A Child-Like Faith

Michael W. Arnold — Mon, 10 Aug 2026 17:13:14 -0600

Back in seminary, I took a class from a Jesuit priest on the sacraments. Unknown to me when I registered, this class was mostly intended for Ph.D. students. Of the fifteen or so people in the class, only three of us were M.Div. students. The class was amazing. The readings were hard, but the payoff was huge. I entered the class a High-Church Anglican who believed in the real presence and left and Anglo-Catholic who saw time and space open up around the Holy Table.

In the course we read all the greats: the Church Fathers, St. Thomas, Schillebeeckx, Metz, and so many others. But, the capstone of the course, the grand finale our professor had been building us towards was Chauvet; a French theologian who was going to be our guide to beginning to understand the vastness of God’s glory shown in His sacraments.

There was a problem, though. Each week I’d diligently read Chauvet. I’d read. I’d re-read. I’d try to highlight. I’d look up words. I’d chase down references. And, yet, not a thing made sense. It was English words on the page, but put together they had no meaning to me.

I’d come to class and the Ph.D. students (usually within the first five minutes of their discussion) would open up the meaning to me. “Oh… that’s what that was about.” I’d find myself saying. Now, partially this was on Chauvet and his translator; but mostly it was all on me. I, in my striving to prove I could keep up with the Ph.D. students, was missing the forest for the trees. I was getting caught up in the fancy words, the Latin and Greek, the complex syntax, and trying to understand each and every thing. Instead of stepping back and reflecting on the whole of what Chauvet was saying, I was spiraling out of control each week and as a result seeing nothing, despite reading each and every word.

In a lot of ways our readings this week and the entire doctrine of the Trinity that we’ve been dwelling with these last ten weeks, are a similar story.

With the Trinity we can miss the beauty and glory of God by getting lost in the details. We can try and parse the “hows” and “whys” of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. But, in focusing on the exact details, we’re getting lost. Trying to math the one in threeness of God and the human and divine of Christ, trying to create the right formula as if God is something to be studied like a dissection, leads us no closer to God’s grace and instead, as shown by history, leads to heresy, schism, and fighting.

The same holds true for our readings today. It would be easy to get caught in the apocalyptic prophecy of Jesus at the temple; to delve deep into trying to parse out the specifics of the gifts of the Holy Ghost listed in Corinthians; to make a complex analogy between Solomon’s temple and the church. Now, many of these things would make for a great lecture or Sunday school class. It is good to go deep into the Bible. It is good to study theology and ponder the deep things of God. However, these things in isolation, these things disconnected from the Source — the capital S Source, [Jesus] — can distract us from the child-like faith we are called to have.

It’s been a year since I started teaching the children during Mass. As I’ve told the kids many times, the Mass is actually two services. The first part is the liturgy of the Word and the second part is the liturgy of the Table. We meet separate from the adults for the liturgy of the Word because adults use big words and learn primarily through listening. But us kids learn in movement and seeing.

Back in children’s we cross ourselves to remember Jesus is with us as we cross pits of snakes and climb through dark caves made from chairs. We go on scavenger hunts and play games.

Now, of course, we learn some important truths through it all. I encourage you to ask our children if we worship one God or three and who the persons of the Trinity are. But, more importantly than those facts, I’d encourage you to ask them Who is with us when we’re scared. Who loves us no matter what. Who places us in His safe ark forever through baptism.

It is on the unwavering love and presence of God in Jesus Christ that our entire study of the Trinity and the other deep doctrines of the Church stands. Outside of the experience of His deep and great love, His unending mercy, His open arms to all sinners; we cannot make sense of the more complex things. This is the core of everything we do with the children. And, as children are fully baptized, fully Christian people in a smaller form, I believe the same holds true for us more senior members of the Church.

Which brings us back to our readings today. I would love to go deep into each of the spiritual gifts listed in Corinthians. To parse out what they would have meant in historical context. To talk about secessionism and if the gifts exists today or were an early gifting of the church no longer needed. I’d love to discuss the meaning of the temple and how we apply that to the church today. I’d love to discuss the multi-layered prophecy of Jesus towards the temple. All of these are great topics for study. All of these would make a great bible study or a lecture.

But, as an Anglican priest I am ordained to the ministry of the Word. The capital W word. The world made flesh that dwelt among us. The liturgy of the Word is not a place for a lecture, but a place to call our hearts and minds back to the simple knowledge of the God who became man, died on the cross for the sins of the world, and rose again that we all might rise with Him. My call is to bring your mind to the God who will be present with us in the breaking of bread at His Holy Table. It is in this context that I want to approach the readings.

I think it is no coincidence that each of our readings today points to a person of the Trinity. God the Father receiving Solomon’s temple, God the Spirit gifting His people in the Epistle, and God the Son weeping over the sins of the Earth and proclaiming His path of peace and reconciliation.

Our loving God, working from all directions to care for, protect, heal, grow, and love us. This is the forest we’d miss if we immediately jumped down into parsing and studying the specifics and technicalities.

Like we do back in children’s, we need to step back, cross ourselves, and remember God.

In chapter 6 of Corinthians we are told that our bodies are temples of Christ. Each week, Christ physically enters our bodies in the sacrament and chooses to dwell in the very cells of our bodies. We are his temples. God lives within us and gifts us with gifts beyond our understanding. But, God’s dwelling within us as temples is not dependent on our perfection. Even as Christ weeps at our many sins, he does it from within. Between his tears he teaches and corrects. He guides us towards the path of peace. He doesn’t leave the filth and evil of our temples, but he stays inside and knocks over tables and teaches when we’re willing to listen.

This is the God we encounter at the table. This is the God who saves us in baptism. The God who is three but still one. The savior who is man but also God. The God who speaks of wrath and judgement but steps out into the storm to gather us to Him.

In all we do, in all we read, and in all we study let us never lose sight of the full picture of God.

Back with the children I have one major goal. Each and every child needs to know that God loves them and that He will never leave them, no matter what. We practice crossing ourselves a lot back there. We cross ourselves because it reminds us that we are His, that He is with us, and that we stand safely in the shadow of His cross.

We’d all like to pretend that when you grow up, you leave fear behind. We like to pretend we still don’t get scared at night. That we aren’t scared of the unknown. That we’re confident, put-together adults. But, I think we all know that is a lie. We’re just as scared as the children.

Hear the Good New today. Yes, your temple is full of thieves. Yes, your template has idol worshipers and all manner of evil. Yes, there are those that surround you and wish you ill. Yes, so much of the future is unknown and uncertain. But, none of this worries Jesus. He is still willing to step inside your template and throw out the evil. He is still willing to make you His home. His is willing to teach, to love, to heal, and to guide.

Based on what I’ve seen of history, when Jesus walked into the temple in Jerusalem for the first time, God hadn’t set foot in that place in a good many centuries. That is to say, it’s never too late. Jesus will come after decades as easily as he’ll come after days. He’ll wreck your lift when he enters your temple for the first time. He knocks a lot of tables and idols over. Sometime we’re pretty fond of those idols and it hurts. But, if you trust Him. If you sit beside him amongst the fallen tables and destroyed idols, you’ll slowly make sense of it all. He’ll help you put the temple right. He’ll bring peace, hope, warmth, and joy. All He asks is for us to listen, trust, and obey.

So, today and every day, cross yourself and step into the faith of a child. Don’t get lost in the hard words and the historical context. Don’t force complexity and fears of our fallen world onto the text. Step back and listen. Listen for the full God. The holy God. The Triune God beyond all understanding. The God bigger than our problems. The God bigger than our fears. The God bigger than sin and hurt. The God so big that His glory covers and obscures everything the comes against His holiness.

Listen to the prayer of Solomon. Truly listen. Not searching for deep meaning. Not trying to remember the historical context. Not trying to piece together a word study. Listen and look for the God Solomon praises. Let the unseen God remain big and unformed as His glory streams all around.

O Lord, God is Isreal, there is no God like thee, in heaven above or on earth beneath, keeping covenant and showing steadfast love to thy servants who walk before thee with all their heart; [..] Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain thee.

In the name of God: Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen.

1 Kings on Marmanold.com

A Child-Like Faith