Blankets, Quilts, Grace: What do they have in common?

the expanding blanket of grace

You know Gillian, when we spoke the other day I was so excited to think about what it means to raise children and to have a theology of family Christian Education. This project I am working on helping parents define just such a thing has been a powerful experience for me. Working within the tenets of the Presbyterian tradition, it has been enlightening to explore a model of family youth ministry developed by the church community for its own children.

The model I proposed to be developed is one of ever expanding grace. I like to use imagery in this kind of work as well, so my primary image is of a blanket of grace. I like the idea of a receiving blanket of grace as what protects and covers a child in the beginning of life. But as they grow the needs change and the blanket expands to accommodate their particular stages and spurts. And finally, by the time they are ready to leave the nest, they have a quilt of grace made up of all their blankets of grace ready to keep them safe as they venture into the world.

The model and imagery are nice and all, but of what practical value are they? I see it as an opportunity to truly build efficacy in youth through the shared values of a religious community. There are opportunities to define boundaries, address the changing needs of youth as they encounter different situations, as well as provide assurance of being covered and protected by not just the community, but also something larger than themselves. I like to imagine what it is to walk and live every day cloaked in a blanket of grace. It’s a theological start to combat the stressors of youth reality from techno bullying to illicit drugs.

That means that grace and all it provides has to be communicated, which means that faith has to be addressed and defined. Grace and faith, the intangibles of the security of God’s presence in our lives are much more readily understood in light of the endless possibilities of youth. But those possibilities do not have to shrink in the cold light of day or be re-imagined like Santa or the Easter Bunny. Certainty of grace, once understood through faith stays around like the quilt that it can be. I think that this is what Christ meant when he said, ‘you must be like this child’.

As youth move through their awkward stages, so often the feeling is one of the outsider that is being judge just because of whom you happen to be at that moment. I for one know that if it weren’t for God’s grace blanketed around me my outsider insecurity would have kept me from embracing the totality of who I was made to be. I know that joy and think the children in our lives deserve to know it too.