Theology

This morning we attempted to go to church for Sunday school, which we had not done in a looong time. So far, it seems that Julia' s morning nap has been right in the middle of when we need to be there, so we've used that as our excuse. Really, it's just hard getting ourselves and two kids dressed appropriately and out the door--so hard sometimes that I wonder if it's even worth it. And, then there's the issue that the kids are in daycare all week, and I often don't feel like putting them back in childcare on the weekends. I want my time with them and our time as a family.

BUT, I also want them to know God and to grow up in the church, so we are going to work on overcoming these excuses and at least make it to Sunday school most weeks. Our church has also started a "Parenting 101" Sunday school class, which I'm really interested in. It's only for parents with young children, and we're going to cover parenting and family topics from a Christian perspective, so I'm excited and hopeful that it will be motivating.

ANYWAY, all of this is to say that we were explaining to Will that we were going to church today and he would go to his Sunday school class. Here's the conversation he and I had on the way home from picking up breakfast. Clearly, I am quite inept when it comes to discussing theology with my three-year-old:

"So Will, when we get home, we're going to have to hurry so that Mama can get dressed for church, and you'll need to get dressed too."

"But Mama, you're already dressed! And I am dressed!"

"Yes, but when we go to church we wear nicer things. Like your fancy shoes (he calls his dress shoes his "fancy shoes")."

"Why Mama, why do we have to wear our fancy clothes?"

"Well, because church is where we celebrate God and we want to be respectful, so we wear our nice clothes."

"So, we don't wear our...(pauses, clearly trying to think of the opposite of "fancy")...not fancy clothes to church?"

"No, we wear our nice clothes to church."

"Mama, where is God? Is he at the church?"

"Um, well, God is...um, in the sky."

"He's in the sky? Does he fly??"

"Well, no, I don't think that God flies. He's not really in the sky...God is everywhere...he's all around us."

"God can fly?!?"

Thankfully, at this point, something else distracted him, and he moved on to a new topic. But, I feel so inadequate to answer all of these questions. It's hard for me as an adult to understand the abstract concept of God, but it's particularly difficult to try to explain that concept within the concrete views of a preschooler. I'm going to have to think on it--I know these things will keep coming up, especially here at Question Central.