Grow Christians

Emily Watkins

Emily Watkins is a friend, wife, and mother. Her Christian journey has been blessed and shaped by the church and its year. Emily works part-time at Nashotah House Theological Seminary and full-time making a home and mothering. She is happiest when she is surrounded by her four sons, husband, great books, good food, and a ridiculous number of house plants.

Jolly Old Saint Nicholas

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While some saints are obscure enough that we must pause to recall who they were and what they did, most of us have an instant image in mind when we hear the name Saint Nicholas. That image may come from the historic Bishop of Myra, but more likely it’s been blended with the jolly elf … Read more

Learning to Love God and Others Well on All Saints Day

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My boys and I adore our annual All Saints celebration. Though it varies from year to year, the celebration always includes a game we call Guess the Saint. One year, we placed a few objects found around the house in a bowl to represent different saints. We had a toy bird for Francis, who preached to the birds, a candle for Lucia, who carried her light on her head, and an ox for Aquinas, who was known as the dumb ox. To play the game, an object is picked out of the bowl, and an extra clue or two is given as needed to see who can guess the saint the object represents. In recent years, we replaced this simple bowl of objects with friends joining us for a meal where we all dress as a favorite saint and give clues to see if we can guess which saint each person has chosen to represent.   

To be perfectly honest, our boys love this celebration because leftover Halloween candy is the prize when they guess a saint correctly. My children are certain they are the most sugar-deprived children in the world (they certainly aren’t), and this promise of sweets goes a long way to garner excitement.  

When it comes to building our family traditions around the church year, I’m happy for enthusiasm in any form, but I also want to think about why we spend time and energy celebrating All Saints. It would be easy to get lost in the fun and sugar and lose sight of why we choose to celebrate this feast day. I love the stories of the saints and feel it is important to remember them because they point us to the Gospel, teach us to love, and help us to examine our own lives and grow as saints.

Preach the Gospel, if necessary use words. —Saint Francis

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Reading with an Easter Lens

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When approached to write a post with Easter books my first thought was, “Every truly good book is an Easter book.” Certainly there are many beautiful picture books with the story of Jesus’ death and resurrection, and you can find many of my favorites in the Lent book post here. But, as we enter the 50 days of Easter I want to share a way of thinking about books and talking about great books that helps us see echoes of redemption and better understand the mystery of Easter.

Easter is the greatest mystery of the Christian faith. The story of the world is that God made all things well, but through human sin, evil and death entered the world. On Easter, creation is made new, the kingdom of God is restored. Darkness is cast aside, light breaks through, and hope is found. As we read with an Easter lens, these are the themes we look for when asking ‘Where is Easter in this story?”

Perhaps a book that is most accessible as we think about reading with an Easter lens is C.S. Lewis’ The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe. In Lewis’ masterpiece, Edmund is fooled by the White Witch and gives into temptation. The only way to undo the wrong Edmund’s betrayal creates is through Aslan’s self-sacrifice. The great lion lays down his life to save Edmund; yet, death can not defeat him and he is resurrected to establish a kingdom where courage and goodness rule. The parallels between this tale and the biblical salvation narrative are easily seen.

While The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe is perhaps one of the most obvious examples, there are many books that share echoes of redemption. In fact, one could argue that this is the definition of a great book for there is no resolution to a plot without something to be overcome; there is no redemption without brokenness. This is the true story of our world and great fiction echoes this truth: orphans find homes, the ill become well, grief gives way to joy, villains are conquered, and kingdoms are established.

At the end of this post is a short list of books I think are a good place to start if you want to read with an Easter Lens. But please know, this can be done with hundreds, even thousands, of  great books. So as your family reads through the 50 days of Easter ask the question: How is this an Easter book? 

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Joseph of Arimathea: A Man of Courage and Legend

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Now there was a man named Joseph, from the Jewish town of Arimathea. He was a member of the council, a good and righteous man. —Luke 23:50

August 1st is the day the church remembers Joseph of Arimathea. He is mentioned in all four gospels, but they only tell of one deed. Joseph, who Luke tells us is a good and righteous man, had courage to go to Pilate and ask for Jesus’ body. He bought a linen shroud and wrapped him before laying him into a tomb that had been cut out of a rock. Mark tells us that Joseph was seeking the Kingdom of God, and through his actions and faith we see that with courage he had found it. It was an active seeking of the Kingdom, one that called him to give up something of great value and use (though I do wonder if he did end up using that empty tomb for his gift was returned to him at the resurrection.)

Now, we could stop with that retelling of what Joseph did, for there is certainly much inspiration to be gleaned from his one true, simple, yet grand act of devotion. But some of the fun of Saint Joseph of Arimathea are the legends that grew up around him. He is known in Arthurian legend as the first keeper of the Holy Grail. Robert de Boron first wrote the story of how Joseph is imprisoned and the Holy Grail sustains him. After he gains his freedom, he takes the Grail, a group of followers, and various relics they collect along the way to Britain. And while this is all quite historically suspect, it makes for a delightful tale and was woven into much of the Arthurian legend.

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Mary Magdalene: Be Present and Share the Good News

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Holy Family with Mary Magdalene by Anthony van Dyck

This picture shows Mary Magdalene with the infant Jesus. I wonder if she was present with him in that part of his life and I’m not surprised that an artist thinking about this woman would have shown her present. Because if Mary Magdalene is anything, she is present. She is mentioned more than most of the disciples in the gospels (12 times to be exact), and yet we don’t know a lot about her.  We know that she received a gift of healing from Jesus when he cast seven demons from her.  Beyond that, we know that she was with Jesus. She was with him in his ministry, she was with him at his death, she was with his body at his burial and she was the first to be with the risen Lord.  

Luke tells us that Jesus “went on through cities and villages, proclaiming and bringing the good news of the kingdom of God. And the twelve were with him, and also some women who had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities: Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out, and Joanna, the wife of Chuza, Herod’s household manager, and Susanna, and many others, who provided for them out of their means” (Luke 8:1-3). Mary, after parting with her seven demons, changed her life course following Jesus to multiple cities and villages. I wonder what it was like as a woman to travel after a teacher during that time.

Matthew, Mark, and John all make a point to name Mary Magdalene as being with Jesus at his death. “There were also many women there, looking on from a distance, who had followed Jesus from Galilee, ministering to him, among whom were Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James and Joseph and the mother of the sons of Zebedee” (Matthew 27:55-56).  I wonder what it was like to be in that place. I wonder if she felt powerless. I wonder what the grief of that day was like for this woman who had been restored by Jesus and knew the power he had.

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Nature Study and the Awe of God

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Some of my earliest memories are exploring the forty-five acre farm I grew up on. I remember my cousin showing me how to find spit bugs and thinking it was a miracle that hundreds of these little bugs were there wrapped under leaves and yet I had never seen them before. I remember catching tadpoles and feeling pond mud ooze between my toes and I can vividly recall the lift of fireflies into the night sky and the tickle of their feet and wings in my cupped hands. I remember climbing the big hill and feeling the wind in my hair. That wind and the beauty around me caused me to speak prayers aloud knowing in that place, without a doubt, God was with me.

Nature has been an important part of my spiritual journey, but I do not think this experience is unique. The more steeped I become in a theology of childhood and the more I work with children, both rural and urban, I realize that nature is inextricably linked to a knowledge and awe of God. Children (and adults) need nature. We need to experience the world that God created to know and love this God who created.

I think there is a tendency to believe that it is in the majestic vistas that we can connect with God, and certainly that can be true. However, it is in the minute and even mundane details of creation that we most often see the amazing nature of God. In looking around at the grass below our feet and the clouds above us, in marveling at the miracle of the simple and plentiful seed’s growth, or in seeing the fallen branch up close with new eyes, we see the wonder of the created world.

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