Siri now looked at me and asked, “Mommy, Mrs. Hansen said there were no children killed. Right?”
My face crumbled. I could hardly get out the words and tell her the awful truth. And then came her next question: “Why?”
What would you tell a child, facing evil so close to home? “I’m sorry dear, but bad things just sort of happen to nice people”? That “life is random and cruel”? That “children can be gunned down in their hallway, ending their lives too soon”? That “there is no final justice”?
I defy you to raise a child with such a worldview.
So, I spoke of our Christian faith in resurrection: “Siri, this is so horrible, so awful. But we believe in God, and that God is love. We know God is caring for each of those kids right now. God is holding and healing them in heaven. And God will bring to judgment their killer. God will make this all come out right – in this life and in heaven.”
This seemed to bring you some peace, based on your next question: “Mommy, can I have a snack?”
Creating a Map, Constructing Resurrection
Believing in heaven came naturally for you kids. There were countless daily actions, rituals, and conversations that contributed to this belief. We went to church regularly; we had spiritually focused friends who held a special role in our lives; we participated in small groups that read scriptures and discussed how to apply them. We said table grace and night-time prayers. We attended the funerals of church friends, where resurrection was preached and sung about.
Through this Christian lifestyle, we weren’t just engaged in some nice community. We were immersed in a “form of life,” to adopt the language of Ludwig Wittgenstein. Our Christian form of life was (and continues to be) committed to Jesus as the highest exemplar of both human nature and God’s character. Our daily dilemmas and special challenges are interpreted through the stories and teachings of Jesus, to help us move ahead.
Wittgenstein called these regular patterns of words and action, “language games.” Although he coined the term, “game,” these games are deadly serious. He called them “games” because a game has its own characteristic symbols and rules for using them. Through these “games,” we solve real problems and find our way into the future.
So, just like there are a variety of games, with different playing pieces, rules and goals, so too we practice a variety of games in everyday and professional life. Historians have their “game pieces” of historical documents and artifacts and their rules for how to use them. Biologists have the game pieces of microscopic life and organic systems, and rules for how these are studied. And, as well, the religious have their game pieces of sacred wisdom, stories and rituals, and how these are employed.[i]
But notice this. We are simultaneously biological and historical and spiritual beings, so we need all these language games.
In our family’s Christian “form of life,” we weekly practiced our religious language game in Sunday worship, neighborhood conversation, religious readings, family prayers.
In particular, our church-based “Care Group” meetings were crucial in helping us become adept at the religious language game. There, we deeply discussed scripture and its application to our lives.
When our group’s leader, Jim Steinfeld, got brain cancer, our language game enabled us to face this crisis together.
(To be continued August 4, Chapter Eight: Episode 34)
To Eight Trails readers: Does this post suggest a moment you’ve experienced and, perhaps, a photo you took? Share your reflections and photos with me by clicking “reply” to this emailed post. I would be delighted to include them in new posts — of course, crediting you!
[i] Wittgenstein introduces that seminal phrase, “language game,” and describes the multiplicity of our language games in his book, Philosophical Investigations, 1953. “Here the term "language-game" is meant to bring into prominence the fact that the speaking of language is part of an activity, or of a form of life.
Review the multiplicity of language-games in the following examples, and in others: Giving orders, and obeying them-
Describing the appearance of an object, or giving its measurements--
Constructing an object from a description (a drawing)--
Reporting an event--
Speculating about an event--
Forming and testing a hypothesis--
Presenting the results of an experiment in tables and diagrams--
Making up a story; and reading it--
Play-acting--
Guessing riddles--
Making a joke; telling it--
Solving a problem in practical arithmetic--
Translating from one language into another--
Asking, thinking, cursing, greeting, praying. (Wittgenstein, Paragraph 23, emphasis, mine)