The Mosaic

Fallen and Redeemed

- Last week, I was interviewed for a Sojourners story about what children get out of going to church. During the interview, I shared a story about when I caught my children playing “church” in the backyard.

The year was 2019. My four-year-old son was playing the role of pastor and told his two-year-old sister (the congregant) to repeat after him. With his arms outstretched he said, “We have not loved you with our whole hearts, we have failed to be an obedient church. Forgive us.” This is part of the weekly call to confession they grew up hearing in the United Methodist Church.

My daughter repeated the words best she could, and then they began singing a few church hymns. A few days later, I recounted the moment to a colleague of mine who said, “Wow! Isn’t it amazing that your children are learning early on that the church can make mistakes and that it needs to ask for forgiveness?”

What I observed as cute play was so much more. The fact that my children can recite this liturgy by heart means that they know deep within themselves that the church is not a perfect institution. And I’ll tell you, that will save them from some major heartbreak in the future.

So, as I said to the Sojourners reporter, if you have young children, take them to church. They soak up more than we realize. And two, let’s commit to teaching our children that the church is an imperfect institution. It’s prone to mistakes, and it often doesn’t get things right. But, as St. Augustine said, the church is both, ever and always, fallen and redeemed. Translation: the church is broken, but God fills in the cracks.

All my love,
Pastor Victoria