great post by jeff

blue like elvis

- the social gospel is the gospel of Jesus.

Learning from Teaching

I have been a newly-wed teacher with a degree in social work for five weeks now. In this transitional time of life, which technically started a couple years ago and has continued to require adjustment, I have found myself moving from a Myers-Briggs declared extrovert to a self affirmed introvert with all the observations that come with the conversion. Having explained that, it is these observations that have occupied a great deal of my thoughts and therefore time, especially over these last five weeks.

I teach 7th grade English Language Arts in a 98% poverty district of Waco, TX. As a teacher, I am strongly advised not to get emotionally attached. That’s impossible. My job is to try my hardest to grab a hold of tunnel-vision adolescents and convince them that they actually have a role to play in their own life and that their decisions now affect their life and opportunities later. How can I possibly attempt this without caring deeply for them and wanting the absolute best for them?

As I think about each of my students… There are ones that have already made me proud and I want to continue to challenge them because I know their potential; I want to give them more knowledge and practice because I know they can handle it. I also have students that don’t even try. They say things like, “What’s the point?” and “Why are you picking on me?”. The former students make honest, recognizable efforts to try their hardest and accept correction in order to grow, while the latter seem to wallow. They break my heart. True as this may be, I am required by my school and the state of Texas to give a grade based on my students' efforts. If they do nothing, even if I want them to succeed, I must give them a zero. They want to know why they are failing. I tell them if they come after school and make up their missed assignments, they can bring their grade up. So far two have come. Where are the rest?

In my disappointment of their outward disregard, occasional anger (usually during class) and great desire for their redemtion, I must reflect and thank them for what they have taught me about some of the things God must feel.

benediction

May God bless you with discomfort At easy answers, half-truths, and superficial relationships. So that you may live deep within your heart. May God bless you with anger At injustice, oppression, and exploitation of people, so that you may work for justice, freedom and peace. May God bless you with tears to shed for those who suffer pain, rejection, hunger and war, so that you may reach out your hand to comfort them and to turn their pain into joy. And may God bless you with enough foolishness to believe that you can make a difference in the world, so that you can do what others claim cannot be done; to bring justice and kindness to all our children and the poor. Amen

closed street

Kristyn and I live on a corner lot in semi-downtown Waco. Tuesday morning we awoke to a large crater in the street to the right of our house. As you might suspect the water main burst. The city accordingly closed the block that was affected.

It just so happens that the street that needed to be closed is subject to a lot of through traffic day and night. After the water main was fixed the city has left the road closed and has elected to make a throughway for people who live directly on the affected street, a total of three homes. With the opening for these citizens the city has created a s-turn with cones blocking off the two entrances and guarding the unfinished street repair.

This morning as I sat on our front porch watching the black birds enjoy the due filled grass, I noticed the how different cars approached the closed street. Some saw the sign and cones and elected to take a detour. Others slowed down enough to observe the sign, look around to see who's watching, then proceed to enter the closed block to emerge free on the other side of the s-turn. Lastly, there is a group of drives that observed the sign and cones enough to swing their vehicle around the apparent obstacle course. All three types of people saw the warning signs; some changed direction, some drove slowly though hoping not to get caught, while others drove though with no regard to the closer or danger.

What does this say about life? Do we observe warning signs? Can we even see the warning signs? Are we so focused on getting to where we wish to be that the signs are but a blur as we curve around the obstacle?

subversion

I've been reading through Phillip Yancey's book called Prayer, and it has been a wonderful driving force for some new habits. This morning I read that prayer is subversive. I think Yancey is an Open-Theist, and on some levels i can dig that, but the great thing is how he actually believes prayer changes things. What a great concept of God....as if it were new....that God wishes to have a loving, human-like relationship with his created. Back to "prayer is subversive". In Brueggemann's book Prophetic Imagination, he talks about how our current reality is nothing like the reality of Kingdom of Heaven that Jesus preached; that the Kingdom reality is set out and against the current reality, which is plagued by oppression. If prayer is subversive, then it would be an prophetic act crying out from the current reality, urging God to intervene and further the Kingdom of Heaven (like the Lord's Prayer / your kingdom come. your will be done. on earth like it is in heaven).