Did you know you were born a mystic? And I was too. A simple definition of a mystic is one who has direct experience of God and believes there is something deeper to this journey than what meets the eye.

As we approach All Saints Day, I am reminded that this week is a significant one in the history of our country. We face a challenging election full of tension and anxiety. 

“Deep and wide, deep and wide, there’s a fountain flowing deep and wide”…do you know this children’s song? I’m writing these words from the beach, staring out across the shimmering Gulf of Mexico. Some dolphins playfully surface for a moment, reminding me of the fun we’ve had this week engaging all of our senses as we experience the beach anew with our granddaughter. 

Often the children in our lives invite us to play. I wonder how and what you play? Pause a moment and remember the last time you truly played.

It was thirty-six years ago this week that my husband Lee and I had our first date. We met a few weeks earlier at a Labor Day picnic hosted by the president of the university we were attending in Alabama. We were both invited because all of the guests had some connection to Georgetown College in KY. As it turns out…

It was Fall of 1974. I was in first grade. My family decided to say “yes” to a move from Finchville, KY to Wilton, Connecticut. It was there I would spend the rest of my childhood.

Years ago I was participating in a workshop to prepare to teach children in church. The trainer challenged us with this assignment: Describe one of your earliest memories of God. I grew up in the home of a pastor and had worked in many churches and ministry settings, and yet this question required some careful reflection on my part. I can’t say that my earliest memory of God occurred in church. In fact, I think my earliest experience of God was...

We may not like to think of ourselves as children. After all, if someone were to call me child-ish, I might assume they were saying I was selfish, immature, demanding. But being child-like, as Jesus suggests is different. If I am child-like I am open to awe, wonder, mystery, and I am teachable.

Welcome back to a new school year and a new series of “Wonderings”.  One of my hopes for my time as Theologian in Residence for Children and Families is to lift up the children among us as our teachers. It is my prayer that Good Shepherd will be a church where children learn from adults AND adults learn from children.

One Sunday a few years ago I was seated on the floor in a circle of children telling them what we call in our Godly Play room, “The Parable of the Good Shepherd.” It is a beloved story of the Good Shepherd who knows each of his sheep by name and they know his voice. He leads them from the sheepfold to the green grass, cool fresh waters and even goes before them through the hard and dangerous places to show them the way.

The second “I” in our SPIRIT acronym* about factors that can nurture the spiritual lives of children is intimacy. In this context, intimacy means primarily, safety to be our truest selves and to share our deepest insights and experiences.

From first grade through high school graduation I lived in the NYC suburbs about 1,000 miles away from any extended family. My cousins and I were spread out all over the eastern part of the U.S. and growing up in different cultures and communities.

Lately I’ve been unpacking the acronym, SPIRIT to invite us to explore aspects of our environment that can nurture children’s spiritual lives. For example,‘S’ is about space. What does the physical space teach children about who they are, who God is and how we value them in our community of faith?

I grew up in the home of a piano teacher. Every day after school my mother taught lessons in our living room. Music was a beautiful part of my home and church life for as long as I can remember, yet something changed about my experience of piano music when I began to take lessons from my mother.

This week I invite you to look closer at Rebecca Nye’s SPIRIT acronym which helps us examine closely the environment we create for children that cultivates or detracts from their spiritual lives. We begin with ‘S’ for Space.

One Sunday in December I sat on the floor in a circle with children in our Godly Play room during chapel. The children had entered the room energetic and brimming with excitement about Christmas in a few days. But as they settled into the space, they readied themselves to hear the Advent story.

It has been a delight to serve as Theologian in Residence for Children and their Families the past few months. Whether nor not we have children living in our household, as part of the family of faith called Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd, we all interact with children. They belong to us and we to them. Indeed we are all the Children of God, held together in God’s loving hands.