Advent and Our Inner Child

My retreat weekend was a welcome change of pace after a hectic season. Going to camp brought back lots of memories. I tromped through mud and puddles in the grass left by heavy rain, my boots almost sucked off my feet. I re-visited old haunts, hiked, chose a few rocks along the beach that spoke to me, walked an outdoor labyrinth and painted on wood and did a ‘mood board’ collage.

Splashing through puddles, walking a challenging trail that wound up and down and around, and cutting and pasting were all tactile and earthy experiences. They were things I hadn’t done in a long time. They allowed me to reconnect with creation and my inner artist. They grounded me and replenished my soul as much as the great food we were offered.

We were encouraged to come to God as a child Friday evening and to recover our sense of wonder. We read picture books that spoke of God’s relationship to us. Saturday I challenged myself to try archery and worked with the other women to do the whale watch low ropes element, carefully balancing a wooden platform in the shape of a plus sign, grounded only in the centre, by spreading ourselves out to just the right spots. All of us reclaimed the child within us in some way, even as we shared the struggles and stories of the last nearly two years, our common concerns through the pandemic and our hopes moving forward.

Yesterday I took in recorded presentations from the Symposium on Children’s Spirituality hosted by Virginia Theological Seminary. The topics ranged from biblical storytelling with integrity to spirituality in education to race and children’s theology to children’s moral development to children and gender. One particular session focused on the example of John Baptist de La Salle, the patron saint of teachers, whose philosophy around education was to see children as agents of God, already able to teach us and deserving of dignity at any age. The presenter quoted Jesus’ words about our need to become like children to enter the kingdom of heaven.

After my experience on the weekend it felt as though I came full circle. Becoming child-like, but not childish, allows us to enter a liminal space, a space where we feel closer to the joy and heart of God. It reminds us that God, our loving Parent, is in control and we are free to live and play in ways that honour God’s purposes for us and each other and all of creation. As the presenter on La Salle shared, Epiphany is a great example of honouring a child, the Christ child in this case. The magi travel to unknown territory for up to two years just to see a baby, an infant, who they trust carries the promise of God. They bow down before Him and offer gifts.

This Sunday Advent begins, the time of waiting and preparation for Christ to again come to us as a helpless infant and to anticipate His return and the fulfillment of the kingdom of heaven. We wait with excitement for a baby, a child of promise, the incarnation of God among us.

As we wait for this precious child, may we open ourselves to wonder and to preparing room for God with us. The choice to come as a child is significant, both in how God manifests among us and how we respond. May we be ready with child-like wonder.