Years ago, my child was 4yrsold and we were attending an evening Good Friday service. It was very solemn and beautiful. With each reading, one row of lights in the enormous church went out until we were left in only candlelight.

My daughter tugged in my sleeve and whispered, “Mommy, why are we here?”

I said, “This is the day that a long time ago, Jesus died. So we’re remembering that.”

She nodded sweetly, and then...

...her face crumpled in slow motion until she sucked in a deep breath and let out an agonizing scream. She burst into tears and inconsolable wailing.

I was shoving candy in her mouth as fast as I could and promising to let her drive the car home if she would just be quiet.

It dawned on me that she knew all these fun little songs about her buddy Jesus and she’d had “cracker time” Communion and she’d been to VBS every summer since birth, but she really didn’t know the real story.

Sadly, I was the Children’s Minister of that church at the time.

On the way out, I apologized profusely to the pastor and the associate pastor, the latter of whom said, “Well, technically it was the right reaction. We all should have been crying.”

And yes, curriculum changes began in the children’s department the very next week!