Answering your child’s questions: Is God dead?

“This parrot is no more! It has ceased to be! It’s expired and gone to meet its maker! This is a late parrot! It’s a stiff! Bereft of life, it rests in peace!”

The dead parrot sketch from Monty Python continues to be one of my all-time favourites. This hilarious exchange between John Cleese and the shopkeeper that has just sold him the parrot (played by Michael Palin who insists that it is simply sleeping), is the perfect recipe for absurd and unforgettable comedy. 

I wonder whether our efforts at passing on faith are sometimes received a little like this sketch? The working assumption today is that God is dead. For many of us in the thick of parenting, the world is no longer an enchanted place full of the possibility and potential to encounter the divine. We have “outgrown” God, relegated Him to “myth”, and replaced Him instead with notions of scientific progress. So, when we talk about God with our young people, immersed in this cultural story, could it come across like we are trying to flog them a dead parrot? Could it be that our attempts to highlight God’s relevance are perceived as admiring the “beautiful plumage” of a deceased bird?

the best way to answer the question “is God dead?” is with our lives

What does it look like to share something of God with your children and their friends, during a time when he is assumed dead? Follow me for a moment into the ancient wisdom of the prophet, Habakkuk. 

Habakkuk lived in Judah, the southern kingdom of Israel during a time of injustice, idolatry and political tensions. Somethings don’t change! Lingering in the background was the constant threat of the Babylonian empire. What is the role of a prophet in this scenario? To call the people of God to repentance and to renew their faith commitment, right? Well, you would think so. Rather than addressing Israel Habakkuk flips the script and addresses God directly! The book reads more like a prayer than a prophetic witness. And not just any prayer, but a cry of lament. We read Habakkuk’s intimate and personal wrestles, his struggle to believe that God is good in a world so full of evil. Where is God in the midst of this? Is He dead? Sleeping?