I'm in a class called "Self in Community" this week. Sounds all touchy-feely, which it is. It is a spiritual formation class, where we are looking at what we believe and how we got there. Also the impact of our culture, our upbringing, and our deeply held experiences and such on the construction of our image of who God is and what He is like. Something struck me this morning that I am wrestling through still now. The professor talked about the stages of development and how our kids are not in a place to really choose for themselves what they believe. Up until a certain age, they take in information and believe it because we as parents and adults are the authorities, and they trust us. So my kids will grow up with somewhat "indoctrinated" into faith; they will absorb the belief system of Kari and I, our church, and that will be foundational in the development of what they believe. How God is presented will significantly impact what they think He is like as they grow, and will continue to subconsciously throughout their lives. I'm betting that what you learned about God as a kid still impacts what you hold to be true about Him today. If God was this big, kinda scary, distant guy in your upbringing, the thought is that on some level how you relate to God now is impacted by that. And often our spiritual practices are motivated by these underlying things...example: we pray for loved ones travelling out of fear that if we don't, God will not watch over them and may even allow something ill to happen as "punishment" for not praying. (I personally do not believe that, it was the example from class)

My thoughts tonight...what are my kids learning from me about who God is? Do they see a God of love and freedom, or a God of seriousness and guilt, waiting for us to screw up? Is prayer something we use to converse with God, or something we do to ensure our safety (heavenly insurance)? And am I willing to let them question some of the constructs we have inadvertently built into them in order that their experience of faith will be genuine to them?

Stuff to consider...

systematic theology 3, day 1.

well, i've decided that the theology teachers are all really really smart -- they seem to exist on another level of thought that isn't attainable for the regular guy like me. ah well...i did have some fun in class today. check out the picture below...we did an exercise regarding theology today; the idea is that the more we know about God, the more we know about ourselves. john calvin said that, not me, by the way. this painting is a german renaissance era work; called 'christ among the doctors'. our professor had us look at this, write down what we observed, and what we saw of God and ourselves in the painting. i've attached it; click it to make it bigger if you like...and if you are up for it, post what you interpret the work to mean and what jumps out at you!

might not be a 'kid friendly' painting, but think of the things we can do with this and our families...pick and object; what can we learn about God thru this object? what does it tell us about us? the fun never ends...