If I’m honest, some of my most memorable moments of spiritual intimacy have taken place way outside of the Christian bubble. I find God in the community of people I watch football with every week. I experience feelings of transcendence when I see my favourite bands play my favourite songs. Long evenings chatting about life, the universe and everything in between over a glass of wine have led to some of my most profound spiritual discoveries.
The truth is that we all find God in different places and in different ways. As we get older we find the language to realise that those moments outside of the church which felt so special, but in a way we couldn’t quite describe, were in fact encounters with the almighty: truly God was in these places and we didn’t even know it.
And as true as that is for those of us who are able to articulate these surprising ‘Godmoments,’ it’s also true for children. As Rebecca Nye explains in her excellent ‘Hide and seek’ article, children experience and articulate God in ways that we, as adults, often dismiss. When we see children playing with toys – what stories might they be acting out? What ideas might they be grappling with? The depth with which children ‘play’ at the end of a Godly Play session isn’t constrained to the time immediately after a reflective story, but is innate and real at all times.
Our job as those seeking to help children develop in their faith is to be on the lookout for the moments when children encounter the spiritual, when they’re talking about what’s really going on. Their conversation about their ill rabbit or their friends at school – is there spiritual depth behind that? As Rob Bell said, ‘This is often about that’.
It’s not only about keeping an eye out for these moments, we have a duty to give children the language to talk about their spiritual experiences, and to point out where they might be meeting with God, even when they didn’t know it. Part of that will mean modelling a more holistic view of spirituality ourselves – when children ask questions about the way we encounter God, do we limit our answers to safe, church-based stories or are we willing to talk about the times we laughed until it hurt with friends, the times we cried with those hurting or were lost in absolute rapture when the beat of our favourite song kicked in?
The formative moments and stories I heard growing up where the ones where God showed up unexpectedly in the lives of those around me. If we want to raise children who can connect with God in all manner of ways, we need to live lives that not only do that, but shout about those glorious, surprising moments of spiritual intimacy at every opportunity.
