“Mom, does God love boys more than girls?”
The little girl’s mom couldn’t imagine how her daughter got that idea. But then the daughter explained that she had just finished reading her children’s Bible, and she had scarcely noticed any women or girls in the stories.
That mother/child conversation inspired National Geographic writer, Mariko Clark, to write a storybook Bible. She stays true to the text, but she includes some of the characters that we sometimes omit. She wanted her daughter and other children to know that they “belonged” in God’s unfolding story. The result is a beautifully illustrated book called “The Book of Belonging,” which features 20 Old Testament stories and 22 New Testament stories.
My colleague, Rev. Katie Smith Mussat, introduced me to the book, and I assumed it was only for children. But when I read it cover to cover I realized that it brings the stories to contemporary life for people of all ages: adults, teens, and yes, younger children. As I read it, I began to rethink the Bible. What if the Bible tells the story of how humans are connected to God? What if the stories of Abraham and Sarah, Peter and Esther, Jesus and Mary are not meant to take us back to the olden days of God’s truth but to help us imagine how we are part of God’s story?
Beginning October 12, Dr. Graves and I will use this book as the springboard for a sermon series called “The Book of Belonging.” This fall will focus on Old Testament stories, and in the winter of 2026, New Testament stories. For generations, people have asked, “Did God write the Bible or inspire the Bible?” I wonder if a better question might be, “How does God picture you and I belonging to God’s unfolding story?”
Some days it seems like God is pretty far away from us. Or as my friend says, “Is God on a long coffee break?” The Biblical stories of family division, of national upheaval, of passionate love, of tender friendship, might be God’s way of claiming us as God’s beloved. I am picturing you around the dinner table or snuggled on the sofa reading with your children or grandchildren and savoring the stories and asking them how they belong to God.
