8 year olds are so wise

yeah, so i'm teaching Sunday School at our little Virginia church this month. i have the younger class which, the best i can figure, ranges from about age 3 (just one of those) to about age 9 (several of those). yesterday was my first day with them. i was new...i was no one's mom...i was interesting without having to say a word. i know that will only last one day, but i appreciated it while it lasted. and we had a good day.

yesterday was World Communion Sunday, so we talked about that and about what communion is and how common it is for people (all over the world) to eat some kind of bread every day...as a staple for their diet. (this gets to be an important fact when you tie it in with Jesus saying every time you eat bread, remember me...that means every time we eat...every day! that's important.)

but, the best part of the whole lesson, for me at least, was when we were talking about how Jesus is God.

me: so, do y'all know that Jesus is God? God became a human...just like us. Jesus is fully human and fully God.

them: a mixture of blank and thoughtful stares...

me: isn't that wild to think about? most people, even adults, even people who are paid to think about this all the time, even pastors can't really wrap their minds around that...but it's true. cool, huh?

C (an 8 or 9 year old girl): i knew God and Jesus were the same thing.

J (a 7 year old boy): yeah...but i thought Jesus was God's daddy...or is it the other way around.

me: yeah, we think about God as the parent and Jesus as the son...that's a way for us to get our minds around all of this...and they are also both God.

S (a very engaged 8 year old who has been thinking about this for a while): we are mammals. (and looks at me questioningly)

me: yes...(thinking through this as i speak)...and Jesus was human like us...so Jesus was a mammal, too...and God...all at the same time. crazy, huh?

J (the same 7 year old boy): gorillas are mammals.

me: yes, they are. God made a very good and cool creation.


so, i'm sure you're thinking "wow, that was one Sunday School lesson gone awry." but, that's not how i see it. one, i think that none of us really understand these big theological things, so it's important to talk about them in low key language with anyone who wants to listen, of any age, not dwell on them too much, and just keep talking about them over time. eventually, we all, at any age, realize our thoughts, prayers, belief, and selves are being shaped or reshaped by having this big stuff bouncing around in our brain...pondering the possibilities...pondering the bigness and just amazingness of who God is.

and, this wise 8 year old, and his 7 year old sidekick, have now added to my bigness ponderings. i've never thought of the Incarnation in terms of scientific classification before. if God chose to become human, to be like us, then Jesus Christ was a mammal just like us...and the apes. now, i'm not getting into the whole evolution debate...i'm just sayin'...maybe Jesus is closer to the apes than i've ever thought about before...

that's something to ponder...