Dear Mount Olivet Community,
Greetings to you this Lenten season! I love the changing of seasons as the snow begins to melt and give way to waters that bring new life, seeds that will grow and flowers that will blossom. I hope the changing of seasons brings joy and wonder to your explorers as they experience the mysteries of God’s ever-changing creation.
I am writing this letter to share with you my excitement about our upcoming Faith Explorers curriculum!
Beginning on April 12th for Wednesday Faith Explorers and April 16th for Sunday Family Faith Explorers, we will be learning about a very timely topic that deeply lives in the intersection of our faith and culture. The four-part lesson plan is called “Love and Justice” and will focus on how anti-racism and anti-bias training is an important part of our faith formation, and how racism, prejudice, and stereotypes go against the created diversity of God’s good creation.
Racial justice is a faith issue. We should not separate our understanding of God’s salvific works from the realities of the world around us. Children today have been exposed to the realities of Covid-19, school shooting drills, the unrest following the death of George Floyd, and the way that our differences have been sources of political and cultural divisions. This is something that children see on the news every day, hear about among their peer groups, and have lived through.
It is important to us as the Faith Formation Team at Mount Olivet that we show God is actively a part of the world, not just the good parts and not just on Sundays and Wednesdays, but the uncomfortable parts and the parts that scare us. In the baptismal promises, we promise as the family of the baptized and as the faith community to “live among God’s faithful people… to serve all people following the example of Jesus… and to strive for justice and peace in all the earth.”
This lesson is designed to address these baptismal promises by asking: what does God’s justice and peace look like for our contemporary world? How do we serve all people, not just people that look like us, in following the example of Jesus?
I want to emphasize that these lessons are age-appropriate and each one is rooted in a Bible story. Here is a brief overview of the four lessons that are a part of this curriculum:
Week 1: Prejudice and Stereotypes (Acts 8:26-40). This lesson is based on the story of Philip and the Ethiopian from Acts 8. In Philip’s time, there were many stereotypes about Gentiles (people who were not Jewish), and yet, Philip looked past those stereotypes and prejudices to have a conversation with the Ethiopian and talk about Jesus and the Bible. This will be tied into the ways we often have stereotypes and prejudices today that we frequently do not even realize, and when we look past them, we can better learn from each other and see the image of God reflected in all people.
Week 2: Curiosity and Empathy (Acts 10:1-11:18). This lesson is based on the Apostle Peter’s interaction with a person named Cornelius, who was a Gentile. Peter did not think people could follow Jesus unless they were just like him. God sent Cornelius to challenge those ideas and also showed Peter in a dream that God is more expansive than Peter initially thought. This lesson shows that asking questions and learning about one another, especially people different from us, can encourage compassion and connection.
Week 3: Colors and Cultures (Genesis 11:1-9). This lesson is based on the Tower of Babel story, which is the Old Testament’s origin story for why there are so many different languages and cultures throughout the world. This lesson shows us that God created our diversity, from skin color to our expressions of culture and family.
Week 4: Love and Justice (Hebrews 11). The author of Hebrews 11 talks about how there is a “great cloud of witnesses” that surround us. We will then examine two people who are part of that great cloud of witness who helped work for justice in their own time and place: Sojourner Truth and Harriet Tubman. The lesson ends with an invitation to explore how we can work for justice in our own time and place.
These lessons, as all Faith Explorers lessons have been this year, are full of crafts, games, and stories to help engage the explorers at their unique learning levels. My hope is that Faith Explorers stirs up within each child curiosity, creativity, and a faith that carries them through the ups and downs of their entire life.
If you would like to take a deep dive into these themes at an adult-level to help support your explorers’ learnings, Beth McGrew-King will be leading a class on Wednesday nights (4/12-4/26) that cover the same topics that the Faith Explorers are covering. Additionally, we encourage you to follow the opportunities from the MORE (Mount Olivet Racial Equity) team.
I also am happy to address any questions, curiosities, or concerns about the curriculum that you may have.
Thank you so much for supporting your child’s faith formation by having them participate in Faith Explorers and our other programming at Mount Olivet. It is such a joy and blessing to accompany the explorers along their faith journeys.
Peace and all good,
Pace C. Warfield-May
Director of Children and Family Faith Formation