Zadok Paper S100 Winter 1999
Less Observed Sources of Spirituality in Children
by Glenn Cupit

The Paper: In a recent article in Zadok Perspectives (Autumn 1997), I argued that transmission of faith to children required that we expose them to God's Holy Spirit wherever the Spirit can be found. I called attention to the importance of the natural world, human artefacts, culture, social environments, personal relationships, words and ideas, and providential care. Space constraints limited me to asserting the importance of each, virtually without justification. This paper, provides the arguments behind the assertion for four of those areas which may be more contentious among evangelicals. Their choice in no way suggests they are more or less important than the others.

The Author: Glenn Cupit is Senior Lecturer in Child Development at the University of South Australia and is currently working towards his doctorate on the implications for a Christian understanding of spiritual development for secular education systems. He is part of the Unley Uniting Church community and is married to Cecily. They have two adult children.

Introduction

To appreciate fully the gospel, children require a deep intuitive grasp of the awesomeness of God. Without recognition of his 'everlasting power and deity", his assertion of authority is oppressive, and the extent of his condescension in extending love to rebellious humanity is minimised. Paul is not mistaken in asserting that God's judgment on wrong-doing is justified because his real nature is evident to all, including children, in "the things he has made" (Romans 1:18-32).

The heavens declare the glory of God,
the vault of heaven proclaims his handiwork;
day discourses of it to day,
night to night hands on the knowledge (Psalm 19:1-2).

Every act of creation reveals something of the nature of its creator. That the natural world reveals the nature of God is a continuing biblical theme. It stems from the first chapter of Genesis, which is structured around God's preference for form over chaos (days 1-3) and for life over sterility (days 4-6).1 God designates the rainbow as the 'sign' of the covenant which, through Noah, he makes with "every living thing that is found on the earth"(Genesis 9:12-17). The Psalms abound with nature imagery as a source of inspiration2 and often treat it as specifically allowing us to understand God.3 A similar idea is common to the prophets.4 Isaiah uses the image of nature restored as a metaphor for the ideal kingdom yet to come.5 There is ample precedent for the argument explicitly stated by Paul.

For what can be known about God is perfectly plain to them since God himself has made it plain. Ever since God created the world his everlasting power and deity - however invisible, have been there for the mind to see in the things he has made. That is why such people are without excuse: they knew God and yet refused to honour him as God or to thank him . . . (Romans 1:19-21)

Paul is well aware of the paradox he ignored while addressing the Lycaonians (Acts 14). People do not deny God through lacking access to knowledge about him. In the observable creation, we all perceive the nature of the invisible God; as we perceive the invisible properties of gravity, by inference from its observable effects on ourselves and our universe. If humans fail to recognise God in creation, it is because "they made nonsense out of logic and their empty minds were darkened" (Romans 1:21).

According to Paul, the natural world reveals God's "everlasting power and deity". Elsewhere, it is seen as indicating his preference for form over chaos; his affirmation of life; the greatness of his name; his glory, majesty, greatness and praiseworthiness; his love, faithfulness, provision, generosity, protection and consolation; his righteousness and judgment; his strength, power and prowess; the sovereignty of his will; his wisdom, infinite understanding and discernment; and the clarity of his self-revelation. The list reflects the predominance of cultic and devotional material from the Psalms. It is not exclusive, so much as indicative.

The natural world mediates the Spirit's revelation of God to children (as much as, if not more than, to adults), whenever it invites awe and wonder, sponsors humility and curiosity, and stimulates appreciation and positive stewardship. I am regularly arrested by people's stories about experiencing 'god' (or some mysterious, usually benevolent, presence they cannot name) while in the bush, or watching the sun set at the beach, or the like. For some, the experience was of transcendence and immanence; 'other' yet 'close'. For others, the event was frightening, or at least disturbing; 'panic' derives from the name of a god you meet in the wild. These differences in perception do not negate that people feel close to the Deity when exposed directly to the works of his hands. As Steve Turner says:

We say there is no God
(quite easily)
when amongst the curving
steel and glass of our own
proud creations.
They will not argue.
Once we were told of a
heaven
but the last time we strained
to look up
we could see only skyscrapers
shaking their heads
and smiling no.
The pavement is reality.
We say there is no God
(quite easily)
when walking back through
Man's concreted achievements
but on reaching the park
our attention is distracted
by anthems of birds coming
from the greenery.
We find ourselves shouting
a little louder now because
of the rushing streams
Our voices are rained upon by
the falling of leaves.
We should not take our arguments
for walks like this.
The park has absolutely no manners.6

His point is apposite to children. I am always delighted by the amazement on young faces when they first see the sky far beyond city smog and light pollution. I remember when my younger son saw four of Jupiter's moons through binoculars, all visible at the same time around the great planet. His sense of wonder will not easily be lost.

There is a tradition, particularly among evangelicals, to devalue 'natural theology', in contrast to propositional theology, because the redemptive work of Christ cannot be derived from the former. It is sometimes implied that natural theology can only lead to pantheism or romanticism. Neither represents a valid response to 'general revelation'; they are not "what is to be known of God in the work of his hands". That people distort God's revelation and are therefore blind to his true nature does not vitiate the value of that revelation. The Spirit does not teach us the doctrine of salvation through the wonders of creation. Its revelation is incomplete. We cannot extrapolate the life of Jesus from a sunset, or his death from a rosebud.

However, incomplete is not valueless or unnecessary. The most impeccably orthodox propositional or 'special' revelation is equally limited if it ignores, not just the content, but, especially, the form of God's self-declaration in nature. No collection of words about "the glory of God" can communicate that to the human spirit like seeing the star-clouds in Sagittarius on a moonless summer night, or observing the passage of a great storm in all its awesome power. No proposition conveys God's creative imagination so well as the variety of jewel beetles or the smells of the bush on a hot afternoon.

The appropriate sense of awe cannot be communicated to children by language alone; not even by the words of Scripture. Words are important, but as incomplete as any other single source of revelation. It is the Bible itself that asserts that God reveals his majesty in the created world. As children experience directly his self expression in nature, God's Spirit speaks to them, not in words, but at a profound pre-verbal level. Consequently, this can occur at a very early age, as perhaps indicated by the curiosity and delight of the very young. This also means that it is hard to articulate what children take from such experiences.

God's Spirit mediates the nature of God to us, and to our children, as we are open to the spirit of what he has made; and no word need be spoken.

No utterance at all, no speech,
No sound that anyone can hear;
Yet their voice goes out through all the earth,
and their message to the ends of the world (Psalm 19:3-4)

The instinct that produces 'Christian' nature books for children is in the right direction but falls far short of what is needed. No two-dimensional picture, however christened by pious text, can ever communicate with children like the full multi-sensory impact of the created world itself. I am reminded of a Leunig cartoon of a parent and child watching a sunset on television while through the window the reality occurs, but is ignored. At their best, such books stimulate desire to experience the reality, or serve to prompt memory of it, if the child has such memories, but they are a poor substitute. While words add meaning to the experience, the spiritual transaction with God in nature does not need to be mediated by language. It is potentially accessible to any child, not just to those whose parents will read such books to them.

My childhood memories indicate the importance in making me the person I am, of an evening huddled in a blanket on the verandah of a holiday house watching an amazing electrical storm illuminate the little town of Narooma; of the willie wagtail that lived in our backyard and came to my father's hand (while flouncing away from the rest of us); of the power of the surf driving me shoreward during our annual pilgrimage to the beach. Yet my exposure was limited. Being raised in the inner western suburbs of Sydney, where concrete and bitumen ruled, even in a 'garden' suburb, I am left with a hunger for the wide and wild places where the world has not been tamed.

Children need parks and creeks and trees and gardens and flowerpots and animals.7 They need clean air and clear running water and dirt and open smog-free skies. They need to see sun and moon and stars and clouds and waves and mountains. They need to feel wind and rain and spray and sun-heat and night-cold. They need to smell flowers and fur and leaves and soil. They need to taste fruit and nuts and seeds and herbs and spices. They need to hear thunder and surf and bird-song and rustling leaves and the sound-laden silence of being alone and away from human clamour. The great value of programs based on outdoor adventure lies not only in what they take children away from, but also in what they expose them to.

Forces of spiritual evil will try to prevent or mar these experiences. Destruction of the natural environment, or isolation from it, is the most basic level at which evil operates. How are the heavens to declare the glory of God if veiled with smog or lost in neon glare? How are children to hear their voiceless message if they are never taken out under a sky dark enough for its glory to be seen? How are they to believe in streams of living water if our creeks are toxic, or imprisoned in concrete tubes?
If children are brought up to ignore or be depreciative of the natural world, that sentiment may generalise to its Creator. At very least, an important aspect of God's desired relationship with them, and their understanding of him, will be missing. It is unrealistic to expect all children to be brought up in the arms of nature, but for those most alienated from the natural world, we should at least work to make access to some aspects of the created world an integral part of the city-scape, and to model its value to us.

The more children are exposed to the wonders of God's creation; the more they are able to experience directly what he has made; the greater the opportunity they have to hear those soundless voices and speechless messages; the more likely they are to develop the presumption that there is a divine being worthy of their awe and reverence. The more they are isolated from his works, the harder they will find this appreciation. Without such experiences, whatever we teach about God as creator, whatever words describe his glory and transcendence, will lack an essential level of meaning. The Spirit working through children's exposure to the natural world creates the need to worship; turning heard words into received Word. To fully understand, and adequately respond to, the God of the Bible, children must have ongoing occasion to meet his Spirit in the works of his hands.

To: Human artefacts in the transmission of faith