"Dad, this is entirely inappropriate for someone my age..."

When I took my son to see a film, recently, I did my parental homework and looked into the story content of the film as well as its ratings. We enjoy going to movies together, and there are a lot of "guy films" out there - things with bodily functions and stupid humor. My son, however much me might enjoy the sounds and smells of pre-adolescence, is a legalist. I would bet money that someday he'll be on the MPAA ratings board. Anyhow, while watching a "guy film" a few years back, he looked at me halfway through the movie, and said "You know, this is entirely inappropriate for someone my age - they've said 'balls' twelve times..."

Needless to say, as a father and a clergyman, I hung my head in shame. Here was my own child, whom I have been entrusted to raise to adulthood, telling me I wasn't doing so hot a job. Granted, he is his father's son, and I can be a bit of a legalist myself. But still, I began to wonder whether or not I was missing something important. I had exposed him to language, narrative, viewpoints, sometimes different from my own, sometimes inappropriate, sometimes challenging, rather than protecting him from the wiles of the evil Hollywood empire.

But isn't that what God does to us? We are no longer cocooned in the Garden of Eden, where we are ignorant to the differences between good and evil. Rather, we are in the midst of a creation liberated from perfection, exposed to our own vulnerability to accept or reject the good, the bad, and the ugly. We are given the mature ability to make choices, and in making those choices, we exercise the gift of free will.

And just as I am sitting in the darkened theatre alongside my child, helping him to understand the images projected on the screen, so our God as Creator, as Incarnate Christ, as Guiding Holy Spirit is beside us, helping us to interpret the images surrounding us. We are not kept in a protected keep, far from disturbing stories and challenging narratives. We live in the midst of them, and we are given guidance on how to negotiate our lives through scripture, tradition, and reason - equally.

My son and I will continue to go - together - to our "guy films," and I am sure that we'll continue to have lively discussions about them. My God and I will continue to go - together - through the challenges of this life, and I am certain that our discussions will be equally lively!