6. The Parent’s Privilege: Gifting the Faith to Children by Dreaming Up

6. The Parent’s Privilege: Gifting the Faith to Children by Dreaming Up.

“The special gifts of childhood are a tireless curiosity; a taste for marvel and adventure; a readiness to wonder, pity and admire; an intense imagination.” (C. S. Lewis, Surprised by Joy).

Dreaming Up: a fanciful term for when the intellect is at play; to creatively cook up something in your mind; to develop ideas that are not rooted in the physical senses; to mentally form a picture of something not tangibly present; to see something in your mind’s eye; to make creative connections with other people through empathy; to make sense of a story or work of art or a piece of literature; to believe in some ideas that seem true; to mentally explore a mystery. In other words, to use one’s imagination.

Some Questions for the Parents: How else can a child develop a faith that is “certain of what we don’t see” without an active imagination, or “realize things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen,“ or understand that “what is seen was not made out of what was visible?” (Hebrews 11:1-3). How else can a child learn to trust in a non-sensory world, to “fix our eyes not on what is seen, but what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” (2 Corinthians 4:18). Without an imagination, how could the faithful be expected to trust in the invisible, or believe that the unseen is more real than the seen? How else could we ask a child to trust and rely on the invisible reality of God! How could a child lean into the unseen arms of the Lord, and trust in His spiritual presence, without a vivid imagination? How else could a child learn to take God at His Word, sight unseen? Since our eventual destiny, our heavenly future in the New Kingdom is in the unseen world, how could any child with faith be convinced of the reality of that destiny?  How can a child even begin to understand the parables and gospel stories of Jesus without a vivid imagination? How can a child connect with the descriptive metaphors that Jesus used so often…. The Bread of Life, the Good Shepherd, the Light of the World, the Way and the Truth and the Life, the True Vine, the Gate, the Resurrection and the Life, the Alpha and the Omega… without an imagination? How else can a child learn to stand in awe and wonder when thinking about God, or stand in amazement at what Jesus accomplished? How else can a child begin to appreciate the profound depth of God’s mysteries that are beyond comprehension?  How can we recognize God’s invisible presence in this world, or follow his unseen path, without a vivid, sharpened imagination? In many ways, is not faithlessness a failure of the imagination? So what is Job # One in helping to develop faith in children? Feed the child’s imagination, inspire it, strengthen it, give the child permission to freely exercise it all the time in the home.

Inspiring the Child’s Imagination at Home. Encourage creativity in the children at home; help them distinguish between the beautiful and the ugly; provide opportunities for creative self-expression; train them in basic artistic skills; capture their imagination in the home through story, music, drama, dance, the visual arts, and even comedy routines; help them gain confidence in expressing themselves; help them take risks artistically; stimulate their creative impulse; help them be sensitive to their intuition; offer a wide variety of novels, poetry, stories, biographies and parables; use humor and light-heartedness often; discuss and use metaphor; expand a teachable moment with creative illustrations, visual aids, object lessons; creatively wonder verbally and imaginatively explore thoughts out loud; allow artistic mistakes without being perfectionistic, while holding to the standards at the appropriate level.

Lord Protect My Child – Susan Tedeschi

“O God, I did not ask for success; I asked for wonder. And You gave it to me… Life without wonder – radical amazement – is not worth living. It is the beginning of our happiness. Our goal should be to live life in radical amazement… get up in the morning and look at the world in a way that takes nothing for granted. Everything is phenomenal; everything is incredible. Never treat life casually. To be spiritual is to be amazed.” (Abraham Joshua Heschel).

Radical Amazement. Children need to stand in awe of Jesus if they are to begin to follow Him. In a way, Jesus made this easy by engaging in a ministry of amazement, astonishment, wonder. Everywhere He traveled, He left people astounded and in awe. He caused a big stir wherever he went, and people left in His wake were amazed at who He was and what He was able to do, whether from His unusually wise teaching, His authoritative exorcisms, His unprecedented healings, His clever and insightful conversations, His dramatic miracles. It seemed everyone marveled at Jesus, despite His best efforts sometimes to be off the radar. There are three Greek synonyms that mean complete astonishment or radical amazement: ekplesso, thaumazo, and existemi. The differences between these three words, though, are fascinating. Are those of us who follow Jesus now, are we also amazed and astonished with Him?

1. ASTONISHED: “ekplesso”; a strong Greek word for astonished; amazed; dumfounded; awestruck; overwhelmed at something extraordinary; struck out of one’s senses; takes your breath away, even to the point of panic. There were at least fifteen gospel events in which the Greek superlative “ekplesso” was used to communicate a radical amazement, astonishment, wonder at Jesus. Jesus was met with overwhelming astonishment after His Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 7:28); by His hometown friends as they rejected Him (Matt. 13:54); after His teaching on the inadequacy of wealth (Matt. 19:25); after His conversation with the Sadducees about heaven and the resurrection (Matt. 22:33); at His synagogue exorcism (Mark 1:22, 27); after His healing of the deaf and mute man (Mark 7:37); after He whipped the moneychangers in the Temple (Mark 11:18); at His brilliant level of understanding with the rabbis at just 12 years of age (Luke 2:48); after casting out a demon with just a word (Luke 4:32, 36); at the exorcism of a demon-possessed boy (Luke 9:43).
2. MARVELED: “thaumazo”; another strong Greek word that means… marveled at, astonished by; amazed at; filled with wonder to the point of being bewildered; being awestruck in admiration. There were forty-four passages in the gospels in which people were greatly amazed by Jesus, astonished to the point of awed by Him. Included in the group of people who were completely amazed, “thaumazo’d” by Christ: the shepherds, Mary and Joesph, the disciples, the Pharisees, various crowds during His ministry, and even Pilate himself was astonished by Jesus and marveled at Him. People were amazed by everything from the angelic baby announcement, to various prophecies in Jesus’ young life, to the calming of the storm and the withering of the fig tree;  from His miraculous exorcisms and healings to His teachings that always were on point and what were needed at the time.
3. FLABBERGASTED: “existemi”;an extreme word that means to be out of one’s mind with amazement; crazy with wonderment; a stunned astonishment so strong that one is beside oneself; to be overwhelmed so as to be bowled over; literally, to remove from a standing position. This word is used seventeen times in the gospels, including when Jesus healed and forgave the paralyzed man dropped through the ceiling of Peter’s house; when Jesus raised a young girl from the dead; when Jesus calmed the storm and casually climbed into the boat with His disciples; on the road to Emmaus when the disciples heard about the empty tomb from the women. Existemiis also used when the family of Jesus thought He was crazy, going out of His mind.

God is Wondrous and Full of Mystery. “O the depth of the riches and the wisdom and knowledge of God! What a deep wealth of wisdom and knowledge He has! How incomprehensible are His decisions, how unsearchable His judgments! How undiscoverable are His paths, how mysterious His ways, beyond finding out! Who has understood the mind of Yahweh? Who knows how the LORD thinks, or what His thoughts are? Can anyone discern the LORD’s intentions, His motivations? Who knows enough to give Him advice? Is there anyone qualified to be His counselor? Who has given Him so much that He needs to pay it back? Who could ever have a claim against Him? For everything was created by Him, everything lives through Him, and everything exists for Him; So to Him must be given the glory forever! Amen!” (Romans 11:33-36, also Isaiah 40:12-14).

Josh Garrels – Farther Along (Motion Lyrics)

Wondrous: (Hebrew, “pili” or pala and pele); the words in the Hebrew Bible most often used to mean wondrous; miraculous; unsurpassed; something so wonderful that it is beyond comprehension; remarkable, extraordinary, marvelous; so awesome it cannot be understood by humans; so amazing that it seems impossible or too difficult to accomplish; so uniquely set apart from human understanding that it is God’s secret.

Mystery: (Greek, “mysterion”); a sacred secret hidden in the heart of God until the appointed time of revelation; a truth that can only be known by divine disclosure; spiritual insights into God’s way of thinking and planning; hidden truths revealed by God that are beyond human intellect and reason; divine knowledge that can only be understood through the Holy Spirit; God’s thoughts and plans revealed to believers and hidden to skeptical doubters and those who choose not to believe.

Imagining that Christ was Gospel-Beautiful. “And the people were astonished beyond measure, saying, ‘Everything He does is beautiful (‘kalos”), and is done with excellence!” (Mark 7:37).

Gospel Beauty: The quality of outstanding excellence in appearance, in usefulness, in moral character, in creative expression; brings delight to the senses; well-designed and constructed; a harmony that reflects creation; extremely attractive; that which inspires awe, wonder, admiration, praise; profoundly pleasing; an act of pure goodness; the presence of loveliness and grace; something exquisite in form, function, and proportion; that which contains glory and splendor.

“Kalos” is the Greek term used in Mark 7:37 above. “Kalos” means beautiful, perfect, excellent, very good, well done, admirable, wonderful, morally virtuous and honorable. Kalos was used over 100 times in the New Testament in a variety of contexts. It was often translated as “good” in passages such as good fruit, good ground, a good tree, and good works. But when applied to a person, it often referred to the moral character and the overall beauty of someone’s inner nature and outer work. In Jesus’ case, kalos was referring to His whole personhood that was beautiful inside and out; His attractive purity; the beautiful excellence He demonstrated in His everyday life; the beautiful sweetness in His interactions with those in need; the beauty of His inner goodness and virtue; the excellent usefulness and practical wisdom of His demonstrations of power. According to the people surrounding Him and watching His every move, everything Jesus did was beautiful, excellently done, and profoundly useful.

Rabbi Jesus, the Story-Teller. Jesus Himself had an inspired imagination, and He knew the importance of capturing the imaginations of His audience in His teaching ministry, particularly through the story. Eugene Peterson says that mere principles and guidelines and theological truths only serve as a “corset” and by themselves do not help in forming a “godly shape on our lives. That’s a mighty uncomfortable way to go about improving our spiritual condition. And it’s not the gospel way. Story is the gospel way.” (Leap Over A Wall).

Faith Development Through Story. Jesus could have taught the truth with three-point sermons explaining the orderly mystery of the Godhead. He could have centered on a long list of theological propositions and abstract concepts. He could have focused on spiritual information in logical sequence. But He didn’t. He instead wanted to capture the people’s imagination through story, through short and stimulating narratives that make a point. Jesus taught through His homespun parables using common things of everyday life to teach a deeper lesson about the Kingdom, about how God operates. Jesus knew His audience. The Jewish mind was trained for centuries to accept story as the means of communicating the truth. As Eugene Peterson put it in Christ Plays in 10,000 Places, “The Hebrew way to understand salvation was not to read a theological treatise but to sit around the campfire with family and friends and listen to a story.” So the centerpiece of Jesus’ discourse was story-telling. In fact at one point Scripture says He told nothing but parables (Matthew 13:34). His earthy stories were a creative way to come at the truth sideways to get attention and stimulate thought. His parables about everyday realities drew the audience in and were cleverly spun to inspire, to provoke, to illustrate, even to stump. Sometimes His parables were like firecrackers, designed to wake up the mind and light a fire in the heart. Other parables were like smoke bombs, offered to make things a little hazy to encourage the listener to pursue an idea further. Still other parables were straightforward common sense and fit perfectly into the Hebraic wisdom tradition. The stories of Jesus were designed  to create “aha!” moments through word pictures, and anecdotes, and extended metaphors to reach the understanding of the audience. Unexpectedly, because they were couched in simple terms, parables were actually deep dives into meaningful theology. These truths were taught indirectly and not intellectually. “Even the most sophisticated stories tend to bring out the childlike in us – expectant, wondering, responsive, delighted – which, of course is why the story is the child’s favorite form of speech; why it is the Holy Spirit’s dominant form of revelation; and why we adults, who like to pose as experts and managers of life, so often prefer explanation and information.” (Eugene Peterson, Christ Plays in 10,000 Places).

On the Way to Faith Development with Wonder, Love and Praise. Is there a way to have a little heaven on earth in our homes? “Finish, then, thy new creation; pure and spotless let us be; let us see thy great salvation perfectly restored in thee: changed from glory into glory, till in heaven we take our place, till we cast our crowns before thee, lost in wonder, love and praise.” (the last verse of Charles Wesley’s hymn, “Love Divine, All Loves Excelling”).

 

 

.