The Bulletin

Every few months or so I will try it again: a google or amazon or library search for a book (new or just new to me) that brings together the day to day of parenting and the life long journey of following Christ. It seems the term "Christian" sends the search engines to books on how to calm anger (which I could definitely use); why it is good to sing God's praises in the midst of chaos (oh yes, could use more of that, too); steps to being a "better" wife (whatever that means, I could probably stand a touch-up there, too); and ways to make your authority understood by your children (isn't there just an injection for that?). Using "spiritual" as the limiting key word before "parenting" yields broader topics: raising spiritual champions; books on winning the spiritual battle for women, parents (au pairs?); and books on putting the humane back in humanity. To be sure, a thoughtful group of parents can get discussion going from just about any of these, but few have truly encouraged me to parent any differently.

A welcomed exception is The Quotidian Mysteries: Liturgy, Laundry and Women's "Work" by Kathleen Norris. It is a tiny paperback that is mostly a talk she gave at a conference and took just days to read (about the attention span for me). She didn't tell me how or even why, but somehow made me see the reality of our daily lives for the holy territory that it is. The daily tasks of our life are...our life. We wouldn't be anything if it weren't for them. I have long lost the sense that there is a destination to strive towards and rather to enjoy the journey, but I get caught up in the pull towards getting it over with. There is always this afternoon, tonight, next week, next year to think about. And the more independent my children become, the more space my mind has to be taken up by these Screwtape letters tendencies. Norris' book helped bring me back to earth, where God is and where God sent us to be, at least for now.

Today as I was taking the boys to swimming lessons and listening to Justin Roberts (hey hippopotamus! Could you do that dance, could you do it for us now?) I of course began thinking about the Apostle's Creed. What if I threw my two cents into the Christian parenting search engine? The boys and I have been reading the Apostle's Creed at breakfast, bits at a time, and finding Bible stories that bring it to life. We did a collage of colored paper one day after reading the creation story -- the boys picked out colors that reminded them of each creative act and glued them together. My favorite is the Penguin Dietrich made who spends time on both sea and land, making it the perfect creature for day 4. I'm not sure what I would say, or how I would get past the first few lines of the creed (that is as far as we are), but if I'm hungry for books that are rooted in Christian worship tradition, maybe someone else is, too? The chapters could simply follow a traditional order of worship. The subheading: what's in the bulletin?