A couple days after I arrived in St. Louis, my friend Hilary told me about the Lutheran Vacation Bible School that her mom volunteered her for. It was happening in July. Would Bianca want to come?
Hmmm, I thought, why not? Hilary and I were inseparable through most of my school years. She is Lutheran; I'm LDS. But we always did everything together. She went to all my churchs dances and youth conferences and activities; likewise, I went to all her churchs outings and sleepovers. We were both Christian. But I'd heard that typically Lutherans think there's something wrong with the Mormon religion. Not sure why, but I'd just heard that. It didn't bother me. Most people didn't like Mormons where I came from.
I decided to sign Bianca up. At first, from the sound of it, Bianca thought they were going to teach her how to read the Bible. I laughed, and told her she'd learn about Jesus, just like she does at regular church on Sundays. I filled out the application (wrote Bianca belonged to the Church of Jesus Christ--generic enough?), paid the $7, and dropped her off at the Lutheran church on Monday night. The parents were supposed to read the message each night as they dropped their child off, which I did, then left her playing. Each night was a Jesus story from the Bible, like walking on water and washing disciples' feet. Stuff we believe in. No problem. Plus, at four years old, would anything be that different from what she learns at our church? It's basic. Jesus is good.
I felt just fine about it. But my husband was unsure. We discussed it a bit, he was wanting to know if Bianca knew which church she belonged to. She was running through the dining room when I stopped her and asked her if she knew what religion she was. She was so tired of hearing about all this Bible school stuff. She huffed irritably, put her arms on her waist, and blurted, "Mom, I know Im a Lutheran and a Bible." I couldn't keep myself from laughing. She fell to the floor, as she always does when she knows I'm laughing about something she's said. I tell her it's good to be funny. Everyone wants to be funny, but she gets angry when I laugh at her. I nearly fell on the floor myself, from laughing. Obviously she doesn't know what religion she is and really, does it matter at this point?
Bianca loved Bible School. The theme was Jesus is a treasure, and they spent the week learning about different kinds of jewels--rubies, emeralds, amethysts, sapphires, diamonds--and connected them with a Bible story, and she got to make treasure chest crafts and dig up jewels from the sand box. She's been in treasure-seeking mode ever since we went to Micah and Karma's house, where the house's previous owners used jewels in their landscaping, and Bianca spent every day there filling a plastic baggie with jewels, treasure-hunting. So this was right up her alley.
On the final night of Bible school, my parents and I went to see the program in the sanctuary. Bianca stood up front with the other kids singing every word to all the songs. She knew them all, and all the arm movements that went along. I smiled watching her, as I always do no matter what church we're at. She got a bagful of treasures to take home. I was glad I put her in bible school.
A night later, as we were in the car, Bianca kept singing one of the songs they learned in Bible school--Jesus, Jesus, is our greatest treasure, he loves us, he loves us--and she sang it over and over until I was singing it myself. We were getting out of our car and my mom said, "Well, if anyone hears her, they'll think what a good little Lutheran kid." And yeah, they probably would. But what's the harm in that?
Both our religions teach about Jesus. Should we as parents teach our children that there's something wrong with other people's religions or being involved in a religion other than your own? I don't think so. What's Christian about that? I believe that every religion that teaches others to be kind and love Jesus and maybe think about each other as children of God is good. Am I wrong?
