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Exploring Scripture
By Michael Theisen
Purpose
In this session, participants learn how the books and stories of the Bible fit together to tell our story of Salvation History through games and a comparison activity that uses newspapers to illustrate how the Bible is put together.
Note to Leader: A follow-up to this session will be available in the Winter 2007 season. The outline of that session is included below.
Session at a Glance
Part 1:
7:00 p.m. Welcome and Opening Activity: Bible Partners
7:20 p.m. Open and Shut
7:40 p.m. The Bible: Easy as Reading the Newspaper
Extend the Session: Bible Tabs (add 20 minutes)
8:00 p.m. Bible Book Relay
8:20 p.m. Faith Sharing with Lectio Divina
8:30 p.m. Good Night!
Part 2: (Look for Part 2 in the Winter 2007 season)
7:00 p.m. Welcome and Review of Part 1
7:10 p.m. Name That Book!
7:30 p.m. Greatest Stories in Scripture: Scripture Statues
7:45/50 p.m. Optional Break
7:50/55 p.m. Newspaper Activity (contextual vs. literal)
8:15 p.m. Faith Sharing with Lectio Divina
8:30 p.m. Good Night!
Extend the Session: Bible Tabs (20 minutes)
If it is okay to place sticky notes in the Bibles that the participants are using, give each person six sticky notes and a pen. These will be used to create tabs along the first page of each section as it is reviewed. When done, they should have six page tabs that will help them find the different sections of Scripture.
The first section is composed of the first five books of the Bible. Who remembers what it is called? (Pentateuch).
Who can name some of the significant stories found in these first five books? (Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, Noah and the Ark, Abraham and Isaac, Jacob and his sons, Moses, Ten Commandments, etc.)
Bible Tab Instruction: Ask the participants to find the book of Genesis. Have them write “Pentateuch” at the top of it, and place it all the way toward the fold of the book so that the word shows when the Bible is closed.
The next section of Scripture is called the Historical Books, which tells a lot of the history of the Jewish people after they entered the promised land. This isn’t always the type of factual history you would find in a history book, but one that is written in such a way as to tell a larger story of faith.
Bible Tab Instruction: Ask the participants to find the book of Joshua. Have them write “Historical” at the top of it, and place it to the right of the previous tab so that the word shows when the Bible is closed.
The third section of Scripture is called Wisdom and Poetry Books and contains some of the most beautiful parts of scripture including Psalms, Proverbs, and other helpful words of advice and consolation.
Bible Tab Instruction: Ask the participants to find the book of Job. Have them write “Wisdom and Poetry” at the top of it, and place it to the right of the previous tab so that the words shows when the Bible is closed.
The fourth section, and last in the Old Testament, is the Prophetic Books. These are divided into the major prophets (Jeremiah, Isaiah, and Ezekiel) and the minor prophets (the remaining books). This label of being ‘major’ or ‘minor’ is simply based on the length of the book and has nothing to do with the message of the particular prophet. Prophets called people to accountability in their relationship with God and offered consolation and hope to God’s chosen people when they were struggling in exile.
Bible Tab Instruction: Ask the participants to find the book of Isaiah. Have them write “Prophetic” at the top of it, and place it to the right of the previous tab so that the word shows when the Bible is closed.
The next section, called Gospels and Acts, is the first one found in the New Testament and includes all four gospels and the Acts of the Apostles, which was originally the second part of the Gospel of Luke. This section tells the stories of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ and the beginnings of the early Church.
Bible Tab Instruction: Ask the participants to find the Gospel of Matthew. Have them write “Gospel and Acts” at the top of it, and place it to the right of the previous tab so that the words shows when the Bible is closed.
The final section of the Bible is called Letters and Revelation. Many of the letters, often called epistles, were written by St. Paul to early church communities in places like Rome, Corinth, Ephesus, or to people, such as Timothy and Titus, to encourage them to live as disciples of the risen Christ.
Revelation, the last book of the Bible, does not predict the future as many are led to believe, but is really a “coded story” of good vs. evil that was told to offer hope to the persecuted Christians in the early Church who were being tortured and killed by the Roman emperor. Its message to early Christians was “keep the faith no matter what because in the end, God wins!”
Bible Tab Instruction: Ask the participants to find Romans. Have them write “Letters and Revelation” at the top of it, and place it to the right of the previous tab so that the words shows when the Bible is closed.
Invite the participants to close their Bibles and look at the tabs they created. Explain that these mirror the various sections of your “newspaper,” each highlighting a different aspect of our story of faith.
Materials Needed
· Multiple copies of newspapers, enough so that there are several sets of six different sections. Each person will be given one of the six sections.
· Newsprint and markers
· Six glue sticks
· Candy prizes (including at least 1 bag of Skittles or M&M’s or similar candy that can be shared with the whole group)
· Sticky notes
· Bibles, one for every person (preferably the same translation)
· Six envelopes
· Six baskets or bowls
Prepare in Advance
1. Use Resource 1, Bible Characters, to place each name listed on a separate sticky note so that e very person in the group will have one. If you run out of names, start repeating the list so that everyone has a name.
2. Prepare six signs on 8½ x 11 paper in large block letters using the words below. These will be displayed during the newspaper activity and thereafter for the remainder of this session.
Note to Leader: These sheets will also be used in the follow-up session that will be in the Winter 2007 season.
· Pentateuch
· Historical Books
· Wisdom and Poetry
· Prophetic Books
· Gospel and Acts
· Letters and Revelation
3. Using Resource 2, Books of the Bible, cut up the books of the Bible into individual slips and divide them randomly into six piles. Place these into envelopes or bowls for use in the Bible relay activity.
4. Invite three young people to read the Scripture passage for the closing prayer.
Session Outline
Bible Partners (20 minutes)
Step 1: Welcome the participants as they arrive and introduce yourself. If they do not know one another, make sure everyone gets a name tag. Ask everyone to stand in a circle facing the center of the circle. Then go around and place one of the sticky notes with Bible names you prepared earlier from Resource 1 on the back of each person. As you do this, tell the group that they are not to say or give away the name that is on the back of another.
Step 2: Once everyone has a sticky note, say:
Each person has the name of a Bible character on their back. The object of this activity is for each person to try and figure out who you are by asking other people questions that can only be answered with a “yes” or “no”. For example, you cannot ask “When did I live?” Instead you must ask “Was I alive during Jesus’ time?” Once you guess correctly who you are, place the name on the front of you and then help others figure out who they are. Once everyone finds out who they are, leave your nametag on and wait for further instructions.
Step 3: After everyone has guessed their character, invite them to line up in the order in which they think they appear in the Bible (which may not necessarily be the order in which they lived or were born). Give them a few minutes to work on this as a group and do not offer assistance.
Step 4: Once everyone has a place in line, ask them to introduce themselves by first sharing their real name and one story they like from the Bible. Then they share the name of their character with the group and one thing they know about that biblical character. Then invite others in the group to call out what they know about that particular biblical character and his/her role in Scripture.
Once all have introduced themselves and their characters, use the order found on Resource 1 to correctly move people where they need to be along the biblical appearance timeline.
Open and Shut (20 minutes)
Step 1: Hold up a packet of M&M’s or Skittles (or something that can be shared with all present). Explain that this prize will go to the first person who can name the bestselling book of all-time (the Bible).
Step 2: Before presenting the prize to the winner, distribute Bibles to everyone
and write “Matthew 5:42” on the board or newsprint. Ask the group what the word and numbers mean.
· book (Matthew)
· chapter (5)
· verse (42)
If someone knows that it refers to the book, chapter, and verse, have that person explain it to the group and help everyone to find it in their Bibles. Once they have found it, hand the candy to the winner from Step 1 and have the rest of the group read the passage (Mt 5:42) aloud to the person holding the candy. Then ask the winner to respond accordingly (hopefully sharing the candy with the rest of the group!).
Step 3: Hold the Bible up, and ask:
What two major sections are found in the Bible? (Answer: Old and New Testaments)
Have them find the beginning of the New Testament and compare it with the size of the Old Testament. Then, ask:
What central figure of our faith is found in the New Testament that is not found in the Old Testament? (Jesus)
The Old Testament tells the story of God’s developing relationship with the Hebrew people and their longing for a messiah to deliver them. The New Testament (the Gospels, Acts, Letters and Revelation) tells the story of that long-awaited messiah, Jesus Christ, and how his life, death and resurrection changed the world, especially the early Church.
Step 4: Give this brief explanation about the session:
This session is designed to help develop our understanding of the Bible and how it is put together. One of the first steps is to become familiar with the many books in the Bible and where they are located and how to look them up. To begin, we will play a game called “Open and Shut.” Everyone starts with a closed Bible and after a book or passage of the Bible is called out, you have one chance to open your Bible to see how close you can get to what is called out.
Ask everyone to close their Bibles and then use the list from Resource 1, Open and Shut Passages. If you are using the same Bible, you can simply refer to the page numbers to determine who gets closest, but be sure everyone finds where the book or passage is and that the “tidbit” is reviewed with the group before moving onto the next one. Remember to use this as a learning experience and play down the “competition” element.
Break (optional)
If you take a brief break, this is a good time to place the various newspaper headings on each of the chairs the participants are sitting in.
The Bible: Easy as Reading the Newspaper (20 minutes)
Distribute the six different sections of the newspaper that you prepared ahead of time and tell the participants that the group will be using the newspaper to help them understand a little more about the Bible and how it is put together.
Step 1: Lots of books!
Ask the young people to call out the different sections of the newspaper they have and write these on newsprint. Then ask if these sections are all the same. Have them call out some of the differences found in each of the sections. Then say:
The Bible is kind of like that. In the Catholic versions there are 73 books (46 in the Old Testament and 27 in the New Testament), but each book was written to a different audience by a different writer or writers for a different reason. Even so, together they help tell the full story of our faith, a story that we refer to as Salvation History because it shows the saving hand of God at work in the world since the beginning of time.
Step 2: But not all the books are the same.
Ask the participants to look over their newspaper section and come up with three different types or styles of writing that can be found in their particular section of the newspaper. Some responses to draw out from them would be:
· News stories (some are more important than others)
· Classified/Ads
· Information (how to submit an editorial or place an ad or contact the paper)
· Notices (obituaries, marriages, births)
· Statistics (crime, house sales, financial indexes/stock market results)
· Reviews
· Listings