Truth in Technicolor

Let no one ever tell you that sixth grade girls are not capable of doing work.

Each week that we have breakout groups, they thunder up the stairs with a herd of seventh and eight graders and slip off into our empty classrooms. Half on one side to talk through the discussion questions. Half on the other to work on a "triangle."

The more linear ones like the numbered questions. A checklist that tells them when they are done. A chance to give the 'right' answer. They thrive on it.

Others prefer to tell us what they already know, what they're already thinking and feeling and deciding to do. Prefer to flop belly down in a messy circle on the floor and jostle for markers.

"I get to write first."

"I'll write second."

"Can I write the big word?"

"I want to do the shwoop!" 

The last one makes a sound effect and demonstrates the underlining or decoration that is always the final step, the cementing of the big idea.

"Tell me a thought." We start at the top of the triangle, although they're well practiced enough now for the next breakout group to start somewhere else. "One true thing that you heard [the speaker] say today."

The first color of marker goes up near the top of the triangle, just under where I have written the word "THOUGHT." 

Careful sixth grader spelling as they retell truth with their own lips. Sort out what was illustration and what was real. Find the pieces that are solid enough to believe in. And, there is always more than one. More than one thing that they have heard. More than one thing that they want to talk about.

"Okay, so, if you really, truly believed that X, how do you think that that might make you feel?"

Private. Frustrated. Incredible. Confused. Thoughtful. Empowered.

Sometimes they know the word that they are searching for. Other times they only know the feel of it, turning to the rest of us, trying to explain, waiting until someone provides the elusive syllables.

Whatever they come up with, it goes inside the triangle, because, this is the part where, perhaps, they are the most honest, where they do the most work to share what it is that they are thinking. Feeling. The way that this truth feels in their gut.

This is the part where there are no 'right' answers. The part where we normalize this idea that faith can mix with doubt. Pain can mix with joy. Grace can mix with brokenness.

"So," the next step comes, "if you really, truly believed X and that made you feel A, B, and C, how do you think you would act? What would that look like?"

Sometimes they know. Sometimes we have to talk it through.

But, it seems to make more sense this way, when they've given themselves that why behind the action. If I believe this and feel any number of these ways, then I do this. Read my Bible. Talk to Jesus. Talk to  people. Ask questions. Care about others. Tell somebody. Live in awe. Live humbly.

Orthopraxy out of orthodoxy.

Heart. Soul. Mind. Strength.

And, then, a new color and a new writer, and we start again with another truth. Top right. Center. Bottom left.

Two truths, maybe three total, if they have a lot to say. Until the clock starts to run down.

"Alright," the notebook goes to the next set of hands, ready and waiting with a thick, bright marker, "what's the big word that [she's] writing today? What is all of this about?"

Forgiveness. Prayer. Gifts. Jesus.

This step has nothing to do with CBT and everything to do with the way that we draw 'triangles.' This is the wrap up that makes them feel like it's finished. Like they've accomplished something. The summary that they look for when they flip back through the book.

This is the part that feels a little like art.

They give the answer, and we fumble around a little bit, until everyone is certain of the spelling. Until it criss crosses our page in giant letters. The big picture behind all of these careful stacks of syllables.

Someone else decorates the 'big word' with squiggles, or dashes, or bold underline; and the markers go back into my bag, the rainbow of colors that have captured their thoughts. One of the girls prays. We hand out any paperwork that needs to go home. And, they scatter to the wind.

10-15 minutes. A notebook. Some markers. And, a slightly crooked triangle.

This is how we draw theology.