My Childhood With Jesus

Why don't you come with me little girl, on a magic carpet ride? - Steppenwolf

I grew up in a family with a Catholic Dad and Protestant (Baptist) Mom. My earliest memories are of a picture of Jesus, the one above, hanging on my bedroom wall. I was naturally a happy child, intelligent, and highly imaginative. Neither outgoing nor introverted, I divided my time between playtime with friends, voracious reading, and daydreaming. My inner world was filled with magical creatures and places; it was there I found a safe place.

My parents were not very religious in those days and I don't remember going to church when I was very small. They began attending Holy Trinity Catholic Church when we moved to Westfield, NJ. I had no idea what was going on and my confusion continued when I was sent to CCD. I thought the priest was God! Unknown to me, my mother was meeting with that same priest to become fully Catholic. After hearing about the doctrine of Purgatory she talked to my Dad, who at that time had no interest in religious matters, and asked him if she could bring the kids to a Protestant church. He was fine with it, so she went looking.

So when I was six years old my brothers and I began attending Sunday School at Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church. It was there I met Jesus. He was loving and gentle and died for our sins. Since I sometimes did bad things I got the sin part but did not understand how he actually had to DIE to make them right. A spanking and getting sent to my room seemed enough for my parents. I figured he had to go this far because there were some really bad people. And although I was introduced to the concept of Hell, the Sunday School teachers wisely did not make a big deal of it.

Basically all the children K-6 met in the big hall downstairs, sang some songs and then broke up into grade levels where we were taught a Bible lesson, recited our memorized Bible verse for a prize, and had a snack. When we graduated from sixth grade we went upstairs with the older children. We had Friday Night Fun and Game night, summer camp, and hymnsings at the pastors house. We played volleyball, had incredibly creative Christmas pageants (thanks to an art teacher member), and sleepovers. It sounds pretty basic but considering the indoctrination levels of today's churches, very healthy and fun. Church was a good place.

Unfortunately it did not last...