August 2005

    When my cousin was little, he believed that if you ate sliced cucumbers without putting pepper on them, you would die. That’s what his father once told him. My cousin had asked his father why he peppered cucumbers and his father answered, “Because if you don’t, they’ll poison you. Always pepper cucumbers, son.” His dad was kidding of course. He was like that — he was always saying foolish things with the most serious tone. But my cousin believed him and when he visited us one summer, he screamed in horror as my mother was about to eat unpeppered cucumbers. We all laughed when he told us why. But it didn’t matter to him. My cousin continued to believe what his father had told him. As a matter of fact, he was well into adulthood before he dared to eat sliced cucumbers without pepper.
    Childhood beliefs are powerful things. We often carry them with us into adulthood and they continue to shape how we live and see things. This is especially true when it come to religious beliefs. Our childhood images of God and our understanding of the Christian life stay with us and continue to influence our thoughts and feelings and actions.
    Unfortunately we’re not always given good images or a healthy understanding. Many children go into adulthood with what could be called “Maude Theology.” Maude was a character on TV many years ago who, when her husband Walter said or did something she didn’t like, would say, “God will get you for that, Walter!” And often we see God as a God who’s out to get us. So we live as cautiously and carefully as we can, even become afraid to live, afraid of joy, afraid of life itself. We hold ourselves in safe deposit for fear we’ll do something that will result in God getting us. The tragedy is, in trying to avoid God getting us, we also avoid living in the very way Christ calls us to — with the faith and courage to risk ourselves in love for the other.
    Much of the guilt and fear we feel as adults also goes back to childhood images and understandings of God. And here, too, there can be a paralyzing effect. Instead of leading us to be the people God calls us to be, our faith can freeze us in place — afraid to be ourselves, afraid to think new thoughts, afraid to use our minds or follow our hearts.
    Now if you’re wondering where I’m going with all of this, I guess it’s a commercial for our educational ministries for both children and adults. On Sunday, August 21st, we begin a new Sunday School year and resume other educational programs. The importance of such programs cannot be overstated.
    For children, such program offer the opportunity to be given healthy images of a loving God who calls us to love others and an understanding of the Christian life as a life not based on fear and guilt but thankfulness and joy. Moreover, they offer the opportunity to combat the hostility and prejudice that is in the air all around us in our culture and create the hope of a different kind of society.
    For adults, Sunday School and Bible study give the opportunity to see God in a new way, expand our images and understandings, come to know the true Christ of the Gospels and be set free to live fully and serve joyously. And educational ministries help adults as well to see people differently and overcome attitudes and beliefs carried a long time.
    Take it from my cousin — it’s a wonderful feeling to be set free from some of the beliefs and fears of childhood. It’s a wonderful feeling to be able to live and love fully as Christ calls us to. My cousin knows. You see, he never did like pepper on sliced cucumbers!
 

God be with you,

Jeff

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