"My mom and I don't go," said the sixteen year-old.

"Oh?" -- says I. "And why not?"

"We've got a thing about church. We don't think people really need it.. And we don't believe in Jesus. Be we are very spiritual people."

So here was yet another "spiritual" person. They're all over the place these days. But this kid was a little different. Still so young -- yet already too good for Jesus and his church.

"I'm glad to hear that you are 'spiritual,'" I said. "That must mean you believe in God."

"Oh yes!" he said. "But I don't believe you have to go to church to serve God. God is everywhere."

"I think we can agree on that," I said, "but tell me, what is your God like?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean is the God you believe in good or bad -- helpful or hurtful -- loving or indifferent?"

"God is loving," the boy quickly answered.

"How loving?"

"God is love," he said. "My mom and I both believe that."

"I like the idea," he told him. I may have even heard it somewhere before. I pushed a little further: "Does your God love everybody -- as they are -- without condition?"

"Yes, I believe that," he said.

"Just where did you get this image of God?" I asked the boy.

"Well," he said, "that is what my mom has always taught me."

"And your mom doesn't go to church?"

"No."

"And where did your mom get the idea of God?"

"She got it from her mom. My grandmother is one of the best people in the world."

"Does your grandmother go to church?" I asked.

"Oh, yes," said the boy, "she goes to church all the time."

"I thought so,"  I said. "I knew someone in your family had met Jesus."

*  *  *

And I told him that his image of God came from Jesus, and had been preserved by the Church for 2000 years.

And now I'm telling the same thing right now to all of you "spiritual" people out there. It's time to give credit where credit is due.

You've been claiming the love, now claim the name. Get to church somewhere this Sunday.

It's time to give thanks.