Claire Brown - New Directions for Holy Questions: Progressive Christian Theology for Families

Progressive Christian Theology
for Families

Claire Brown and Anita Peebles

Illustrations by Perry Hodgkins Jones

To our readers and all wonderers, may you have curiosity
and courage to explore new directions for your holy questions.

Copyright 2022 by Claire Brown and Anita Peebles

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photo-copying, recording, or otherwise, without the written permission of the publisher.

Morehouse Publishing, 19 East 34th Street, New York, NY 10016
Morehouse Publishing is an imprint of Church Publishing Incorporated.

Cover design by Jennifer Kopec, 2Pug Design
Interior design and typesetting by Beth Oberholtzer

A record of this book is available from the Library of Congress.

ISBN-13: 978-1-64065-455-6 (paperback)
ISBN-13: 978-1-64065-456-3 (ebook)

Dear Readers (those young in age and young at heart),

We are so glad you are here, holding this book. We welcome you to this journey of asking some big questions about God the same way we start the first chapter: You are beloved. Beginning, middle, and end. Each chapter begins with a question. Some questions are about God, some are about Jesus, some are about the church and the Bible and rituals that Christ followers do together. Some questions have answers. Some are simple, and some are complex. And some questions help us learn about ourselves more than we learn about an answer. There are all sorts of questions in this book. We invite you to add your own questions to these, too! You might think Why? or How? or I wonder... As you read, journal or color or talk about these questions with someone you love. Be curious!

In the middle of each chapter, you will find some spiritual practices. A spiritual practice is an activity that helps you come close to Gods heart and feel Gods presence. There are lots of different kinds of spiritual practices in this book: some that you can do by yourself and some that you can do with other people. We encourage you to try all of them and listen to your heart for what works best for you.

Toward the end of each chapter are stories about justice. These stories tell how individuals and groups have worked to make the world more generous, loving, and safe for all people. As you read these justice stories, think about what you can do to make the world a better place.

Who are we, the writers? We are beloved children of God, too. We are women who were called by God to be pastors and to serve Gods church, especially children and youth like you! We are friends who like to sit on porches and drink tea and laugh and cry and sing and dance and learn together. We are curious people who love Jesus and who want to learn all we can about how to live with justice in this world.

As you read this book and ask questions and wonder, we pray that you will know in your bones and in your breath and in your heart that God loves you just the way you are. We are praying for you, as are the generations that have gone before us that we call the clouds of witnesses. You are not alone, for you are held in the love of the Holy all your life.

Beloved child of God, this book is for you.

Wondering with you,
Claire and Anita

A couple of years ago, Claires family made the unfortunate backyard discovery of a small nest of baby rabbits that had died. Her then four-year-old was distraught and wanted a bunny funeral. As a mom and an Episcopal priest, she felt like this was a great learning moment. Ritual! Meaning making! Reverence for all creation! Grief and acceptance! All was going well until, several hours after the service, her son said, Can we go check and see if God has raised the bunnies from the dead yet?

Uh oh. That was not quite right. Why does it feel so difficult to have these conversations? How do we ponder big, holy questions with kids in a way that helps us all grow?

Parents and professional practitioners who care about sharing the Christian faith with their kids can run into all sorts of sticky spots and weird ideas as we explore the big questions. This book is not full of answers or a template that will smooth a bumpy conversation, but its meant to be a companion in your conversations as you and the children in your life learn, grow, and wonder together. More advanced readers might pick this book up on their own, and that is awesome! We encourage adults to let those learners lead the conversation. Others might benefit from reading aloud one chapter at a time with an adult and having some encouragement and guidance in their learning. Each chapter also includes a few summary points that offer adults a script for emerging questions about God and faith with children not old enough to read this book on their own.

We are companions on this journey with you. Claire is an Episcopal parish priest raising two young children with her spouse in southeast Tennessee. Anita is an ordained Baptist pastor associated with the Alliance of Baptists, and works with children and youth in Seattle, Washington. We met while students at Vanderbilt Divinity School in Nashville, where we studied, prayed, served, and worshipped with people with diverse theologies.

In each chapter, we retell a story from the Bible. All acts of translating ancient texts make editorial choices, and we believe that it can be faithful and helpful to tell these stories in fresh ways and with accessible language. With every retelling, the scripture reference is included. We encourage you to look up these passages in your preferred translation and dig deeper into the context and content of the story and surrounding passages of scripture. This continued exploration is also a great way to help children understand the complexity and breadth of the Bible and see where else curiosity might lead.

Anytime we study and read and pray with the Bible and theology, we will run into questions. Sometimes questioning faith is scary or lonely, and it can feel like youre the only one wondering. Let us say here and now that you are not alone! Asking questions is one way to love God with your mind, by growing deeper in your understanding of Holy Presence in our world. As you read this book, remember that these questions are great! In fact, New Directions for Holy Questions is filled with open-ended questions on purpose. We hope they offer reflection and conversation between children or children and adults. Many of these questions dont have one answer and are meant to expand the readers curiosity about scripture, theology, prayer, and our experiences of God. Maybe you will find new ideas here that are different from what youve learned at church, or new ways of thinking about a certain Bible story. Maybe you arent satisfied with the open questions. If you find yourself asking these questions in your own faith, we encourage you to check out the faith formation resources for adults on our books website, newdirectionsforholyquestions.com.