Verse Card Preview - John 4:13-14

Here’s another example of a verse card that will be included in Bible Verse Cards, Volume I: Celebrating the Bible & Great Art (working title). The format and activities have changed a bit from the first example as Kristin continues to work on the layout and design. The verse for this card is John 4:13-14:

Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again. But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life. (KJV).

You will be able to choose any translation – the card gives you the reference and your students write the verse in whichever translation you like.

The finished card without the verse. Will be folded.

What’s Included

Verse Card (Front and Back)
This will be cut out and folded
Verse card cut-outs
Cut-outs to place on the front and back of the verse card
Key chain card
This is a mini verse card that is folded and can be put on a key chain
Matching game
Each verse card comes with two small memory cards that together make up a matching game. One shows the art used for the card and the other the verse reference. This card is folded and glued. When all the verse cards are completed there will be 20 cards to be used in a matching game.
Three Verse Bracelets
Can be used as one cuff bracelet or three individual bracelets
Verse card box
The front and back cover of the book will be used to construct a box for all ten verse cards.

Matching Game Reference
(will be folded)
Matching Game Art
(will be folded)
Key Chain Ornament
(will be folded)
Bracelets Detail

Full Bracelets (can be cut to size)

Verse Card Explanation

Every verse card will have a brief explanation of the art used. It will be academic and interesting. It is probably not what you are used to in a verse card. Kristin loves the Bible, archeology, medieval and ancient art. What do these paintings mean? That’s the important question. And how did the people of the time period view them and the stories? Here’s an example of the text being used for this verse card:

Medieval artists looked at art differently than do modern viewers (us). Medieval artists understood art symbolically, while we tend to look at art like we look at photographs. We expect reality, but medieval artists were not interested in perspective or 3D drawing; they were interested in symbols. For example in this illustration called Jesus and the Samaritan Woman, from the twelfth-century Jruchi Gospels II, we expect the sky to be blue, but it is not; it is gold. Gold is a symbol of the sun, which is a symbol of God, the heavens and the world of the spirit. The sky is gold to let us know that what we are looking at is happening in the spirit world; that we are looking at spiritual things.

The sun is also the inspiration for the halo around Jesus’ head. You can barely see it in the painting, but it has been enhanced in the image at the right. A halo says that Jesus is the light of the world.

Jesus and the woman are sitting and standing on the earth; Jesus is sitting on blue grass (blue and green were sometimes interchangeable in medieval art—it’s complicated) and the woman is standing on a rock. This bit of context is meant to show that this conversation is happening literally on the earth, but the gold sky tells us that they are talking about spiritual things.

Notice, however, that Jesus’ feet are on a gold mat. He is special. He is both God and man, human yet completely holy and innocent. Though he is made of real flesh, he is not sinful or fleshly symbolically speaking. Though his feet literally touched the earth when he walked upon it, his feet were not symbolically dirtied by the earth that he walked on. That’s why his feet are not allowed to touch the ground. On the other hand the woman is standing upon the rock without a mat because she is both literally made of flesh and symbolically sinful.

Notice that the well is contained within the rock outcropping. They met at Jacob’s well which was dug out of solid rock and can still be visited today. It is located in Nablus, Israel in the Church of Saint Photina (Though the Bible does not mention the name of the woman at the well, Church legend calls her Saint Photina, a woman who eventually was martyred for her faith under the Roman Emperor Nero.)

How Do I Use Verse Cards?

Because there are so many projects for each verse, the best way to use these cards, particularly with younger students is to make one item per day. This way, you have a small project for four days per week to help students learn and review the verse.

Here is a suggested schedule:

Day 1: Cut out, glue, write the verse, and add design elements to the verse card.
Day 2: Cut out and glue the memory cards.
Day 3: Cut out and tape the bracelets.
Day 4: Cut out and glue the key-chain card.

In the coming weeks we will be providing a PDF download of one of the verse cards so that you can try it with your students.