Giles Coren, a British columnist for the Times of London newspaper, recently made a firm and public commitment, during the season of Lent, to give up atheism. Actually, it wasn’t quite so cut and dried; his atheism had been waning for some years. It was when his son suggested they attend church that things started to change.

Born to Jewish parents who didn’t believe in God, Coren’s childhood was mostly secular - there were no Hebrew classes or bar mitzvah. As a boy he attended Westminster School in London, where the daily regime included sung Mattins at Westminster Abbey nearby. This was his first exposure to the liturgy of the 1662 Book of Common Prayer. 

I have met a few Christians like Mr. Coren, whose attachment to Christianity is primarily cultural, deriving from a love for the ancient rites of Anglican worship. Many have a lukewarm faith, because religious growth requires more than aesthetic appreciation. Beyond the emotional pull of choir music, the love of ancient buildings and the poetry of the King James Bible, God is seeking to convert the human heart.

Coren says that he was married in church but wasn’t a churchgoer. Neither was his son who, like father, was brought up with no tradition at all. One day Coren’s son said he wanted to go to church. As Coren relates,

“We walked up the road to our local one the following Sunday and went in. And we’ve been going ever since.”

I had heard a similar story years ago, when I was priest in charge at Holy Cross Church in Luton, Bedfordshire. A mother came to church one day. When I asked why, she said that her eight year old daughter had brought her. Initially, mother and daughter came to the church café on Thursday morning to have breakfast (the “café” was adjacent to the church). However, the daughter kept being drawn into the sacred space of the church, and she wanted her mother to see and feel what she did.

Then last week I heard another story about a Christ Church pre-schooler who loved church so much - every aspect of it - that she was the reason her parents started coming to church on Sunday. 

In each of these stories, it is the child of the parent who acts as the evangelist of the family. I think God must have a sense of humor, if he can demonstrate that the wisdom of children exceeds our own. In some ways it is not surprising. Jesus directed his followers to be like children in order to receive the kingdom of God (Mark 10:15) Jesus also declared that the forthcoming Day of Judgement would be hidden from the wise and the intelligent and revealed to infants. (Matthew 11:25) 

In matters of faith, age is no guide. Giles Coren was inspired by the fervent and lively faith of his son, whom he observed being filled with the Holy Spirit. By contrast, while Coren is honest enough to admit that his own faith is weak, he also hopes one day that may change. He writes,

“I have no doubt myself son will be baptized and confirmed into whatever church this is. As may I, eventually, perhaps, so that I can take communion, which is the only time I feel a bit left out."

In his book All Christians are Monks, the monk and theologian George Guiver, recommends “climbing aboard the Church.” He writes,

“If you struggle with the ability to believe, and if you cannot get yourself to pray…you need to find a way of ‘climbing aboard the Church.’ [It is] not so much about believing, as about taking steps, doing something; learning about the contemporary Church and its life, getting engaged with other people in it.”

Eventually, by the grace of God, faith will start to take root at a deeper level. This matters, because ultimately it will be the adult who must help the child with its faith. The adult has a greater understanding of the world, and they have the responsibility to protect the child from harm, including spiritual or religious harm. 

In the meantime, God has blessed the child as the agent of God’s plan. In Lent, it humbling to know that God works in our lives through the love of children. Coren seeks a closer knowledge of God. He senses that it will require change, however,

“I’ll still be a Jew…I’ll still use Yiddish words where English ones won’t do and say, ‘his mother was Jewish, you know’ whenever Harrison Ford comes on screen. But I’ll be a Christian one.”

With Lenten Blessings

Father David