I never knew what to do with Bible verses. We read them each week, but should my students simply listen attentively while I read them aloud? Do I put the words on screen for everyone to read? Or do I have everyone open their own Bible, finding the verse and reading along from the words in their hands?
To me, the best option is to actually have students open the Bible. In this way they don’t just learn episodic stories, but they are empowered to actually crack open this thick and ancient book that we orbit our lives around. But how exactly do I invite students to open their Bible as a part of a large group teaching?
Probably the most obvious option is to have the Bible verse displayed for everyone to see (we use a couple big screens to project everything on). In this way, students become familiar with the names of books and what a verse/chapter reference looks like. However, it often takes them a while to find it. They always have the same method for every book: start at the beginning and turn through page by page until they find it (except for the handful that know about the table of contents and the even smaller handful who actually recognize the various books and where to find them in this thick and ancient book).
The seemingly obvious solution to this lackadaisical Bible hunting is to display (or say) the page number. Now instead of looking for Exodus 3:5 they’re just looking for page number whatever. This helps them be successful in finding the given verse as quickly as possible, but seems to sacrifice so much more. What I don’t like about this method (arbitrary verse references and/or page numbers on screen) is it does nothing to connect the various books of the Bible. Books are displayed as a “hey, look this up” but the method does nothing to teach where to find a specific book in relation to the larger collection of books. We tell them where to find one part but never show them how it fits within the whole. It’s like looking at the trees without ever looking at the forest.
But a few weeks ago I had an idea. Instead of showing just the parts (and never the whole), we could do both. Instead of talking just about the trees and never referencing the forest, we could highlight what’s needed while still giving space to see every tree side by side by side.
The solution? A Bible verse slide with all 66 books of the Bible listed in order, with space next to each one for the specific verse(s) to look up. This way we can list as many references as we need to, showing them all in relation to the larger whole. No longer will students be hunting through the Torah, looking for an elusive epistle. No longer will they ask if Isaiah is before or after Second Opinions. Now they will be able to see how the larger structure holds together, finding specific books and verses within the whole “forest.”
Go ahead, try it out for yourself.
What are you doing to help students see the parts and the whole of the Bible? Because in order to let go of the bike, we need to show them both.
