I heard this phrase used in church when I attended A Jesus Church down in Oregon. The pastor there used it as a way of describing how we as Christians need to devour the word of God, to spit it back up again and then chew it again. This is something cows do with their food, many many times, and while the idea is disgusting, the usage of this for reading the Bible and understanding it is very spot on.
I have been using Sunday School teaching as a tool to help me engage in weekly studying of the bible. I read the section of scripture I get to teach about on Sunday, I meditate on it throughout the week, then I read it again and find fun activities, coloring pages, and games related to the story or section of the bible for our one-hour class. This is in tune with my child-like spirit and love for teaching, as well as it engages my youthful spirit in the grand story of Christ.
Now, when it comes to what the children say on Sunday, I have no control and I absolutely love every week hearing the unexpected, the hoped-for, and the outrageous things they say. They are all fantastic kids, full of energy and love, ready to be joyful but needing the little push each week to be assured they're not weird for dancing around the classroom, clapping their hands, and shaking a friend's hand as they sing Hallelujah!
Our class is so small, we combine the preschoolers with the elementary kids and many good things happen. When the older kids feel self-conscious about hand motions, singing, dancing, and being goofy, the 3-year-olds are completely oblivious to this as they just want to jump up and down and sing while giggling and high-fiving each other. When the older kids understand the lesson and the little ones are wanting to share what they had for breakfast, the older kids are able to lead and be helpers for the littles. It's an incredible dynamic and each Sunday is a gift in that room dressed like a camp site (for our narrative-based current curriculum in Acts, which will be changing to a topical, Candy theme that will teach about 12 basic things children should know about God)
That said, I believe Jesus told us to let the children come to him for many reasons, and one of those is that they are sometimes better at leading than we are. The best teachers need to always be working on being good learners and the best leaders need to always be working on being good followers. We all lead, follow, teach, and learn from each other at different capacities, levels, and depths. Children constantly exude new things, valuable lessons, and revealing of God's word. I have no doubt the holy spirit breathes through children's lively spirits and uses their actions, words, and excited little hearts as a way to instruct us about how we need to seek after God.
And we must, as the adults, lead our kids and our families into the stories and lessons of the bible. We need to know the story so we can answer their questions or know how to to find the answers together. Children approach me with a wild expectation that I know everything about what I'm teaching or sharing. Everyone who knows me knows that this isn't true. I believe a child asked me what happens when we go to Heaven. Christians only have a small glimpse of what Heaven, what the New Earth, and what forever with Christ will be like. We can imagine a lot of things. We can share scriptures with the children that tell us about what the New Earth is like, but we can also tell them that we don't know everything, being thankful in that.
So, this week, if you have children, read with them. Acts is a terrific book to start with that is full of stories they don't always know. Some of them I hadn't heard until I read them and taught them recently! Let your kiddos choose! Do a search through the bible for the book together. And if you don't have kids, read a section of scripture and chew the cud. Read a story. Read it again. Research it. Find out what kind of literature it is, what kind of history it involves, what kind of world, people, society, culture, and story it involves. Then, chew on it again.
- Tiffany Rousseau
I have been using Sunday School teaching as a tool to help me engage in weekly studying of the bible. I read the section of scripture I get to teach about on Sunday, I meditate on it throughout the week, then I read it again and find fun activities, coloring pages, and games related to the story or section of the bible for our one-hour class. This is in tune with my child-like spirit and love for teaching, as well as it engages my youthful spirit in the grand story of Christ.
Now, when it comes to what the children say on Sunday, I have no control and I absolutely love every week hearing the unexpected, the hoped-for, and the outrageous things they say. They are all fantastic kids, full of energy and love, ready to be joyful but needing the little push each week to be assured they're not weird for dancing around the classroom, clapping their hands, and shaking a friend's hand as they sing Hallelujah!
Our class is so small, we combine the preschoolers with the elementary kids and many good things happen. When the older kids feel self-conscious about hand motions, singing, dancing, and being goofy, the 3-year-olds are completely oblivious to this as they just want to jump up and down and sing while giggling and high-fiving each other. When the older kids understand the lesson and the little ones are wanting to share what they had for breakfast, the older kids are able to lead and be helpers for the littles. It's an incredible dynamic and each Sunday is a gift in that room dressed like a camp site (for our narrative-based current curriculum in Acts, which will be changing to a topical, Candy theme that will teach about 12 basic things children should know about God)
That said, I believe Jesus told us to let the children come to him for many reasons, and one of those is that they are sometimes better at leading than we are. The best teachers need to always be working on being good learners and the best leaders need to always be working on being good followers. We all lead, follow, teach, and learn from each other at different capacities, levels, and depths. Children constantly exude new things, valuable lessons, and revealing of God's word. I have no doubt the holy spirit breathes through children's lively spirits and uses their actions, words, and excited little hearts as a way to instruct us about how we need to seek after God.
And we must, as the adults, lead our kids and our families into the stories and lessons of the bible. We need to know the story so we can answer their questions or know how to to find the answers together. Children approach me with a wild expectation that I know everything about what I'm teaching or sharing. Everyone who knows me knows that this isn't true. I believe a child asked me what happens when we go to Heaven. Christians only have a small glimpse of what Heaven, what the New Earth, and what forever with Christ will be like. We can imagine a lot of things. We can share scriptures with the children that tell us about what the New Earth is like, but we can also tell them that we don't know everything, being thankful in that.
So, this week, if you have children, read with them. Acts is a terrific book to start with that is full of stories they don't always know. Some of them I hadn't heard until I read them and taught them recently! Let your kiddos choose! Do a search through the bible for the book together. And if you don't have kids, read a section of scripture and chew the cud. Read a story. Read it again. Research it. Find out what kind of literature it is, what kind of history it involves, what kind of world, people, society, culture, and story it involves. Then, chew on it again.
- Tiffany Rousseau