Jesus is a ghost

As a family we went to a Stations of the Cross mass tonight in honor of Good Friday. It was run by the Catholic Worker house and each "station" was along the downtown mall and linked Christ's via dolorosa to various symbols of oppression in Charlottesville. It was a very cool experience.

The first few stations went well. Lucy was engaged and liked the songs. (Although, at one point she danced from station to station, apparently under the assumption that this was a parade.) She prayed with us and said Amen.

At the seventh station, Lucy saw the cross that a girl was carrying and asked all sorts of question about it - What is the cross made out of? What color is it? Can I hold it? This of course was during a very serious reflection on the sins and oppression of violence and war.

At the next station, Lucy saw the cross and said, "Jesus died on the cross!" I smiled at her and looked around, secretly hoping other people heard that. "That's right!" I said. Feeling smug and self-righteous, I thought about what a great job we're doing parenting. What a precocious two-year-old, that my kid knows about Jesus, grace, and redemption. She's most certainly on her way to sainthood.

But then, she pulled a Lucy.

Smiling, she looked back at me and said, "Boo! He's a ghost!" and cracked up laughing. She then proceeded to run in crazy circles screaming, "Boo! Jesus is a ghost!"

I totally didn't see that one coming.