Story contributed by Kristen
Click here for the theological background
Remember, repetition helps children internalize and make connections. It might be a good idea to read the same story every day for a week. You can add different activities every day.
“Every creature of God is good”
1 Timothy 4:4
Dear little one,
This is not a letter from Paul. This is a letter from me, your mama. I am wondering how to talk about difficult things. I want to try to talk about difficult things.
You know how much I love the stories of Jesus. And how much I love the people who tried to follow Jesus even after he died. They tried so hard, and they did so many good things. Sometimes they made big mistakes, and they hurt each other. And sometimes, the wider world they lived in taught them things that they thought were true even though they weren’t, not really. And sometimes the things they thought were true got mixed up with the things they taught about Jesus. And so sometimes, in the midst of the stories about Jesus, we have big messes of things that aren’t really true that have been passed down, from person to person, kind of like a germ.
Maybe you’re wondering how you can tell if something is true, or if it comes from God. That is a very good question with many different answers. I believe that you will learn to feel after what is true and from God, and I trust you. But I want to tell you one thing I believe about the truth: true things from God do not create boundaries and divisions between people. They do not teach that some people are better or more important than others. Because, my precious child, every creature of God is good. From hairy spiders and ticks and mosquitos to lions and cheetahs and wildebeests and mastodons and you, every creature of God is good. And no creature is more important than another.
This is a big true thing. Maybe it is the biggest true thing. I am still trying to understand what that means, and how to live it. I hope you will help me. While we try, we might cry sometimes when we see creatures who are hurting. We might need to wash away the things that aren’t true wherever we see them. We always need to talk about our questions, and our fears, and our hopes. As we do, I believe we will feel our way forward into God’s big dream for us. I hope we can help heal our brothers and sisters who have been hurt and who are hurting because they have been taught untrue things.
My love, I hope you will join me on this journey. It is very hard sometimes, and we make mistakes. But there are so many on this road who are teaching us. We are trying to listen, and follow, and look to the wide open sky, and have hope.
Ideas for Play
Contributed by Kristen
- Who do you look to for examples of faith? Talk about your spiritual ancestors and your spiritual anchors. Make a map of your spiritual influences.
- Read:
These books can open conversations about how to deal with boundaries and differences in our world, including race. Go where you want to discuss!
- Make a collage of “every creature of God is good” with pictures/drawings of all creation!
- How do you recognize truth/myths? Discuss as a family
Poetry
Compiled by Caroline
Discernment Prayer
by Mary Wickham
God of our ordinary
days and nights,
God of extraordinary times,
together we pray-
guide our discerning
and our deciding.
Attune our hearts
to the murmurings
both of peace
and of disquiet,
so that, aware of
risk and of promise,
we move trustfully
into the future.
Uncloud our eyes to know
what we need to leave,
what to seek,
and what to hold for the journey,
that we will find our feet
on the right track,
walking the merciful path,
led by your unerring Spirit.
Together we pray-
for the love of Jesus,
with the help of Mary,
in the company of Catherine.
Amen.
***
“The House of Belonging”
Written by David Whyte
I awoke
this morning
in the gold light
turning this way
and that
thinking for
a moment
it was one
day
like any other.
But
the veil had gone
from my
darkened heart
and
I thought
it must have been the quiet
candlelight
that filled my room,
it must have been
the first
easy rhythm
with which I breathed
myself to sleep,
it must have been
the prayer I said
speaking to the otherness
of the night.
And
I thought
this is the good day
you could
meet your love,
this is the gray day
someone close
to you could die.
This is the day
you realize
how easily the thread
is broken
between this world
and the next
and I found myself
sitting up
in the quiet pathway
of light,
the tawny
close grained cedar
burning round
me like fire
and all the angels of this housely
heaven ascending
through the first
roof of light
the sun has made.
This is the bright home
in which I live,
this is where
I ask
my friends
to come,
this is where I want
to love all the things
it has taken me so long
to learn to love.
This is the temple
of my adult aloneness
and I belong
to that aloneness
as I belong to my life.
There is no house
like the house of belonging.
Art
Compiled by Caroline
Jesus Healing the Blind Man, by Brian Jekel
Music
Compiled by Caroline
Crowded Table, The Highwomen
Be Thou My Vision, Shane and Shane
Be Thou My Vision, by Abby and Annalie
milk & honey mamas 
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