My 4-yr-old daughter just walked in here and told me that she has a crush on all the boys in her Vacation Bible School class.
I asked her what it means to have a crush, and she said, "It means that I think they're really coooool!" To clarify, I asked if she has a crush on all the boys she knows since they are cool & fun to play with. I knew that she had just heard the word from her older sister & probably just thought it was a word for having a friend.
"No, Mom! That's silly," she said, causing some concern.
"Then, what is a crush?" I asked.
"Well...see, if a little girl like me has a crush, it means that she thinks a boy is really cool and likes to play with him. But if a teenager or an almost-grownup, or someone on TV has a crush, it means that they want to go out on a DATE. But it would be silly for a little girl like me, because we're too little to date. So we just have crushes on boys if we like to look at them." (What? Look at them?!?)
Then she continued, "Last night when we were playing games, every time we were holding hands or hugging, if they weren't looking at me, I would look at them like this..." She then proceeded to bat her eyelashes and pucker her lips. I took a breath and explained to her that the boys might not like for her to do that.
"But mom, sometimes I like to do that. Especially to the boy in the Orange shirt. What's his name?"
"Caleb?"
"Yeah, Caleb. And the boy in the blue shirt. What's his name?"
"Nicholas?"
"Yeah, Nicholas. They're sooo cool. But they aren't my friends 'cause they don't talk to me."
"Well, honey, I think they're both just a little shy. And I think that you need to stop blinking and puckering at them and ask them to play with you. You can just ask if they want to build something out of Legos, or you can pretend to fix them some food in the play kitchen. But try to make friends with them, okay? That's what Jesus would like."
"Okay."
Oh. No! She's FOUR! Think I need to start limiting the television a little more?
Thursday, July 20, 2006
Wednesday, July 12, 2006
The Image of a Piece of Wood
Andy at Think Christian posted this article about the cross. He asked whether or not the cross as a symbol still has meaning or if it has become so commonplace that it doesn't mean anything anymore.
"Has the cross reached this state—is it so commonplace that it has no real value as a symbol in 21st-century America? When you see a cross—in a church, in a museum, on a website or a business card—what do you feel? Awe, sorrow, humility, worshipfulness, annoyance, anger, or nothing at all? Has it retained its symbolic power and majesty after so many years of use and misuse? Or is it now just a decoration, one whose historical and cultural baggage actually gets in the way of meditation on Christ’s sacrifice?"
He asks if we should be offended that Madonna and Kanye West have used crucifixion imagery in a worldly way.
Predictably, someone commented that we need to reclaim that image for our faith. Once again, I am shocked at the idea that we are trying so hard to "defend Christ", as if he needs that from us. Is that why Christ formed the church? To have a group of people to police the image of God? To ensure that someone would look out for him? Or to carry out the Great Commission?
Phil 2:5-11 reads:
"Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death— even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."
If Christ didn't focus on his image, why should we? If Christ wasn't worried about his "rights" why should we be? Do we really think that our purpose is to defend Christ?
In the garden of Gethsemane, after Judas betrayed Jesus with a kiss, one of the disciples (Peter) pulled out his sword & cut off the ear of a soldier to try & stop him from arresting Jesus.
"'Put your sword back in its place,' Jesus said to him, 'for all who draw the sword will die by the sword. Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and he will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels? But how then would the Scriptures be fulfilled that say it must happen in this way?'" Matthew 26:52,53
Defending Christ is not our job. Jesus said 15 times: "He who has an ear, let him hear." When I read about Peter cutting off the soldier's ear, I think that God, the ultimate author, was being blunt with his symbolism. When we try to defend Christ, are we cutting off the ears of those who would listen? And does the form our defense takes matter? In other words, if "all who draw the sword will die by the sword", doesn't that mean that if our sword is our words, our words will betray us? If our sword is politics, our politics will fail? Whatever form our defense of Christ takes, Satan will use it to turn it around on us, and ultimately, on the image of Christ.
We have to stop fighting for our image and the image of Christ. We have to see that the more we fight for that image, the more damage we do to it.
I will continue to be awed by the cross as the ultimate example of Christ's humility. I hope that I never allow that meaning to become common or banal in my mind. And I hope that Christians will always see the underlying meaning of that hunk of wood. But I also hope that we will never allow the excuse of defending a piece of wood come between the church and our purpose.
"Has the cross reached this state—is it so commonplace that it has no real value as a symbol in 21st-century America? When you see a cross—in a church, in a museum, on a website or a business card—what do you feel? Awe, sorrow, humility, worshipfulness, annoyance, anger, or nothing at all? Has it retained its symbolic power and majesty after so many years of use and misuse? Or is it now just a decoration, one whose historical and cultural baggage actually gets in the way of meditation on Christ’s sacrifice?"
He asks if we should be offended that Madonna and Kanye West have used crucifixion imagery in a worldly way.
Predictably, someone commented that we need to reclaim that image for our faith. Once again, I am shocked at the idea that we are trying so hard to "defend Christ", as if he needs that from us. Is that why Christ formed the church? To have a group of people to police the image of God? To ensure that someone would look out for him? Or to carry out the Great Commission?
Phil 2:5-11 reads:
"Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death— even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."
If Christ didn't focus on his image, why should we? If Christ wasn't worried about his "rights" why should we be? Do we really think that our purpose is to defend Christ?
In the garden of Gethsemane, after Judas betrayed Jesus with a kiss, one of the disciples (Peter) pulled out his sword & cut off the ear of a soldier to try & stop him from arresting Jesus.
"'Put your sword back in its place,' Jesus said to him, 'for all who draw the sword will die by the sword. Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and he will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels? But how then would the Scriptures be fulfilled that say it must happen in this way?'" Matthew 26:52,53
Defending Christ is not our job. Jesus said 15 times: "He who has an ear, let him hear." When I read about Peter cutting off the soldier's ear, I think that God, the ultimate author, was being blunt with his symbolism. When we try to defend Christ, are we cutting off the ears of those who would listen? And does the form our defense takes matter? In other words, if "all who draw the sword will die by the sword", doesn't that mean that if our sword is our words, our words will betray us? If our sword is politics, our politics will fail? Whatever form our defense of Christ takes, Satan will use it to turn it around on us, and ultimately, on the image of Christ.
We have to stop fighting for our image and the image of Christ. We have to see that the more we fight for that image, the more damage we do to it.
I will continue to be awed by the cross as the ultimate example of Christ's humility. I hope that I never allow that meaning to become common or banal in my mind. And I hope that Christians will always see the underlying meaning of that hunk of wood. But I also hope that we will never allow the excuse of defending a piece of wood come between the church and our purpose.
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