Lutheran Schools have a heritage of having memory work. Each week, my students have two Bible verses to memorize. I truly apologize to my early students who had much more to memorize than that.
Today we were practicing our verse for tomorrow: The one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. 1 John 4:4 NIV. We used the song "Greater" by Mercy Me to help practice the verse: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I0ItnPk3t2Y. Much of the Scripture I have learned has come from music so it is natural for me to teach it to the children in that way.
As we practiced, I remembered this event from early in my career.
Pastor Bickel asked me if I could take my class to the county home for services one week because he was not able to do so. He knew we learned lots of songs and could just sing for the time needed.
I piled all ten of my first and second graders into our 1968 Pontiac Bonneville and drove there. I don't remember sending permission slips home and there certainly were not seatbelts then, but no one seemed alarmed by this at all.
When we got there, we went inside, sang our songs, and mixed in Bible verses.
Afterward, the residents visited with the children and one of them gave one of the boys a nickel because he looked like his great-grandson. The child was deeply touched. No one was jealous, just awed at how special this was.
When we returned to St. John in Napoleon, Ohio, one of my students said, "I know now why we learn all those verses and songs. There were people who were singing and saying the verses with us. I'll bet they learned them when they were little, too. They have them in their minds and hearts."
I always learn much more from the children than I teach them!
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