You Are Beloved is a journey of discovery of the love of God for children

Chris and Jenny Lee wanted to tell children that first and foremost God loves them - so they wrote their latest book You Are Beloved

Chris and Jenny Lee live in Chiswick where Chris is Vicar of St. Saviour’s church. Jenny is a playwright, producer and author and is also the primary caregiver for their three children. In addition to being a vicar, Chris has an online ministry that reaches hundreds of thousands of people especially through his famous 60 second sermons which have won him the title ‘the internet’s favourite vicar.’

Chris and Jenny, you’ve just published Know you are beloved, for children, in summary, what’s it about?

Chris: The story is that a little girl called Amy falls asleep in church to the words of a Franciscan prayer in which the vicar is asking God, who are you? And who am I? In her sleep, with those questions ringing in her ears she goes on this journey where she meets four animals that are representative of the four Gospels. Matthew, Mark, Luke and John have traditionally always been assigned an animal as a representation of a characteristic of Jesus. So, in Mark we have the lion which shows us the authoritative, action side of Jesus - he is the miracle man moving in, casting out demons, a powerful authority figure. In Luke, Jesus is an Ox which is more about Jesus the one we follow, it‘s about walking with Jesus, where Jesus the Ox carries or load. Then John has the eagle, which is about Jesus being this divine, cosmic figure in whom we see the bigger picture, but that eagle who is above also swoops down to be on earth. Lastly, Matthew the angel/human figure is focusing on Jesus being fully God and fully man.

In the story, in understanding who God is Amy also goes on this journey of understanding who she is; she is the beloved of God, and that gives her the sense of security that seeks.

Jenny: Yes, we wanted it to be a journey where God was always with her, but she sees