The Exodus Museum--Once Again.

Once again I’m reviewing and remembering as the junior high Bible classes take down their Exodus museum. All the murals and the monuments, the maps and the models turn into portable bundles, some to treasure and store away, others to cram into the dumpster behind the gym. That time in the wilderness will soon be forgotten as we move into the anarchy of the Judges and the turbulent times of Saul and Samuel. There, on the wall, was the golden calf, commandments broken at his feet. Next to the door were Amalekites in Lego, tiny robes bound around them with little rubber bands for braces. Moses stood between Hur and Aaron as they held his little plastic hands to the sky. The three signs were given to Moses, the quail fluttered on their mobile, and the waters of Rephidim gushed from their paper mache rock. Plagues tormented in abundance—frogs, darkness, a blood-cursed Nile, dying cattle, locust, hail and fire and boils—and little clay houses stood helpless in Goshen under the assailing mural scowl of Pharaoh, while the Passover meal sat quietly on the table, ready to eat in an instant and give strength for the journey. There was a model of the tabernacle and its golden furniture; the Ten Commandments, caligraphed on paper mache; and a mural of Korah falling into an awesome crack in the earth. The walls of the Red Sea closed in around us, while fish and sea creatures loomed under an occasional spray of mischievous water. The burning bush fluttered in the wind of fire. Signs everywhere proclaimed the stations and a salt map showed the way to travel. Fun, yes, but also learning. We sampled unleaven bread from the Passover meal and a token “sugar cookie” manna. Nobody danced around the golden calf, and we didn’t grind it into powder for the class to drink, but we do remember the story. And in the process we also learned that plaster works better than paper mache. Ah yes, reviewing and remembering….like so many Israelites did for years of celebrating Passover and the Feast of Tabernacles. Like them I have to smile and say, “God has been good to us.”

I managed to capture about half the students and projects for the video. Here are a few highlights...if I can get it to post.