Wrestling with my son just helped me teach him the Bible.
We were doing our usual pre-dinner devotional routine. Tonight, it was the Spark story Bible, a great book that tells many of the stories from scripture in accessible language and with fun pictures. We read the story of Jacob’s wrestling with the angel. As usual, the little guy was restless. Is it just mine or do all boys finds sitting still a chore?
There are certain go-to strategies that help keep attention. Moving children from passive listeners to active participants is one of them.
The angel tries to get away, but Jacob won’t let go, not until the angel blesses him. “The angel turned and asked Jacob his name” I read, then asked, “What’s your name?” We all shared our names.
We finished the story. The angel gives Jacob a new name, Israel, because he had wrestled with God. “Cool! He wrestled with God."
After the story was done, the responsive activity was to find someone to wrestle with. That’s when the magic happened.
I lay on the ground, and the little guy jumped on me. We tickled, laughed, rough-housed. Then, he said, “I’m the angel, no I’m Jacob.” He grabbed my shirt and wouldn’t let go as I feigned escape. I asked him “What’s your name?” Nothing.
“You say ‘Jacob’”, I prompted.
“Jacob.” he said, still hanging onto my shirt with tenacity and a mischievous smile.
“Now you say, ‘I won’t let go until you bless me.’” I continued.
He said it, grin turning to smile on his mouth and eyes.
“I give you a new name: Israel,” I said.
His grin grew. Then, like the kids we were, we pressed rewind and told the whole story over again.
A scene from The Nativity flashed into my mind. The children are sitting around Anna, a leader in her village. While an adolescent Mary prepares their snack, Anna tells the children the story of Elijah on the mountain. But, the children aren’t passive. As Anna tells, she pauses, and the children respond with lines that sound ancient, like they’ve been said since the children were babes.
I think something like that happened with my rambunctious little guy tonight. Hearing the story wasn’t enough. We needed to act it out, be part of it, respond to it. In the wrestling, he moved from distracted to involved and the story from simple words to lived experience.
How do you tell your kids the ancient stories?
