Parent (the responsible one): ‘I was just going to ask you something Sinead …’.
Sinead: ‘Well ask God. He knows everything, even if he is a boy! … Well actually, we don’t know if he is a boy!’
Some six-year old theology
29 Tuesday Jan 2013
Posted in Children, Omniscience
excellent! And so wise :)
but have we checked recently?…;-)
Just the thing to keep the responsible parent on his toes!
Alistair, I think that you meant to say on ‘her’ toes, right? For the said parent is not yours truly.
An irresponsible parent working in a responsible Presbyterian position – what is the world coming too? I apologise to the responsible one for making unwarranted assumptions!
Alistair, the Book of Order, by which I live and move and have my being, tells me that I only need to be responsible for the following:
- to study the Scriptures
- to expound the Scriptures
- to preach and teach the Word and administer the sacraments
- to lead a life consistent with my profession of the Christian faith
- to, as far as I am able, join in the worship, life, and mission of the congregation
- to, as far as I am able, contribute to supporting the worship, life, and mission of the congregation
- to accept the spiritual oversight of the Church
- to accept the discipline of the Church
- to guard the Gospel and, along with the elders, concern myself with the spiritual rule and pastoral oversight of congregation
- to participate in leadership in mission and the government of the Church through its courts
- to carry ultimate responsibility for the conduct of worship and sacraments
- the content and form of worship despite the functions of the church council
- nurturing and practising my own spiritual life and for undertaking ministry development in accordance with supplementary provisions
- to the presbytery in relation to the performance of any power or the exercise of any function. [Read in isolation, this one is very weird!]
- et al.
So, nothing there about responsible parenting. In fact, parenting doesn’t even rate a mention in the BOO.
BTW, while I’m thinking about the BOO, did you know that it uses the word ‘love’ once, ‘Holy Spirit’ and ‘law’ 7 times, ‘Holy Communion’ 12 times, ‘Jesus’ 13 times, ‘God’ 38 times, and the word ‘power’ 55 times? For the record, the word ‘grace’ does not appear at all!
No room for grace in the BOO – how ungracious! No wonder our debates get overinfused with “power.” I feel the need for an amendment coming on.
Meanwhile with all that responsibility – I’m sure you can slip in a bit of responsible parenting full of grace in there somehow! And you’ll enjoy it, and so will young Sinead. :))