Previous Challenge Entry (Level 2 – Intermediate)
Topic: Write in the HUMOR genre (04/12/07)
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TITLE: Everything! | Previous Challenge Entry
By julie davis
04/15/07 -
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That Jesus is one smart guy. He really knew what he was doing when he taught using parables. In my church’s Sunday School program we honor this. We share the parable scriptures with children just as Christ shared them originally. We offer the scripture, selecting ones that meet the needs of the age of the child we are serving, define vocabulary if necessary, and then, like Jesus did, wonder aloud about the message and perhaps even ask a few open ended questions. The teachers then remove themselves from the equation allowing the children to reflect further on the scripture using dioramas, figures or items mentioned in the parable. The children continue the conversation Jesus initiated with the parable and the Holy Spirit works to make this parable part of the child’s being.
I wonder often what the crowd was murmuring about after Jesus would present a parable. We are told in scripture that they often wondered aloud after Jesus spoke. I would love to have overheard some of these first reactions to his teachings. After working in the Sunday School classrooms for several years I can imagine what some of them might have been. The delight of the parable method is that each presentation brings a unique meditation often going in a direction which will leave me murmuring and wondering aloud for days. The greatest gift, however, is catching a glimpse of the parable truly becoming a part of the child.
Two boys, one four and one five year old, were working with the diorama and figures for the pearl merchant parable. They had carefully moved the merchant out to the marketplace where he found that precious pearl. Next they moved him back to his home where he gathered up his baskets of other pearls and sold them off. The table in the merchant’s house was then flipped on its side and squeezed through the door. Interesting, I thought, and continued to watch. Next the boys began an intense discussion which I could not hear. Finally they stopped and one boy reached for the shelf glued to the diorama and tried to pull it off. I stood up, mentally noting where the wood glue is kept, and joined them on the rug. By this time both of them are trying to pry it off and speculating on what tools they might need to do so.
“So, tell me about what you’re doing boys.” I said. They continued as if they didn’t hear me and continued prying at the shelf.
“Boys?” I repeated slightly louder this time.
They looked up at me puzzled. “We’re trying to get this shelf on but it’s like it’s stuck there or something.”
“I can see that but why are trying to get the shelf off? I don’t remember that part of the parable.”
The two boys exchanged a look of exasperation and snickered at me, shaking their heads. “Because
(read duh!), Miss ...., Jesus said he sold everything!”
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