Grandparents Dreaming, Grandchildren Seeing Here then, drawing on a seminary convocation presentation, is part 4 of the six-part series introduced in “Hope as Church Unravels? Part 1, The Unraveling” on a.) ways the church, denominations, concepts and patterns of ministry, theological training are unraveling and b.) how we might work at weaving and reweaving. We need both the fresh perspectives of those increasingly giving up on the church and the seasoned wisdoms of those who can articulate anew treasures of the faith going back millennia. He writes “Unseen Hands” for Mennonite World Review, which published an earlier version of this column.ĭuring his first year, a dream about my grandson suggested to me that key to reweaving those aspects of church that are unraveling is working together across generations and experiences of church. ![]() King is publisher and president, Cascadia Publishing House LLC. I wonder what would happen if we relearned to see each other at the primal levels I suspect the children within us all crave underneath the distortions of see me into which we keep falling. I wonder if we’ve corrupted the see-me transactions and attachments of childhood in ways that destroy. ![]() Once again the see-me cries emerge and revolve around you see me, not I will see you. Perhaps by now it shouldn’t surprise but it does: Even as a pandemic sweeps the world, instead of pulling together many of us are splitting over whether COVID-19 is real, serious, to be fought against even if the economic toll is high-or is a form of fake news, perhaps serious but not that serious, not serious enough to shut things down. I ponder their followers, who likewise want politicians to see us, cater to us, put us first. I ponder politicians who demand see me see me see me. Our relationship was a ballet from that point forward. Her brow furrowed-What? What is he doing!-before yielding to a smile. Then amid the speechifying her mom put her on a floor blanket. She was quite taken with the grandfatherly insights. I explained that she is a grape but raisins are grapes that have been aged and dried, that people my age are raisins, that her mother is half-grape, half-raisin. I told her with some passion, including hand gestures, about grapes and raisins. But again it was work, a quest for what she really wanted. She responded to typical gestures, including my go-to, walking. My youngest granddaughter, five months, needed figuring out. All he needs is the following that tells him, “I see you.” But if he gets grumpy all I have to do is follow him, to his room, to look at sheep, to any of his current interests. Is PawPaw following? Yes! More dazzling grins. Then I got on hands and knees and followed. He just stared at his grandfather with a gaze that said, “You’re even more out of it than I thought.”Įxperiment with this. ![]() ![]() I drove five hours to figure out how to engage August. What had happened? I believe that in the bopping Maya grasped that she had been seen.Īugust’s parents needed a babysitter for most of a day. Three years later the bond grows ever stronger. Back and forth across the miles we bopped. Then that day she kept bopping her head up and down. I had to keep experimenting with how she wanted to be related to. I’ll always remember Maya that day we Skyped across a continent. I could give many examples let me try three representative ones. And I’ve found that with each the moment when we mutually experience the seeing changes our relationship forever. It shapes us from beginning to end and through everything in between.īut oh how it shapes us as we begin. A blessing of six grandchildren is the chance to learn again a key longing of being human: “See me.” The ache to be seen is fundamental.
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