Pictures: “The Door - Helene Schjerfbeck 1884”
“The Green Christ - Paul Gauguin 1889”
Passage: Genesis 20
We had a relative crowd today and I was not prepared. Maggie finally came to Sunday school after months of encouragement. Kaitlyn was there again, and so was Nick. Charlie, Obi, and Donnie (the three most consistent attendees), were also present, giving us a grand total of six students. With a larger group I realized the usual mode of calling out to speak was less effective. Kailyn would say something, Donnie would comment on it, Obi would say something unrelated and I would be at a loss as to how best to summarize and give credit where credit was due. Donnie and Nick fed off of each other while Maggie said nothing the entire time (reminding me of Fern in that way).
Our first discussion lingered in the descriptive realm. Kaitlyn noted “two doors.” Unsure how to justify that they were indeed doors, Donnie refined her claim to “doorways.” Charlie noted the brick floor, which he identified as such because of the one area where a pattern was visible on the floor and because of its reddish brown color. Donnie pointed out a date and signature on the piece: HS 1884. Someone else noted the white walls and another saw a greenish “growth” also on the walls. Obi drew attention to what he called a “pillar” which in turn led to a discussion of whether the scene is inside or outside. Obi noted that no ceiling was visible while there seemed to be light coming from “inside.” This comment changed how Charlie saw the scene as he now perceived a black cloth hanging in the doorway. He would have previously identified it as a darkened interior. Kaitlyn implied that this is how she saw it all along. Donny finally found his chance to say something he’d been waiting on from the beginning - that it was a truck. “A truck?!?” Charlie was not having it, “you were the one who said it’s from 1884!” “Then it’s a time-traveling truck!” I unhelpfully added, “it’s not a truck, at the very least it’s a painting of a truck.” “How come it’s on a TV screen if it’s from the 1800s?” asked Donnie facetiously. The light under the door was, to Donny, tail lights under the large rear end of a semi truck. “Oh, a semi-truck!” said Kaitlyn, finally understanding what he was talking about, “I thought you meant a real truck.” This then led to a discussion of trucks and if semis were more or less a truck than a pickup.
I interrupted to refocus and broke from the script a little. I’ve been trying to think of how best to encourage the students to go beyond an accountive view of the work. “Is there anything the artist might have been thinking about when working on this painting?” This question was open ended with no correct answer in mind but Charlie jumped up as if he understood me perfectly and had solved my question. “There’s blood on the doorway!” He had connected the scene to Exodus, when the Hebrews put blood on their doorposts to protect against the angel of death. He excitedly expressed this but seemed unable, in his excitement, to explain cohesively. My summary helped, but I then clarified that I had not even noticed the red on the door but what a great detail if he was right.
The second discussion featured the most abstract piece we’ve looked at so far and they did not seem to be ready for it. The work was one of Gaunguin’s more fauvist paintings in which a woman’s face is colored green (along with the statue she is hiding behind). Before we had even begun our discussion comments were being made about Shrek and She-hulk. Indeed, accounting for the green face seemed to be such a distraction that we barely got to connect the more traditional aspects of the scene. Admittedly, this was not the only distraction, there was a silly bent in general. The first comment that was not about Shrek and Fionna was Obi claiming she had poop on her head. Nick asked if she was holding a dog. I felt too overwhelmed by all these thoughts to summarize effectively. Donny called the statue the Statue of Liberty. Right about then, something clicked for Charlie again as he realized the sculpture in the scene was a statue of Jesus below a cross. Nick noted that the statue included a tree (what Charlie has called a cross), which he justified by the knots and bumps on the trunk.
Obi claimed it all took place in Bikini Bottom, as he noted an island on the sea. Nick noted a boat. Donnie tried to claim the man in the distance was a zombie. I tried to not get frustrated with everyone. As usual, I made an effort to take joke answers seriously, but today they were coming too fast. In the end, I circled back around: “I heard someone ask, why is she green? What do you guys think?” Kaitlyn suggested camouflage. No one else had any alternative ideas. Of course, nobody thought to wonder about the painter who chose green.
The Bible discussion was also a mess but it came together nicely and gave me an important missing insight about my BMS idea. Specifically, that without context, connections are meaningless. I can point to matching words and themes, but unless the stories mean something on their own, it doesn’t change much. Today, it seemed that they were simply not listening to the reading. It didn’t help that the story included an accepted marriage between a brother and (half)sister. When I asked if anyone could summarize the story in one or two sentences, Obi answered: “A guy married his sister.” One detail, not the point. The story was about Abraham lying to a king, claiming his wife Sarah was merely his sister. The king takes Sarah to his palace but before he can sleep with her, God warns him in a dream not to commit such a horrible sin. The king returns Sarah to Abraham and rebukes Abraham for causing him to almost sin.
In the end, I gave a quick summary. Too quick. Charlie noted the word “Die” as God threatened a Pagan king with death should he commit adultery. Obi noted the word “Silver” which the king gave as an offering to Abraham. For the most part, the conversation stalled. I asked one of my questions “what other connections can we make?” For the first time, we looked back at the words on the board from other weeks. “Wife!” noted Charlie. Both stories included wives. The connection was hard to make though, especially since most of the group was not there for our Cain and Abel discussion. Everyone was talking to each other about side topics and I found myself unable to get a word in and getting more and more frustrated. I gave up trying to get their input and settled for just saying something, some simple takeaway. Anything. Not a chance.
“Hey guys,” I asked, interrupting the conversation with more sternness than I usually show, “why do we study the Bible?” Finally, the right question. Nick: “Because it’s Sunday school after church on a Sunday.” Obi: “Because it’s important to understand… the origin of things… where these stories come from.” I liked this answer. “This is a short little story isn’t it,” I began, “and it doesn’t seem to matter very much. But it’s pretty significant.” I then went on to explain how Abraham had been given a promise from God that he and Sarah would have a son that would become a great nation. By giving Sarah to the king, Abraham was not trusting God to fulfill the promise and keep him safe. It was God who took steps to protect the promise by delivering Sarah. I mentioned that she is more of a chosen one than Abraham. Abe had other sons by other wives, but Sarah was the one God chose to be the mother of His chosen people. I then stood up and highlighted the words from previous weeks and how they connected.
It’s hard to figure out the best path forward. I felt more aware of my methods deficiencies than I have in a while - especially when scaling it up. When Advent (the season leading up to Christmas starts I hope to try a new idea. What happens if every picture we look at is of the same scene? What if we look at Nativity scenes from various cultures and time periods. The what’s going on will have to focus on what is being communicated by artistic choices - right? Or will they just get bored because these details will go unappreciated?
For the Bible discussions, I think the summary needs to be included more prominently in the method. Understanding the story needs to be central to the lesson. That said, I’m wondering if collecting words should be the first step. I would have everyone list the word that stood out to them. I would write these down. Then, we would summarize the story and as we do try to connect as many “hyperlinks” as possible from previous weeks. The idea would be to let the kids direct the discussion through the words they note, but lead it myself as a guide through these stories and how these words and ideas actually connect. If this is modeled enough, we might see more and more of these connections be suggested by the kids themselves.