On the night he was handed over to suffering and death, our Lord Jesus Christ took bread; and when he had given thanks to you, he broke it, and gave it to his disciples, and said, "Take, eat: This is my Body, which is given for you. Do this for the remembrance of me."
After supper he took the cup of wine; and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, and said, "Drink this, all of you: This is my Blood of the new Covenant, which is shed for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins. Whenever you drink it, do this for the remembrance of me." (BCP, pp. 362-363)
For my children, these are not just rote words or meaningless repetition uttered by the priest before they take communion. Rather, they declare a spiritual reality which pierces deeply into their psyche and forms their very souls -- so much so that my six year-old son, sketching a picture during Mass, doesn't fail to include the story of Good Friday and Easter in his Christmas drawing.
