I told Jim I wanted to have some kind of regular family liturgy, an engagement with faith that went beyond praying at meals (which I am always the one to do, and my prayer is nearly always “Thank you for this food, and these people that I love.”). In response, Jim bought three copies of the Book of Common Prayer for the Armed Services, and we started trying to do morning and evening prayer, which petered out, although we haven’t given up. Then, a few weeks ago, he started reading the Bible to the girls. Not the Jesus Story Bible or a children’s comic — the only concession to their age is that it’s The Message.
The girls are obsessed. Even before Jim sits down to eat, Lucy carries the Bible from the shelf and hands it to him, begging “Daddy, read the Bible!” “Okay,” he says. “Can I eat first?” She slouches angrily. I attempt to give her a kid summary of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. She pauses her pestering until he finishes one carnitas taco, but when he begins assembling a second, she is outraged. “Daddy! You said you would read after you eat ONE BURRITO!”
If there are more than two names in a row, Naomi says “Daddy can you skip da names?” and if it’s a long list, he does, but he doesn’t skip anything else. He took a deep breath before Sodom and Gomorrah, and said, “Okay, so does it sound so far like people in the Bible are mostly making good choices?” “No,” Lucy answers, wide-eyed, shaking her head. “Yeah,” Jim agrees. “Can you say ‘uh-oh’?” “Uh-oh,” both girls say. He begins attempting to prepare them for this story and Lucy interrupts gently. “Daddy, can you not explain so much and let me listen and think and figure out the things myself? And then if I need help I will ask?”
Tonight, one sentence into Exodus, Naomi announces “DADDY! Did you know that JONAH — when he didn’t want to do what God said he swam away and said ‘No! I won’t!’ and God sent a fish to save him?” This is version 2.3 of the Jonah Summary. It always comes one sentence into whatever Jim reads, and sometimes recurs later. Yesterday’s was “DADDY! Did you know that God was busy working when Jonah ran away and then da fish ate him?”