The Channing Connection:
Children's Religious Education
February 2008
Greetings from the Director of Religious Education
Hello!
I’m writing to you from my favorite chair in the living room. My roommate and I recently added a row of mirrors, making this a dance studio. It’s a funny thing to be working hard and then look up to see my own face. Or could that be my mother’s face?
When I first began to take steps away from the Catholicism of my youth, I was really drawn to traditions emphasizing the feminine face of God. My mother could not understand what she had done “wrong” when she’d taught me my catechism. In retrospect, I was only able to move toward a Goddess concept because of what Mom did “right.” She had given me all the rules, but the experience of her love made a deeper impression.
I had memorized Catholic doctrine and heard about God the Father, but with my mother I actually felt the love. When Dad was out for military maneuvers, often for months at a time, my mother tried to provide everything for us in the way of comfort. Mom had wanted children for so long before I was born that we were her life. And because she had been an elementary schoolteacher, mothering meant fun educational games, music lessons, and lots of encouragement. Finally, as we were falling asleep, we’d hear her playing the piano. To this day, I cannot hear those songs without feeling peaceful and happy. The same is true for my brother and sisters. That beautiful music, as well as the light scent of her cologne, means “Mom.”
It’s no wonder that the concept of a Mother Goddess seemed perfectly natural to me. I remember reading the work of feminist theologians in seminary and being so excited that I couldn’t sit still! I had to walk around while reading it, exclaiming to myself. (This was pointed out to me by a somewhat annoyed roommate.)
I loved the idea that our first experiences of divine love happen in our mothers’ arms. Attached to the breast, we were not separate beings from our mothers – just as we were wrapped up in God before we were born. To help people, to bring them back to their roots, I felt that you had to help them remember the experience of being held as a small child. In essence, being a parent meant being perfect because your children would form their ideas about God based on your behavior.
As I approach parenthood, however, I realize how much pressure that notion can create! How can any of us be perfect in our interactions with our children? Aren’t there times when we are tired, cranky, or impatient? Do our bad moods actually affect our children’s relationship with the divine, messing them up permanently?
I don’t think so. Actually, watching how you handle your bad moods teaches them more about how to be adults in the real world than if you had the disposition of Mary Poppins! Even if our children arrive at a God concept via their experiences of us, those are not the only experiences they will have. Their ideas about the divine will continue to evolve.
This is where liberal religious education comes in. On Sunday, your children are exposed to secular humanism and various God concepts. They are encouraged to find an answer that works for them. Last week, our third- through fifth-graders examined the story of Moses and the crossing of the Red Sea. Overall, the children reflected our UU diversity. Armed with scientific theories, some of them decided that the plagues were simply the result of a natural event, not divine intervention. Others thought that there was a God, but that a loving God wouldn’t cause such devastation. Some decided that God, being just, caused the plagues as a way of helping the Hebrew people escape slavery. Others decided that the victors had written the story and that because of that, it was more exciting than what actually happened. And some thought that they would never know what really happened, but they recognized that the story showed what was important to people of that time.
As liberal religious educators, this is exactly the kind of discussion we hope to foster. Thank you for letting us care for your children on Sundays. Thank you also for continuing to provide those good role models. Whether or not you believe that your children build their God concept based on their experiences of you, one thing is clear: they have learned the value of thinking for themselves and respecting the ideas of others by watching you.
With care,
Christy Guenther, Director of Religious Education