‚ÄúWHAT COLOR WAS BABY JESUS’ HAIR? REPRESENTING THE CHRIST CHILD MULTICULTURALLY‚Äù
by Alexis Chin
From: Building Faith — A MINISTRY OF VIRGINIA THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY
www.buildfaith.org/representing-the-christ-child-multiculturally/
Activity: The Holy Family in Art (click here for full lesson/resource)
Across cultures, Jesus and his family have inspired countless works of art. Christians around the world have represented the Holy Family. When we use art in our teaching we ignite visual learners and inspire children’s own art-making. Using books or online tools, select images of Jesus from different cultures and time periods to compare and contrast.
Another resource on this topic is the lovely 2017 children’s book, “That Baby in the Manger” by Anne E. Neuberger
“A contemporary and unique children’s Christmas book about Jesus’ love for all children. That Baby in the Manger is about a Catholic congregation of multi-racial children who notice that the baby Jesus in the creche at church is white. As the story unfolds, they bring their own dolls (of different races) and stuffed animals to the manger scene. Childlike, fun and sweet, this is a contemporary children’s Christmas book with themes of inclusion and acceptance of cultural differences.”
An Introduction
The Quaker Religious Education Collaborative (QREC) is an international, cross-branch, grassroots network of Friends sharing a stewardship for lifelong Quaker faith formation through religious education. We formed in April 2014 and now serve more than 300 Friends in our network. We actively engage and support each other across languages and continents. We gather for regional and annual conferences and offer monthly Conversation Circles via an online conferencing platform.
Steering Circle
We share leadership as part of our collaborative mission, making decisions using the Quaker ‘sense of the meeting’ process, sitting in expectant, worshipful waiting for the emergence of shared truth. Read more…
Working Circles
Our work takes place in ‘circles’ or small groups of Friends who labor on a common task, usually meeting by video conference due to the geographic diversity of the membership. Read more…
The Resource Library
Finders Guide, a sampling of the collection
The QREC Resource Library is a place to share lessons and other educational information in support of our work as Quaker religious educators. This library is a forum for curricula, articles, videos and other educational materials on Quaker themes. You will also find principles, policies and procedures to strengthen operation of your child, youth and adult religious education programs.
Children's Education
Adult Education
Family
African Quaker Library
Youth Education
Small Meetings
Young Adult Friends
Biblioteca QREC
Events
Find renewal, companionship, and help for nitty gritty issues in Quaker religious education, all the while opening spaces for Spirit to work and listening together for God’s way forward.
QREC holds an annual conference and retreat. In addition we hold online Conversation Circles and post other religious education events as we learn about them.
Conversation Circles
Online conferences for Quaker religious educators to share about their work. Conversations are scheduled for two sessions per topic to encourage international participation. Join the conversation…
Other Events
Religious education events of interest to Quakers from all parts of the world. Please let us know about upcoming online or in-person events happening in your area. See the list of upcoming events…
Love at the Heart
Spiritual Practices
Discernment
Active Caring
Quaker Family Culture
Finding the Light
Faith at Home
Home is the heart of faith formation for all families. This is especially true for Friends. As an experiential religion, Quakerism is best learned through living in loving community. Indeed, the vast majority of faith formation for our young Friends happens at home in the busy swirl of daily life.
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Get Involved
QREC depends on all of us sharing our gifts and skills as religious educators. Here are some of the ways you can get involved…