This statement came straight out of the mouth of an eleven year old boy, as he, with his brothers on either side of him, joined North Club for the first time this week. The other twelve kids were shocked into silence. So was I, if I'm honest. What a raw moment. "Well," I looked around at the group, "why do we believe in God?" The group sat and thought, and then a few tentative hands sneaked up.
"Because how would every thing have been created?" asked one girl, looking at the three boys. "Have you thought about how the world, how what we see today, came to exist?" I asked. The three shook their heads. No, they hadn't. "Well, we believe that God created the world. Though I'm sure you are going to hear in school that we came from a big bang..." And the conversation went on for a while.
Another hand. "Because no one could have invented all the things that are part of Christianity," another girl said. We all had a bit of a chuckle. "That's true." We made a little list: God who became a man. Died on a cross. But rose again.
[Insert mini-interaction. One five year old raises her hand and asks how Jesus was God. Another little boy, six years old, turns to her and says "because Jesus is the Son of God, and that makes Him God too." Priceless.]
"Well," I began, "I believe in God because we are surrounded by suffering, pain, and the brokenness in this world. Everywhere. But I also see good, I see love, I see happiness. And that doesn't come from us. That couldn't come from us. That goodness, that comes from God..." And so I moved into the story of the day.
They are their own theologians.
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