Not for the first time (and definitely not for the last time) I'm thinking about religion now that I have this little boy who's a blank slate of faith, completely ignorant of the concepts of god, the Bible, different (opposing) organized religions, heaven/hell, etc... Not this year, and maybe not even next year, but at some point he'll be aware of Christmas and the tree and the decorations and (most important for a kid) the presents. And then I have to figure out what to tell him about Christmas. That it's a time to be with family. That it's when we give (and receive) gifts from our friends and family. That it's a commemoration of the birth of this guy named Jesus who some people think is God, the Creator of All. That last one will likely warrant further explanation for him. I guess it's just once again brought this religion question to the forefront and made me wonder what I'm doing about the whole "god thing". Because while I think I can safely say that Jack will not be raised Catholic like his mom, I don't know that I'm ready to toss all religion out the door. I don't know that I'm truly an atheist, or even an agnostic. I think that's the problem. I still don't know what I believe, and realizing that I need to try and figure it out so I can explain it to this little guy has really made me ponder. I don't really feel like shopping for a new religion (this week: Presbyterianism!!) but I do feel like I need to get my story straight so I can at least present a consistent explanation. Luckily, I've got some time before I'm debating religion with Jack...
Sorry for getting all deep and real. I'm sure this will not be the last blog post on this matter, but enough for now. I'll leave you, as always, with photos of Jack.
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| Wearing a fabulous puffy coat and owl hat from Aunt Nora. Sadly, I could NOT get him to smile for the camera. |
OMG, that Santa photo is the best ever. SOOOO cute! Jack is such a little smiler! Adorable.
ReplyDeleteand I totally hear you on the religion thing. I'm not so into it myself, but do feel like a kid should have a grounding in something. Lucky for me (?) that will all be handled by Ahmed...with a healthy dose of skepticism from me! Have you looked into Unitarianism? It also sounded sort of interesting. and Quakers are pretty cool too, at least those I know!
As always, adorable photos of Jack. While I don't have a kid, I definitely ponder the religion thing all of the time too, especially now that Christmas is here and I'm attempting to drag Mohamed into the celebration. When he asks what it is I'm like "Well, some people are celebrating the birth of "Essa" on this day...." As for me, I have no idea, I just love the decorations, the food, the gifts, the family. Looking forward to you solving the riddle for me ;-)
ReplyDeleteReligion, shmaligion, the important thing is how AWESOME that photo of Jack n Santa is. It's like an ad for Santa baby pictures.
ReplyDeleteI can't believe that you got a SANTA PHOTO ALREADY! So jealous!
ReplyDeleteThat Santa photo is perfect. Love it.
ReplyDeleteHaving Lucy actually spurred Robb and I to start going to church, because what's she going to rebel against and question later if we don't shove organized religion down her throat now? :) Actually, I think it was good for me to have some kind of organized place where the main message was generally, "be nice to other people, etc." told through stories. And having not attended in like 15 yrs, I find I'm enjoying the 45 min a week to just sit somewhere and reflect on big stuff. Of course, since the Catholic church is (in my personal view) kind of anti-women and anti-gay people, it wasn't a good place for us anymore. Luckily, we've got a cool, tiny, 250-yr-old Episcopal church a block from our house. Episcopals have the same rituals and songs as Catholics, but women and married people and gay people can be ordained. And ours is super socially-conscious - a lot of good works in the community, and that vibe just comes through the sermons and stuff. I don't really know how I'll personally communicate w/ Lucy about this stuff when she asks - it would be so weird to act serious and literal about it all, given my lack of truly specific Christian faith - but I actually like the ritual and structure of being a part of this community and the chance to sit quietly in a pretty little church and think big thoughts. (The sit quietly = they have daycare. Come to think of it, I may actually just enjoy having some quiet time to myself more than anything....)