Saturday, October 09, 2010

Joan Osbourne Theology

"if god had a face, what would it look like?" joan osbourne asks me through my ipod.  i look out the window at the pedestrians and see answers everywhere.

but this is not a blog god or what god might look like, this is a blog about my journey as a mom and so i segue now into the conversation i had with lauryn and ryan last night, inspired by ms. osbourne and her query.

ryan was praising - i mean praising, people - god for ketchup and rice all the scrumptious flavours in his mouth. so i asked him what joan asked me, all casual like. acting like i just happened to wonder, "hey ry, if god had a face, what would it look like?" to which he responded that She would have short hair. (me on the inside: o... kay?...) (now I'm going to write it out like a script so it's easier to follow, k?)

me: what colour would it be?
ry: yellow.
me: like annina?
ry: who's annina?
me: the little girl in playgroup (silent: duh!)
ry: oh. ...yes.
me: what colour would her eyes be?
ry: blue.

that's the end of the conversation according to ry's demeanor and body language. i ask lauryn the same thing (as she was eagerly suggesting answers on the side).

lauryn: he would have long hair. curly hair.
me: what colour would it be?
lauryn: blonde, no, brown. and he would have a beard. but not connected to his hair.
me: what colour would his eyes be?
lauryn: brown. and he'd have a nose like yours (she points to my nose).
me: what about his skin?
lauryn: it would be light brown.
me: like yours?
lauryn: no, like sagey's (her bestie that's half caucasian and half filipino)
me: but sagey's skin is pretty close to yours.
lauryn: oh. then... (thinking)... khaki.
me: you mean like daddy's?
lauryn: (emphatic) YES!
me: could god have brown skin like mine?
lauryn: yeah.. sure.

the converstion ends here due to environmental factors (arrival of dad, primarily).

so. okay. my children think god is caucasian. ryan always - for reasons completely unknown to me - refers to god as "she", even if i say "he" ryan responds with "she". naturally, as an equal opportunity gender deity proponent, this makes me feel pleased. so for ryan, god is a caucasian female and for lauryn god is a caucasian male.

interesting.

this doesn't cause me to feel any particular feeling.  i am pretty neutral about it.  i know this is a common idea in children's perception and i don't make a lot of meaning out of it... yet.  i personally believe that whatever deity exists, if it had a face, it would be all our faces.  certainly not the old charlton heston god, nor the calm european catholic jesus. when i say any prayers, i direct them at the faces of the people i'm praying about. this works best for me.

still, i find it interesting that my children have concluded that god would be european if god had a face.

what does god look like to you?

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