Cross Purposes
I was in a Christian bookstore with my 7-year-old daughter recently when she picked up a cross with the American flag emblazoned across it, literally covering every inch of its surface. She stared at it for a moment, turned it over in her small, innocent hands and then looked up at me with a puzzled look on her face.
"What does Jesus' cross have to do with the American flag?" she asked me.
Indeed.
She's extremely bright, my daughter. So, after we got home I asked her to explain what she had meant in the bookstore.
"Well," she began, "Jesus died for everyone, right?"
"Right," I answered.
"Not just Americans?"
I could see where she was going with this, and I could see she had a point.
"No, not just Americans."
She looked at her feet, thought for a second and then looked up.
"Are there crosses with other people's flags on them?"
I doubted it, but told her I wasn't sure.
"What does it mean, anyway," she asked, "the flag on the cross?"
I explained to her that a popular saying was "God bless America," and that the cross probably represented that saying.
But she didn't miss a beat.
"God bless America?" she asked. "What about God bless the world? What about God bless Africa? They need it more than we do. What about God bless Iraq?"
What do you say to that? She has heard the Bible stories repeatedly, including the Sermon on the Mount and the Beatitudes. As much as we adults try to twist scripture to accommodate our selfishness, the faith of a child is rock solid and well-informed.
A few days later, we were sitting at the dinner table preparing to eat dinner. It's become a custom at our house to say a standard pre-meal blessing, followed by "and keep Uncle Brian safe in the war." "Uncle Brian" is my older brother, a 44-year-old husband and father of two serving our country in Northern Iraq.
But this night was different. My daughter, no doubt still pondering the issue of God's blessing on individual sovereign states, followed the Uncle Brian line with "and keep the soldiers in Iraq safe, 'cause they're your children, too."
I don't cry easily, but my wife and I looked at each other with tears in our eyes, humbled by the faith of a child who comprehends the meaning of God's love better than scores of world leaders.
We gazed at her as she opened her eyes and looked at us, slightly embarrassed.
"What?" she asked, "We're supposed to pray for our enemies."
Now, some of you will immediately counter my shameless parental fawning with cynicism, claiming that my 7-year-old daughter doesn't know how the world works yet.
But, given that Jesus told us that we must have the faith of a child, I wonder if maybe knowing how the world works is not such a good thing. I wonder if maybe we'd be better off paying closer attention to the commandment Jesus added: to love others as ourselves.
My daughter doesn't think we do that very well. And I'm afraid she's right.
"What does Jesus' cross have to do with the American flag?" she asked me.
Indeed.
She's extremely bright, my daughter. So, after we got home I asked her to explain what she had meant in the bookstore.
"Well," she began, "Jesus died for everyone, right?"
"Right," I answered.
"Not just Americans?"
I could see where she was going with this, and I could see she had a point.
"No, not just Americans."
She looked at her feet, thought for a second and then looked up.
"Are there crosses with other people's flags on them?"
I doubted it, but told her I wasn't sure.
"What does it mean, anyway," she asked, "the flag on the cross?"
I explained to her that a popular saying was "God bless America," and that the cross probably represented that saying.
But she didn't miss a beat.
"God bless America?" she asked. "What about God bless the world? What about God bless Africa? They need it more than we do. What about God bless Iraq?"
What do you say to that? She has heard the Bible stories repeatedly, including the Sermon on the Mount and the Beatitudes. As much as we adults try to twist scripture to accommodate our selfishness, the faith of a child is rock solid and well-informed.
A few days later, we were sitting at the dinner table preparing to eat dinner. It's become a custom at our house to say a standard pre-meal blessing, followed by "and keep Uncle Brian safe in the war." "Uncle Brian" is my older brother, a 44-year-old husband and father of two serving our country in Northern Iraq.
But this night was different. My daughter, no doubt still pondering the issue of God's blessing on individual sovereign states, followed the Uncle Brian line with "and keep the soldiers in Iraq safe, 'cause they're your children, too."
I don't cry easily, but my wife and I looked at each other with tears in our eyes, humbled by the faith of a child who comprehends the meaning of God's love better than scores of world leaders.
We gazed at her as she opened her eyes and looked at us, slightly embarrassed.
"What?" she asked, "We're supposed to pray for our enemies."
Now, some of you will immediately counter my shameless parental fawning with cynicism, claiming that my 7-year-old daughter doesn't know how the world works yet.
But, given that Jesus told us that we must have the faith of a child, I wonder if maybe knowing how the world works is not such a good thing. I wonder if maybe we'd be better off paying closer attention to the commandment Jesus added: to love others as ourselves.
My daughter doesn't think we do that very well. And I'm afraid she's right.
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