Lest Blood Be Shed

Recently, I was asked to play a flying squirrel puppet named Skyler for a vacation bible school (VBS) program in Rensselaer. It is a joint effort by the Presbyterian church and the First Christian church. The theme has lots to do with lifting off, hot air balloons, and flying squirrels. Each night has a different focus. So far they have taught about trust and listening (to God). Now, the reason I'm writing this entry about VBS is not so much to inform you about the inner workings of such a program but rather an observation I made last night while listening to my side-kick 'Scoop' improvise on 'why' we should trust God, listen to God, etc. His reason was to make your life always joyful and happy; to live a life without pain or suffering; to get a place in heaven. The only thing I could do to rebut this obviously 'prosperity gospel' reasoning was to grimace the face of my squirrel puppet—unbeknownst to Scoop. I can understand all the reasoning behind giving this explanation to children but I have such a revulsion to this overly-developed deficient theology that I couldn't help but feeling I was helping further the destructive consumer-individualized quagmire of our society.

So I leave you with this question asked by a child... it so simple and yet most of us don't ask it because we've been told not to: 'Why should we trust God?' My favorite was when the child, after getting his answer that I cringed at, responded back, 'You're confusing me.'