I have good memories of going to Vacation Bible School as a boy. I’m not sure just when I attended my first one; it was probably before my rememberer kicked in.
Most of the Bible schools that I remember were held at our Methodist church and at the neighboring Presbyterian church in Pea Ridge. The two churches have a long history of working together for VBS, and they are still doing so today. For the past several years the Brightwater Church has also joined in the cooperative Bible School. So many things have changed across the years, including the methods, equipment and teaching materials, but in this case, the core things have been maintained through the passing of time.
I also attended several Bible schools held at the Shady Grove schoolhouse on Arkansas Highway 94 northwest of Pea Ridge. Those were not church-sponsored schools, but they were well done, under the guidance of two Christian ladies from Mountain, Mo.
The Vacation Bible schools I attended in the 1940s and 1950s had quite a variety of activities. I do notice differences today as our VBS groups have taken up using some of the newer video technology that is available today. But some of the activities are still quite like those we engaged in some 60 years ago. The things I remember best were teachers who loved the Bible and Jesus, the Bible stories themselves andthe singing. We didn’t have music on CDs or tapes back then, but we had songbooks and songsheets and voices.
The voices were the main thing, along with someone to teach us the songs. A few ofthe VBS songs I remember learning were “The B-I-BL-E,” “This Little Light of Mine,” “I Have Decided to Follow Jesus,” “Jesus Loves Me,” “Jesus Wants Me For a Sunbeam” and a Books of the Old Testament song set to the tune of “Did You Ever See a Lassie?”
The first VBS story lesson that stuck in my memory was that of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, how they thought they didn’t need to listen to God who had told them not to eat of the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden. When they did so anyway, they had to leave the Garden of Eden and make their living by the sweat of their brows. I was old enough by then to know about working in the hay, hoeing the garden, feeding the calves and chickens and other work which puts sweat on your brow. So THAT’s why we have to work?! But I also notice that the Bible talks about enjoying your work, and that work is something which rewards and satisfies.
Many times we would ride to VBS in a volunteer carpool. The most fun I remember, going on the way to and home from Bible school, was when someone picked up the kids from out our way in an open Jeep. I was accustomed to our calm and sedate ’37 Chevy car, and that open Jeep was pretty exciting. The little open Armytype Jeeps were not so fast or powerful, but they were perky and spunky. I loved tolisten to the four-cylinder motor rev and hum and to watch the snappy gear shifting. I hoped that I would be able to drive a Jeep like that someday. Those were days when all our roads were dirt or gravel roads, but even the dust in the air didn’t take away the fun of zipping over the roads with the wind in our faces and our little Jeep singing its tune.
Nobody had air conditioning back in the ’40s. We used other ways to keep cool.
Buildings were designed and built with the idea of opening windows and providing circulation. Hand-held fans were common in public places. At Vacation Bible School, we often had activities outside under the shade trees. Trees and breezes are really pretty good coolers.
We also didn’t have technology like video projectors, music players or lessons on a screen. But it wasn’t that we didn’t have any audiovisuals and other things to make learning interesting.
We had pictures and object lessons and dramatic skits and flannel-board figures;
we acted out the Bible stories and did drawings and made posters and crafts with Bible verses.
My theory is that boredom is mostly in our heads, not so much in our circumstances or technologies. Life and learning are interesting, unless our set of mind shades out or blocks that interestingness.
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Jerry Nichols, a native of Pea Ridge, is a retired Methodist minister with a passion for history. He is vice president of the Pea Ridge Historical Society. He can be contacted by e-mail at joe369@centurytel.
net, or call 621-1621.
Community, Pages 5 on 07/14/2010