Lessons from the Preachers' Kid

My friend Monica and her family stayed at our house last night as a pit stop on their way to family vacation in Gatlinburg.

(Side note: When I was in high school, my friend Erin went on a family vacation to Gatlinburg and brought me back a shot glass that said "My friend went to Gatlinburg and all I got was this lousy shot glass." We thought this was hilarious and ironic in the way things are especially hilarious and ironic to nerdy high schoolers. Anyway, I currently use that same shot glass in my medicine cabinet to hold the brush heads for my electronic toothbrush, so as far as souvenirs go, it has actually proved extremely useful, though not in the way intended. How's that for irony?)

Monica and her husband are both UCC pastors (open and affirming) and with parents who both work in ministry at two different churches, their daughter, EK, gets a lot of exposure to Jesus. We attend my parents' church when we visit them, and occasionally we got to a Unitarian church here, but we're not frequent flyers at this point, mostly for practical reasons (we get very little out of the service when we're constantly having to keep the girls settled down and we're reluctant to drop them off in the nursery for a few hours on Sunday morning when we send them to school all week long, and our weeks are so hectic that we treasure slow days on Saturday and Sunday).

(Side note: If we lived in the Kansas City area, we would totally attend Johnny's church. I've only heard him preach a couple of times, but he's awesome.)

(Side note: The only reason I say we'd attend Johnny's church instead of Monica's is because she is in charge of the children's ministry and doesn't get to preach every Sunday, which is a shame because she's fantastic.)

All this to say, Zuzu has a couple of children's Bibles and books about the Christmas and Easter story, and this lovely Desmond Tutu book about God, but her exposure to Jesus is certainly not as extensive as EK's.

(Side note: David recently texted Monica and Johnny the link to this song and suggested Johnny get t-shirts made for hischurch members with the chorus of the song on the front and the name of their church on the back--wouldn't that be a winner?)

Zuzu and EK were happily dragging out ALL THE TOYS, the way kids do, when EK pulled a children's Bible off the bookshelf and announced, "I have this book, too!" (Of course she does.) They then proceeded to have the following conversation:

EK: Zuzu, do you want me to read this book to you?

Zuzu: Yes!

EK: Oh-tay. Which Jesus story is your favorite?

Zuzu: *silent*

EK: The one where he gets killed?

Zuzu: Yep!

EK: That's my favorite, too!

(Adults exchange slightly alarmed looks while also laughing. Monica confirms that is, in fact, EK's most requested Bible story.)


Last month, when we stayed with them to make our annual pilgrimage to the pumpkin patch, the girls did plenty of playing and a little bit of squabbling. At one point during a disagreement, EK was overheard saying, "Zuzu! The Bible says to be kind!"

So she has a taste for violence in her Bible stories, but we're basically considering EK our spiritual guru. Preach it, Preachers' Kid!