God's Very Good Idea
If you are like me, you are probably wondering how to talk to your children about all that has been happening in these past several days. The reality is that systemic racism and violence is not a new problem, but it might feel fresh to you because our city bears the marks of years of grief expressed over these past few nights.
I am grieving over the violence in our streets and over the violence committed against our fellow image bearers. We need to communicate to our own hearts that Black lives matter as well as to our children. I do not have all the answers, but you and I do have a gift from God in his Word, and in these uncertain and emotionally fraught times, we can turn to his Word together for answers.
How do we do that? Among many places, we can turn to Revelation 5 and see a vivid picture of peoples from every tribe and nation joining in the chorus of praise for Jesus our king. We can turn to Acts 2 and read the account of Pentecost where the Spirit is poured out so that all peoples can know the love of God in Christ Jesus.
In the video embedded at the bottom of this post I am reading from a wonderful book entitled God’s Very Good Idea: A True Story About God’s Delightfully Different Family written by Trillia Newbell and illustrated by Catalina Echeverti. I hope that my reading it can serve as a launching point for conversations with your children. As I said before, I don’t have all the answers, but I do know that pretending that diversity does not exist in an effort to be “color-blind” is not an answer.
From the very beginning of our children’s lives we should celebrate the very good gift of diversity because it was God’s idea in the first place! Will you and your family take a few minutes to watch this read-aloud story together and discuss what you heard? It may lead to uncomfortable questions and discussion, but one way in which our congregation can seek the welfare of our black and brown brothers and sisters is to be willing to get uncomfortable.
Recently I took up running since all of the gyms are closed and one thing I have heard over and over is that one of the keys to being successful in running is that I need to become comfortable with being uncomfortable. It is the same with these conversations around racial reconciliation. You and I must, if we wish to run the race set out before us, become comfortable with being uncomfortable. It’s in that place where repentance, gospel growth, and life happens!
Some Ideas to start the discussion as a family:
After watching the video ask your kids what they thought about the story. Have them summarize back to you parts that they remember.
Ask them questions like: “What does it mean that God loves all types of people?” “Who had the idea of making everyone look different in the first place?” “If it was God’s idea, does that mean that differences are good or bad?” etc.
Ask your children if they know what is happening, gauge their level of understanding, listen for any anxieties or fears that may be present.
Take some time to pray for the city, to pray for justice, to pray for racial reconciliation…they may not understand everything that is going on, but they can understand when something is important to their parent and that means it should be important to them as well.
I don’t want to pretend that any of this is exhaustive, or even the best way to have a conversation. You know your kids better than I ever will, and God has called you to love and shepherd them. He will give you the grace to lead them through difficult conversations such as this. I, along with all of the church leadership, are here as a resource to you. Please let me know if you’d like more resources and I’d be happy to provide them to you. Please know that I am praying for you and your children.