A remarkable faith, tested

“This Child of Faith” is the story of a mother and son’s shared journey. Sophfronia Scott is a writer and novelist; Tain Gregory is an eighth-grader who enjoys playing video games, acting in musicals and riding his bike.

In many ways, Tain is just like any other adolescent boy. In a couple of ways, however, he is different: He has a keen and curious faith, and he was in a third-grade classroom at the Sandy Hook elementary school in Newtown, Conn. on the morning of the massacre that killed 26 children and educators.

This memoir, told alternately in the voices of Sophfronia and Tain, is the story of a child of extraordinary, even aspirational faith, and the wise mother who not only nurtures that faith but also is willing to learn from it. Tain’s natural inborn spirituality is dramatically apparent to Sophfronia, not least because she yearns to nurture faith in herself.

A wonderful moment comes when Sophfronia reads a Forward Movement tract in a church foyer and realizes with both relief and wonder that she finally has found her family’s spiritual home. “I had been seeking an approximation, something we could live with,” she says. “I set out seeking something ‘less than,’ and here God showed me I could have ‘more than’ …Was the Episcopal Church my bigger dream?”

We are taken along on the journey as Sophfronia and Tain attend services for the first time, unravel the mysterious workings and liturgical rites of the institution, and create their own rituals and practices. The book is a wonderful advertisement for the Episcopal Church, and it is a testament to the power of faith when things go wrong — as, of course, they always tend to do.

The chapter titled “When Summer Disappeared” foreshadows the unnatural tragedy to come. With the help and support of their new pastor and congregation, Sophfronia and Tain navigate significant losses … and the screw tightens. "is book is a natural page-turner, the tension ratcheting up because the reader is well aware of where the book is headed — towards the unthinkable horror of Dec. 14, 2012.

To her great credit, Sophfronia deals with the events and aftermath of that day in the barest of language, without cliché or sensationalism. She successfully conveys the horror of hearing there has been a shooting at the school, and the subsequent waiting, without sentimentalism. It is a remarkable writing feat.

“Suddenly there it was — that gaping, soundless void,” she writes. “It is an abyss separating the now from what comes next … I had remembered Pastor Kathie’s words: ‘That’s when you have other people pray for you.’”

Sophfronia has learned to lean on her faith and her community, and it gets her through. Tain survives but loses a friend. His response to the events is nothing short of remarkable. He displays such a deep and instinctive understanding of bodily resurrection that Sophfronia is taken aback. It’s the natural knowing of a spiritual child; it’s a shining lesson for all of us.

The arc of this book makes it a good companion on the Lenten journey. It should also appeal to seekers, to parents, and to anyone interested in the ability of faith to bolster resilience in the face of terrible trauma and loss. Tain Gregory may be young, but he’s an effective teacher. And Sophfronia Scott is a testament to the power of that critical yet underrated skill particularly relevant to this season of Lent: listening.

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