talk is cheap

I heard the most ridiculous clip from Fox news. They were commenting on how many times God appears in the Democratic platform. Which was zero.

Um, separation of church and state, motherfuckers? Fuck me, it's like conservative Christians go out of their way to make people hate them.

It made me think of my kid, actually. My son went to his, well, for lack of a better word, Sunday School at church. Things have switched up. It used to be middle school through high school. He was all propped cuz he was with the big kids. Now it's just middle school kids. So there weren't very many. When I asked him how it was, he said, "It's really...religious."

Then he grinned and said, "I know. It's church. But does it have to be ALL religious? It's all we talked about. It was so boring!"

Yes. It sounds to me as if they're working off some curriculum. And that's too damn bad cuz an 8th grader will see through it right away.

That my kid has declared himself an atheist AND highly values his sleep contributes to his attitude. But I knew what he meant. It's the difference between showing and telling in a story. Too much telling, needs more showing. Sunday school obviously needs a critique.

A couple of years ago my son was having a rough time at school. There were only a few kids one day at Breakfast Club (that's what it used to be called--great concept) so the leader walked them downtown (we go to a downtown Boulder church) and got some beignets. They sat outside on some benches, watched a fountain, ate their breakfast together, and chatted about nothing, about stuff, about their lives. It came up that my kid was having a rough time at school. And he told me later, "Mom, they prayed for me right there on the benches. It was really cool."

Faith is in action, not talking. Middle school kids need love and belonging more than anything else. They sure don't need a lot of talk. At best they'll be bored; at worst they'll be annoyed.  Truly, if they get up, pull on jeans and a hat, and go eat donuts and play pool for an hour, getting a relaxed place to talk, or maybe not, maybe they can just dial it in, and then slip into church for communion, our work there is done. 

I know a bunch of Christians who need to learn this. (coughfoxnewscough)
Apparently some of them are at my church.

Now. Do I email the guy and tell him this?

4 comments:

Cindi Myers said...

Another awesome post, Bets. I particularly like the show, not tell reference.

Anonymous said...

Well written. --Kenn Amdahl

carolwriter said...

Absolutely right on the mark, Bets. By their deeds...

ssas said...

Yeah, Carol. I really felt that strongly. I'm really hoping it improves. I for one would love to hang out with middle schoolers and play pool and chat about nothing. 8th graders are the best!