This Sunday at church, our 3-yr-old was eagerly waiting for the offering basket to be passed by so that he could put in “his” money.  This is our weekly tradition and, I think, his favorite part of sitting in the service with us.  I handed him a loonie and said, “Here, you can put this in the offering for Jesus.”

He turned around and excitedly scrutinized the usher holding the offering basket.  “Is that Jesus?”

Of course we laughed, and I told him No, Jesus is in heaven.  But I was struck by the inadequacy of this reply.  I felt like I ought to explain, to say that Jesus is always with us, that he’s in our hearts, but we can’t see him.  Something like this I did add, but it all seemed ridiculous from the concrete perspective of my son.  How can he be in heaven, and with us, and in our hearts (and what’s a heart, anyways?) all at the same time?

Now that he is starting to get to the age of asking questions about God and church, I am struggling with how to explain anything at all about the Bible and what we believe.  It seems inevitable, no matter how much explaining I do, that for several years to come his perception of who God is will be skewed, reduced to an important person whom we like to sing to a lot but never get to see.  I don’t want him to think that God is far away, but I don’t know how to make him understand his presence.   I want him to love God and trust him, but how does that look in real life when you’re 3?

Can anybody tell me how to explain Jesus in 10 words or less?

(BTW – No baby yet. Still waiting)