Wanted: An answer to Clara's question

Recently I was reading to Clara, my three-and-a-half-year-old granddaughter. The book was a colorful little title from our Quaker meetinghouse’s nursery room. Clara was sitting on my lap engrossed.

I was unfamiliar with book about a mean and greedy king, and the more I got into its story the more I realized I was stepping into a theological thicket.

As the story came to its happy conclusion, the once selfish king became “kind and good.” The book has him becoming a “Christian.”

Where upon Clara turned to me and posed the obvious question: “What’s a Christian?"

I was literally struck dumb. I turned to a friend who was with me and suggested that she answer the question.

She too passed on answering.

And so the question was left hanging for us, for Clara and I hope, dear reader, for you.

A few days later, I shared this experience with my Bible Study class, an eclectic, unpredictable and collegial group. Most, but not all, consider themselves Christians.

One member, who happens to be a retired pastor, said I should have advised Clara, “You’ll know a Christian when you see one.”

I responded that with Clara that would simply invite more questions such as “What do I look for?”

Again, I would feel unqualified to answer.

What if she sees “Christian evidence” but the person turns out to be Jew or a Buddhist or a Muslim or, (heaven forbid!) an atheist or a secular humanist…

What if the person is deeply, profoundly NOT a Christian? Or perhaps only a “part-Christian.”

Oh, and by the way, what’s a Jew, Buddhist, Muslim, atheist and secular humanist?

And so forth….

Believe me, these questions are not beyond Clara’s asking.

There’s another question: Can you identify Christians by simply asking them if they are Christians?

If they say “Yes” can you be sure? Are they? If so, why? What if they do “un-Christian things”?

Which takes us back to square one: What is a Christian?

Your turn….

A Story before Sleep

Here’s some all-purpose advice from Mabel, a 3-year-old friend who lives near Bristol, England. The story is conveyed by her grandfather, Richard, a friend of much, much longer standing.

Mabel is being visited by another small girl for an overnight. Mabel’s parents are socializing with the girl’s parents while the two children are sent off to the bedroom.

Richard reports that Mabel’s mom, Ruth, checks up occasionally on the two “to find that they have transformed the bedroom into a dance hall, then a pirate ship. At last, the kids snuggle themselves down and Mabel reads a goodnight story to her companion.”

When Ruth peeks in again, it seems that Mabel hasn’t realized that a goodnight story is just that — an end-of-the-day, drop-off-to-sleep event. “Every time the friend nods off Mabel shouts, ‘Wake up! We aren't at the end of the story!’”

Richard shared the story with me yesterday and throughout the day the line kept coming back like a refrain as I encountered life’s little challenges and opportunities.

“Wake up!” I’d say to myself. “We aren’t at the end of the story!”

Good advice. I will use it today and until I exhaust my tomorrows.

“Wake up! We aren’t at the end of the story....”