The Great Big Bible Story Walkthrough Begins!
Henceforth GBBW. Also, YAY!
IT’S HERE! WE’RE STARTING! I’M SO EXCITED!
One thing that comes with getting to write a book is a necessary focus book-ward and a pause on making other kinds of things. This is A-OK, and understandable, but for a long time I’ve been pretty clear within myself: what I enjoy most and think I’m most helpful with is doing good theological and interpretive work in ways that kids really ‘get’.
What I love about having Woven out there is we have a shared language around what we’re trying to do. What I love about the GBBW is that it’s tools for how to do it.
If you missed it last week, allow me to catch you up. If you know what’s up, scroll to the GBBW banner.
What is the GBBW?
The Great Big Bible Story Walkthrough is a year-long series where we’ll dive into a selection of Bible stories with a particular focus on how to engage the kids in our lives.
It’s for anyone who has ever wanted to feel more knowledgable about the Bible, more prepared for the stuff kids ask about, or more equipped to talk about the Bible in kid-accessible ways.
How does the GBBW work?
Every week we’ll do a new story and you’ll get:
a mini essay with some key features for interpreting the story
a kid-accessible paraphrase of the story
3 ideas—Wonder, Play and Pray—for responding to the story
an Ask Away podcast episode, AND!
a two-page commentary and context cheat sheet curated around the stuff kids often wonder about or think is neat. (This is for you, not written for a kid to read per se.)
It’s a little bit like I’m writing you a kids’ Bible as we go, but with extra goodies so you are even more ready for conversations with kids.
Use the ‘Comment’ button for story questions
If you have a question about that week’s Bible story, someone else does too. Drop it in the comments and myself or my husband Curtis, my partner in all this fun, will be sure to reply!
This will let you refer back to a post by story and see any Q+A’s that go with it.
How much does it cost?
Subscriptions are $30/year or $5/month (it’s the minimum required by Substack), and you’re looking at 40+ stories and supplemental tools. You can update your subscription to join in.
And if you’re on the fence, you can check out Week 1, Creation right now.
Also, if you can’t swing the cost, just reply and let me know. I’ve been there, and I’d be glad to add you to the list for free.
If you are a church leader…
Church folks, if you find you’re using GBBW resources to help with your program…
ONE: I’M THRILLED!!!
TWO: would you please update your membership to a Church Use subscription? If you need to check out a few stories first to see if it’s a fit, that’s totally fine.
THREE: please don’t download the goodies and then email them to your families. If you think they might be good resources for your people, send them my way!
Creation
As we make our way through the stories in the Bible, one of my main goals is to help you see how those individual stories fit into the big narrative arc they’re a part of. I think the Bible is consistent throughout in its picture of who God is, and what God is up to in the world.
So think of this as a brief sketch of that picture now, one we’ll color it in bit by bit as the GBBW continues.
The story of creation sets the tone for the entire narrative, especially by giving us a glimpse into
the dream God has for the world, and
how God intends to achieve that dream.
THE DREAM: God dreams of a world that is in harmony with and reflective of God’s own character.
That’s it. That’s the dream. But packed within that simple sentence are a host of beautiful implications. Because God’s character is beautiful, and it’s complex. The dream means creation is supposed to be full of life and joy and vibrance. It needs to be characterized by justice and peace and love. It should be good, very good, which is, of course, how it’s described in Genesis.
In fact, Genesis highlights a couple other characteristics of God that we might not think of as often, but are just as important to the dream.
Creativity and maximum diversity
First, God is endlessly creative and loves diversity, and creation itself is intended to reflect those realities. Creatures are repeatedly told to fill the earth, and the earth itself is invited to bring forth all kinds of life. This is, incidentally, one reason I find evolution a perfect fit for what God is up to – you could not come up with a better way to maximize the diversity and abundance of life.
THE HOW: God shares power and wants to partner with humans to achieve the dream.
Second, Genesis 1-2 is the story of a God who shares power and wants to partner with humans to achieve the dream. From Adam and Eve, to Noah, to Abraham, to Israel, to Jesus and the Church, the consistent theme is that God does not just make things happen, but invites humans to be God’s representatives (bear God’s image) on earth. This desire for partnership is not some strange quirk, nor is it a way for God to stack the deck against Themself so as to make the dream a real challenge. This is central to who God is. Achieving the dream without partnering to do it would be an oxymoron.
Partnership and choice
On top of that, the character of this God-Human partnership matters. It needs to be freely chosen, for one thing. God does not force Themself on humans, but gives them freedom to walk away, because freedom is part of God’s character. The idea of there being two paths for people to choose – one of which leads to life and the other to death – shows up again and again in the Bible.
The foundation is trust
And, this points to another characteristic of God’s partnership with people: the relationship has trust as its foundation. Throughout the story, when humans trust God the result is life for themselves and for the world – the dream inches closer; when they put their trust elsewhere the dream slips away in all sorts of ways.
The beautiful, compelling invitation from God is to say yes. Yes to trust, yes to making our mark on the world in ways that are uniquely ours but feel like God’s character too. As we do that, we join God in making the glorious dream a reality. God created a good world and shared it with us, and we get to be part of making a world that is in harmony with and reflects God’s character.
Have a question about Genesis 1-2? Leave it in the comments! (We’ll do chapter 3 next week, so if they are sin/fall questions, hold off for now.)
Kids story + Wonder, Play, Pray Pages
Commentary + Context Page for Grown Ups
Ask Away: our newest + our first episode
Be sure you’re subscribed for next week!
I’ll only send out the next GBBW to paid subscribers next week, and I hope that’s you!
May our God remind you, over and over, that you are made with care, an image bearer invited to make your mark on this world. May our God encourage you as you help the kids in your life discover the same.
Amen.
Really appreciate all of this! After doing this first week my son said, "That was fun, can we do another one?!", which is not his usual response, yay!
Meredith, this is exactly what I need for myself and my kiddos. Question about some language: I’ve been reading a lot about the indigenous perspective about humans’ place in the world (Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Kimmerer Wall is outstanding) and one topic I’ve heard a bunch about is that the idea of humans “governing” creation creates a hierarchy and is deeply rooted in colonialism and white supremacy (some things and therefore some people) are good and others are bad/leas valuable. Do you see a way to talk about humans being God’s image bearers and the job They gave us in a way that does not place humans above the rest of creation?