Teaching Bible to children can be challenging. Recently, a kindergartener joined my early elementary Sunday School class. He reads, knows many Bible stories, especially the one he has told me twice: “the soldier was thrown in the cave with Elisha’s bones and the soldier came back alive.” I barely had time to acknowledge his knowledge of this obscure Bible story, when a third grader wandered over to the wall of pictures and asked, “why are these pigs going over the cliff?”
“That was when Jesus told the evil spirits they could go in the pigs. Maybe we can talk about it later. Today we are talking about Easter and Jesus coming into Jerusalem.”
“Oh yeah, we did that in church last week. We had green paper and cut them out to be big leaves, then we put a stick on them and waved them,” another child piped up with smile.
“That sounds fun. Let’s begin with that story and talk about how five days later they wanted him crucified,” I almost had the class on track when a second grader interrupted, “Can I hide the books? I haven’t had a turn.”
“You had a turn. Right now, let’s do the story and color this Easter card.”
They colored while I told the Easter story using a set of picture cards. The kindergartener began picking up the pictures I had shown. “I don’t think I saw this one,” he said and closely studied that picture and several more. We managed to finish the lesson, color the Easter cards and work on memorizing the verse of the week. We had time for one more round of “hide the books of the Bible” before I went to teach pre-schoolers.
There I found a student I had expected in Sunday School. “I missed you,” I said.
He smiled, “Hi. Miss Joan.”
“Would you like to color an Easter card for your parents?”
“Yes!”
“Markers, crayons or colored pencils?”
He and every other child in the class answered, “Markers.”
“Why? Markers?” my husband (and co-teacher) asked.
“Because it is easier.” I placed markers on the table and even the two-year-old studiously colored as we waited for the rest of the class. One late arrival looked in and chose to sit in church with his mama. The next entered insisting, “I want to play with play dough.” Another energetic preschooler announced, I want to have a tea party.”
The quiet ones stood at the door staring at the beehive of activity.
“No play dough right now. Let’s all listen to Mr. Joseph tell the story.”
Everyone listened except the youngest two-year-old who ignored us, his chair and the other students as he quietly explored the toys.
Mr. Joseph ended the lesson asking, “who wants to be Jesus in the tomb?” He set a chair cushion on its side to represent the stone rolled in front of the tomb.
The little boy behind the seat cushion waited and waited for the shy angel to roll the ‘stone’ away. Finally, Mr. Joe guided her hands so ‘Jesus’ could come out. The soldiers (a pair of brothers) grinned and tumbled to the floor.
The oldest girl went to the kitchen, picked up a cup and explained, “We have to get the spices.” Through everything, the youngest toddler never glanced away from his solitary play.
For the rest of the class little ones worked on their crafts and served us a banquet of pretend food. Finally, we gathered crafts, papers, and Easter cards to remind children at home that we had talked about Jesus and His coming alive again on that first Easter morning long ago.