Resources for Older Youth

Choose what seem interesting and doable for you or your family at the moment.  When you gather with your peers, you'll have the opportunity to share something you've learned from what you've read, watched or listened to.  Together you'll be invited to engage that learning and reflect on how the Bible speaks to us and calls to do justice in the way of Jesus.

Making Sense of the World
We each carry a story with us - our own, our ancestors', the land.   Part of our story in the church  is the Biblical narrative.  We need to acknowledge the injustice written into our stories and we can claim the people and movements of resistance and shalom-building.  This video about justice in the Bible shows how throughout the Bible, God is calling God's people to be creators of just peace.

What's your story? What's your family's story?  And what stories aren't getting told?  These stories highlight the way people's stories intersect with each other.  

• Ruth 2 - Ruth is identified as an outsider, but people in her new community welcome her as family
• Matt 1:1-17 - The genealogy of Jesus highlights the women and 'outsiders' (like Ruth) in his history as well as the towering figures (like David).
• John 4:5-30 - Jesus and the woman at the well in Samaria see each other in the fullness of each identity and connect across the traditional divides.

Read:

• This Book is AntiRacist by Tiffany Jewell (Ch 6-9)
• Stamped: Racism, Anti-Racism and You - Jason Reynolds - Look for the Mennonites who show up in Chapter 2!
• "When I Grow Up I Want to Be a Martyr" by Cortney Lamar Charleston - Who are the examples of Black excellence and fame that young Cortney had?   What does that evoke? Would/should his parents be proud? Would Jesus?
• The Invisible Backpack - as essay by Peggy Macintos. What surprises you from her list? What can you identify with? What would you add?
• "Microaggressions" post by the Conscious Kid on Instagram

Watch/Listen:

• Racism Iceberg - by roots of justice - 3 min
• White Privilege - an animation, including a summary of the Invisible Backpack - 4 min
• "S**t White Girls Say...to Black Girls" - Francesca Ramsey embodies microagressions - 3 min
• If Microaggressions were Mosquito Bites - 2 min (CW fowl language)
• Trevor Noah talks about the way "Stop and Frisk" and policing in general works against Black people (CW: several F-bombs) - 4 min
• Francesca Ramsey on the murder of Michael Brown, after which protests sparked the Black Lives Matter movement - 6 min

Engage:

• ​Make a timeline of your life or create a family tree and discover the stories of your ancestors.  Where do you see or experience privilege? Where and how do you see action for justice? ​
• Take a look at your bookshelf or library history.  Which authors do you read? Whose stories do you listen to? Why? How can you bring stories different from your own into your life?​
• Take the Racial Bias Test (Harvard) --  this will help you understand what your biases might be

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Making Sense of Our Identities
God made each of us in the divine image.  White and Black and every shade in between we are called to celebrate and understand what makes us different and unique and what we have in common. What makes you unique? How do you describe yourself? Who do you belong to and with? God gave you this identity as a gift and one of the places you belong is in God's family. Read the stories below of people who struggled with and also figured out their own identities and came to celebrate them.

• Genesis 32:22-32 - Jacob wrestles with God and is named Israel, a new identity connected intimately with his struggle with God.
• Luke 1:26-38, 46-55 - Mary encounters the angel who identifies her as God's chosen one and she proclaims her identity, young, unmarried, poor, to be deeply rooted in God's saving love and justice.

Read

​Books

• This Book is AntiRacist by Tiffany Jewell (Ch 1-5)
• Stamped: Racism, Anti-Racism and You - Ibram X Kendi
• March Series of graphic novels by John Lewis, Andrew Aydin and illustrated by Nate Powel(Book 1)

Poem:

• "The Song of the Feet" by Nikki Giovanni - google the references and allusions that you're not familiar with

Watch or Listen

• Systemic Racism Explained (Animation - 4 min)
• Seeing White Fragility (Animation - 6.5 min)
• Why Are White People so Bad at Talking about Race (Robbin DiAngelo summarizes her book White Fragility - 6 min)
• Racism is Real (video 3 min)

Engage

• Try writing an "I am from" poem based on this template and examples
• Create an illustration or collage of your inner identity - what represents you?
• Create your own Identity Iceberg What's visible? What's not?