In the church year realm of things, today is the day we celebrate the "confession of St. Peter", the time when, upon being asked by Jesus who Peter thought He was, Peter answered: "thou art the Christ, the son of the living God."
For an interesting discussion prompted by today's feast day, check out Fr. Dan's blog, here.
Thinking about Peter's confession makes me wonder: how early do you start teaching your kiddos the creeds? Should I start them now, with the Bible verses, or wait a bit? Anyone out there care to share how you did it?
peace of Christ to you,
Jessica
1 comment:
Your question of when to start teaching the creed is a good question. And how? It became a question for me a few weeks ago when at prayer time, Lucy said, "Jesus is God." She'd picked it up from one of her bible stories and put the two together during prayer time. Does she know what God means? No. But, she is already forming connections of what Jesus is, even if the words don't make sense now, and that is important.
I think so much of raising children in the faith is not expecting them to understand for quite awhile, but to instill in them the framework that will enable them to understand when the time comes.
In our household, we're not working on memorizing bible verses at this time, but truths of the faith. Real simple ones to remember, like God is love and Jesus is God. But we try to teach these things and repeat them in connection with things that the girls are familiar with. Like when we read bible stories to them. We talk about the story and an attribute that Jesus exhibited that is important. Whenever we hear sirens, the girls and I ask Jesus to help whoever is in trouble. These concrete things make sense, and even if they don't quite understand the connection of Christ/God with them, they do understand that they ARE connected.
I think that one of the most valuable things a Christian parent can do is instill in their child a 'feeling' of God's daily presence in their lives. Why 2+2=4 isn't important to little ones although they can easily memorize that truth (although they still need to know these things!). What is important to them and DOES make sense are their feelings. They know that owies hurt, hugs and kisses feel warm and comforting, tickles makes them feel happy and jumping makes them excited. They understand their passions in an elementary way. And these are what Jesse and I hope to play off of as we teach them about the Way, the Truth and the Life in these early years. We want to present God and Christ's love in warm and comforting ways. Over snuggling during bible stories and kisses at bedtime just like we teach morality often through discipline because it is very important to know that hitting your sister is not a good thing to do and isn't loving. A child's feelings are a very useful tool in instilling truths into the heart at a time when the intellect can't completely grasp them.
Anyhow, I've rambled way too long on this comment. Sorry!
Post a Comment