“Why Do You Say God Is Great?”

A glorious cycle ride today down to St Mary’s. The weather is wonderful, the birds are singing, the daffodils on the grassy bank outside the school are in full, golden bloom and the churchyard is carpeted with primroses, yellow, cream, pink and pale mauve.

Gill and Margaret, the Readers, were both there and we sat on the bench outside in the churchyard enjoying the sunshine and listening to the cockerel and the woodpecker, who were vying with each to be the loudest. Still no lambs among the sheep, but it can’t be long now.

After prayers, Gill was telling me about Treasure Seekers, the Christian club she runs in the primary school at lunchtimes. She doesn’t actually do anything. Just provides materials – colouring books, things to make – and children drift in or out as they wish. At the moment she’s so inundated with children that she’s had to say, “No more, until there’s some space!” I think the children like the freedom to do what they want and they also like to chat to her.

A small girl, seven years old, said to her,

“Why do you say God is great?”

“Er, well, that’s what the word ‘God’ means. God is greater than anything else you can think of.”

“I don’t think God is great.”

“Oh! What do you think is the greatest thing in the world, then?”

And without the blink of an eyelid, this little child said, “Money.”

I was quite shocked. So Gill told me of another occasion. She suggested to the children that they might like to draw a picture of Heaven. A small boy drew a picture of a room with bars on the windows and a face looking out.

Gill, ever the diplomat, said, “What would you like me to write underneath your picture?”

And the boy said, “Write: Heaven is a prison where good people go.”

Makes you think, doesn’t it? It’s so sad that children are growing up with such wildly erroneous ideas. I have no idea what the solution is, for how can we ever do more than drop a few tiny drips into a very large and seemingly overwhelming ocean?

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