When the Homily is about Immunology

I want to be dirty


The other day I found my 18-month-old son Nicholas standing before our family altar with arms upraised and singing. He was gazing at the Icon (Icons are often understood as being “windows into heaven” ) of his Lord and bellowing a wordless melody which I recognized as the Trisagion prayers. I joined him and after we finished, I brought the Icon down to him and he instinctively grasped it and pressed it to his lips.

Some might say he was merely mimicking, but I’ve never been one to trust the opinion of “some.” Jesus rebuked His disciples for trying to send children away from Him and He would further tell them that if they even hoped to enter the Kingdom that they would have to become like little children! (St. Matthew 18:3)

And yet we hustle our children out of our churches and into “kid’s church” while Jesus commands us to be like the KIDS! So what are we doing in adult church?

I hear people saying: “we need to strip away the bells and whistles of church, they aren’t needed….we have to get to the root of community and dump the excess baggage!” But kids absolutely LOVE the ‘bells and whistles.’ They attach themselves naturally to forms of prayer and worship that connects intimately with their senses.

The Reformation stripped and sterilized the church. But in my experience, kids love dirt.