I have a collection of children’s books. It started with me buying copies of the books my dad used to read to me as a kid. Over the years I have added to my collection with second hand books that have interested me. In particular, I like buying second-hand christian children’s books. In my brief flirtation with children’s ministry, I learned that you need to strip back your message to the essence, and then express that essence simply. So I am always curious to see how children’s books express the essence of our christianity.

In my experience, many adult christians still have their sunday school lessons at the heart of their faith, which can be a strength and a tremendous barrier - depending which of the versions of sunday school teaching they experienced.

From Jesus and His Teachings published 1965:

The Boy Jesus
When Mary and Joseph returned from Egypt they settled in the little town of Nazareth. Joseph was a carpenter and had to work hard to earn enough money to feed and clothe Jesus and Mary.
Jesus was like any other little boy in Nazareth. He played with the children who liked Him because he was kind to everyone [although apparently only those who liked him] He never lost His temper, and was always ready to help those in need. Above everything hHe loved His Mother and Father dearly.
When He was not very old Jesus said to Joseph, His Father: “Father, now that I am growing up can I help you?”
Joseph, who was working at his bench, looked at his Son. “My Son,” he replied, “you’re very young. There’s plenty of time for you to work when you get older.”
The young Jesus was not convinced and said to His father [apparently, despite all his good qualities, he was still able to talk back to his father] “But I want to learn to do your work. You work hard all day and sometimes far into the night. It’s my duty to help you all I can.” [this from the same man who said “Who is my mother and my brother?”]
“Let him do a simple job,” joined in Mary who was repairing some of her husband’s worn clothes.
“Yes, I suppose it won’t do any harm,” replied Joseph.
“What can I do!” exclaimed Jesus, with joy in His voice for being allowed to help His father. [hopefully an easier task than the one set for him later in life by his other Father…]
“Well, ansered Joseph, “you see that piece of wood in the vice, file it flat with the big rasp” [it seems that carpentry in biblical times was more technologically advanced than I had thought]
Jesus had seen His father use the rasp many, many times and quickly set to work on the task His father had set him.
“Mary,” said Joseph, “I think our Son is a good craftsman and will make a fine carpenter.” [in fact, renowned throughout the ages for his carpentry skills…]

Just an example of the stories about Jesus which you miss out on if you confine your study to just the Gospels.

This entry was posted on Sunday, April 27th, 2003 at 5:18 pm by dan and is filed under random musings. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.