Thought for the Week

I am reading again one of my favourite books called Mister God, This Is Anna. It is set in the 1930s in the east end of London. It is a delightful book and probably the best book on theology you will find, and it is by a four-year-old. The story is about a wonderful relationship between a little girl, who had run away from an abusive home life, and Fynn, a 19-year-old student who takes her into his heart and home. Anna’s favourite topic of conversation is about Mister God, and she has a very special relationship with him. Fynn is amazed at her knowledge and spirituality, and he delights in her mischievous sense of fun. After many conversations, Fynn says this: ‘Anna had distilled centuries of learning into one sentence, “And God said love me, love them, and love it, and don’t forget to love yourself.” ‘The whole business of adults going to church filled Anna with suspicion. The idea of collective worship went against her sense of private conversations with Mister God. ‘As for going to church to meet Mister God, that was preposterous. After all, if Mister God wasn’t everywhere, he wasn’t anywhere. For her, churchgoing and “Mister God” talks had no necessary connection. ‘For her, the whole thing was transparently simple. You went to church to get the message when you were very little. Once you had got it, you went out and did something about it.’ The book draws us in to Anna’s innate love of God, and is such a refreshing reminder of God’s relationship with children. No wonder Jesus said about children: ‘Of such is the Kingdom of Heaven.’