Right up front: I have a children’s book (titled When God was a Little Girl) all set to publish, and I need your support on a Kickstarter campaign. This is a BIG deal. I have mortgaged several months of household income on the bet that my family and friends – and the artist’s family and friends – will have our backs and our bank accounts on this one.

Short & sweet: this Kickstarter campaign seeks to fund a picture book that retells the story of creation through the metaphor of God as a little girl doing an art project. It’s categorized as a “children’s book,” but it’s really a picture book that will delight children, while also enchanting and enlightening adults. You can read more – and pledge! – on the Kickstarter website or learn more on the book’s website, so I’ll just add a couple short words here.

(1) Many of you who follow this blog, do so because you appreciate my work as an ally for LGBTQ persons. While this book is not exactly that, (it’s a father-daughter conversation about creation), it is ALL about changing the world in ways that aim to overcome oppression. It aims to help kids (and adults) imagine a world grounded in compassion, joy, and relatedness. It sows seeds that will deepen “welcome” for all of us.

(2) This is FAR MORE than simply a retelling of creation through an art-project metaphor. Using gorgeous oil paintings that portray God as a little girl of different age and ethnicity on each page, this story images diversity and wonder and joy page by page. Combined with a narrative that invites us to see our connectedness to creation and our vocation to love it, this simple story is a profound piece of cosmology, setting down roots in each reader.

(3) As a theologian called to do theology through art (essays, hymns, poetry, even picture books), I don’t have the security of a tenure-track position or even the stability of a fulltime church or academic job. We are interwoven – you and I. My capacity to do my work rests on the willingness of others to be excited for and supportive of my projects.

When God was a Little Girl is an extraordinarily beautiful project. I need your backing to make it a successful venture, but backing this project will more than reward you with a good feeling: it pays out in copies of the book itself.

Please support this project … generously. Books will be in your hands in time for Christmas giving!

Thanks,
David