Sep 21, 2022 | Wens Pen
Teaching Freely is Love in Action
Our last TEC Thought for the Week is:
Love others as you love yourself!
Why is this our last TEC Thought for the Week? We have had much joy in bringing you our weekly TEC Thoughts over the years. And as we have grown in our TEC communications, we have kept adding to what we are sharing weekly with you.
However, we realise that you, like many of us, receive a lot of email communication each week. Our response to this potential overload is that we are going to focus on fewer areas in our TEC Connects newsletter. We trust that this helps you.
We also thought it appropriate to round out this part of our tradition with the next extract from Paul’s letter to the Galatians, which continues from those in earlier weeks:
Galatians 5:13-15 It is absolutely clear that God has called you to a free life. Just make sure that you don’t use this freedom as an excuse to do whatever you want to do and destroy your freedom. Rather, use your freedom to serve one another in love; that’s how freedom grows. For everything we know about God’s Word is summed up in a single sentence: Love others as you love yourself. That’s an act of true freedom. If you bite and ravage each other, watch out—in no time at all you will be annihilating each other, and where will your precious freedom be then?
16-18 My counsel is this: Live freely, animated and motivated by God’s Spirit. Then you won’t feed the compulsions of selfishness. For there is a root of sinful self-interest in us that is at odds with a free spirit, just as the free spirit is incompatible with selfishness. These two ways of life are contrary to each other, so that you cannot live at times one way and at times another way according to how you feel on any given day. Why don’t you choose to be led by the Spirit and so escape the erratic compulsions of a law-dominated existence?
Peterson’s paraphrase can help us focus our teaching and working community in dramatic ways, if we are prepared to ask ourselves questions such as:
- As Teachers, do my students see our class-times as opportunities to learn to serve others as we learn together? And
- For all of us working in Christian Education, whether teaching or not, do I invite the Holy Spirit to protect me, and all our students, from selfishness as we learn together?
May we inspire each other as we listen to and invite the Holy Spirit to guide and direct us, working together for our student’s future faith.
Blessings,
Stephen J Fyson
Sep 13, 2022 | Wens Pen
Infecting the Whole Batch
Do you ever hear people talk about education as if it were ‘neutral’ – that is, that teaching is independent of our beliefs? What do you think about that? Does it matter who teaches ‘2 + 2 = 4’?
We can turn to an ‘ancient friend’ to help us with this question: Aurelius Augustine outlined in 427 AD (in his wonderful little book, On Christian Teaching) what he believed was the most important purpose of teaching as a Christian: “So anyone who thinks that he has understood the divine scriptures or any part of them, but cannot by his understanding build up this double love of God and neighbour, has not yet succeeded in understanding them.” (p.27)
It is not difficult to see where Augustine might go to in the Bible to reach such a conclusion. Both the Gospels of Matthew and Mark describe the incident when Jesus was ‘tested’ with the question about what was most important across Hebraic law1. His response captured two summary statements from the Old Testament – love God with your all (Deuteronomy 6:5), and love others as you love yourself (Leviticus 19:18). Augustine summarised this as the “double love”.
What Augustine understood, is that the Bible is the lens through which we are to understand, or see, all aspects of reality. If that is true, then the purpose of Scripture applies to all we study – i.e. to all our teaching and learning. Thus, all we teach invites us to love God and others more, or it does not. For Augustine, that is the deepest question to ask as Christian educators. As such, it is a celebration of the heart when we acknowledge the gift of teaching. For to have the opportunity to invite others to a safe place where they are accepted and cared for, so that they can receive God-honouring, Christ-focussed and Holy Spirit led instruction, delight, and challenge, is pure privilege.
The Apostle Paul reflected this in many ways – but one of his most direct moments is in his letter to the Christians in Galatia:
Galatians 5:7-10 You were running superbly! Who cut in on you, deflecting you from the true course of obedience? This detour doesn’t come from the One who called you into the race in the first place. And please don’t toss this off as insignificant. It only takes a minute amount of yeast, you know, to permeate an entire loaf of bread. Deep down, the Master has given me confidence that you will not defect. But the one who is upsetting you, whoever he is, will bear the divine judgment.
Did you notice this phrase?
“It only takes a minute amount of yeast, you know, to permeate an entire loaf of bread.”
Every time we step into a classroom, we become that yeast. Or, as Augustine described it, we are the message as well as the messenger. Do our students discern this? Yes, they do. That is why teaching is such a privilege, but not for those with divided hearts. Let’s ask God to help us be purer of heart today.
Stephen J Fyson
Matthew 22:34-40 & Mark 12:38-33
Sep 6, 2022 | Wens Pen
Can Planning Inhibit Grace?
There are many aspects to life which are inherently good. But it seems that we have the knack of taking those gifts from the Creator and using them in a way that is not good.
Planning can be one of those aspects to life, even in our school contexts. We need to make our plans and we need to follow through with our preparations. That is being a good steward of the resources that God gives to us. In our schools, that includes being intentional about what we propose to do in our classes, each and every time.
Eugene Peterson explains it this way in his introduction to the book of Numbers. He acknowledges that we need relational help to live in Godly community, but he also notes that we need planning:
We need organizational help. When people live together in community, jobs have to be assigned, leaders appointed, inventories kept. Counting and list-making and rosters are as much a part of being a community of God as prayer and instruction and justice. Accurate arithmetic is an aspect of becoming a people of God. (The Message, NavPress, 2022, p.222)
But when does such planning become an inhibitor to grace? Perhaps it is when we stop listening to the circumstances in which people find themselves. Perhaps it is when we stop listening to God. Perhaps that is when we no longer can discern when we are working to the spirit of the law or the letter of the law.
The Apostle Paul expressed it this way:
Galatians 5:4-6 I suspect you would never intend this, but this is what happens. When you attempt to live by your own religious plans and projects, you are cut off from Christ, you fall out of grace. Meanwhile we expectantly wait for a satisfying relationship with the Spirit. For in Christ, neither our most conscientious religion nor disregard of religion amounts to anything. What matters is something far more interior: faith expressed in love. [The Message]
Can this really happen in our classroom and schools? Yes, and easily. When we are more concerned with the form of something rather than its essence, we can fail to discern what is right and wrong before God – that includes what is right and wrong about what we teach and how we teach it.
It is why us teachers can become too quickly caught up with the latest technique for our classrooms and turn it into a ‘must have’ way of doing something. Many times, these latest ideas are but a part of truth which take the position of being an absolute. This is a path to idolatry, and does not allow us to discern, through prayer and mediation on God’s Word, what is just and merciful.
At those times we do not express faith through love – we express a restrictive teaching type of Pharisaism. Let’s pray for the grace to do more of the former, and for the wisdom to know when we are sliding into the later.
Amen.
Blessings,
Stephen Fyson
Aug 31, 2022 | Wens Pen
Free to Teach
Does your teaching feel like a chore, or an opportunity?
Do you think that you are not working well unless you are very busy?
Are the weekends the highlight of your week?
Perhaps we all go through seasons when we answer ‘yes’ to one or all of these questions. Yet, if we believe we are part of a Christian community that is committed to Christian education, then we are do not have to work to avoid any of these dynamics. Instead, we can simply not experience these patterns because the alternative is so much better – that is:
- When we teach because of the mercies of God in our lives, it is a privilege, and not a chore (even though at times it can be hard)
- When we trust that God is sovereign, we will discern clearly the time He gives us and how to use it well
- When we are using our God-given gifts to serve others through teaching, then it will feed our souls (even if we are physically tired sometimes) – and weekends become a celebration of the week as well as re-creation for the following week
The Apostle Paul was trying to highlight this to the Christians in Galatia, who were getting themselves tied in all kinds of knots over how to administer who were the ‘real’ members, and therefore who could do what in their congregation. He started to explain the danger of working to a ‘rule-keeping system’ designed to capture who we are, instead of seeing the release we have in the grace of Christ:
[Galatians 5] Christ has set us free to live a free life. So take your stand! Never again let anyone put a harness of slavery on you.
2-3 I am emphatic about this. The moment any one of you submits to circumcision or any other rule-keeping system, at that same moment Christ’s hard-won gift of freedom is squandered. I repeat my warning: The person who accepts the ways of circumcision trades all the advantages of the free life in Christ for the obligations of the slave life of the law.
Alan Noble, in his book, You are Not Your Own, sees that we tie ourselves up in two ways when we do not understand that we are free when through Christ we accept that God is God, and we are in His image, but not Him. The first ‘informal rule keeping’ way we tie ourselves up is by trying to do everything in our own strength to show how fulfilled we are, or how much we are flourishing. The second way we become stuck is that we decide the first way is too hard, and so we self-medicate ourselves with distractions, delusions and drugs.
And that is not freedom! Instead, let’s continue to meet with each other in the fellowship of Christ and invite God to be with us, so that we can teach freely in Him.
Blessings,
Stephen Fyson
Aug 23, 2022 | Wens Pen
About What Do We Boast?
I love my grandchildren. I love talking about my grandchildren. It is not that I love my children less, nor my elderly mother, nor even my wife of over four decades. It is just that they are so – well, they are so grandchildren-like! They all look wonderful, they all give hugs, they all appreciate time with us.
They come and visit, and we play and have adventures and laughs together. We eat (somehow it seems that their grandmother always knows what their ‘favourites’ are). We read, we talk and then, wonder of wonders, they go home to their loving parents!
Is it wrong to tell lots of stories about my grandchildren? I know that it is not good when the people who are listening get bored – but is it boasting?
What about with my students? What do I like saying about them? Does it matter if they achieve above the state averages? Does it matter if I have no serious discipline issues? What about if all the students I teach end up in youth groups? Isn’t that worth talking about?
I think the answer to these questions is ‘yes’ – it is good to talk about these things.
HOWEVER – there is a line about which we need to be aware. It is a line that starts in our hearts, and is then projected out onto the rest of the world. The line is whether or not we celebrate the opportunities God has given us in being involved in these situations. Are my cute grandchildren all my doing? Are the results I achieve in teaching all because of me?
The answer to these questions may seem obvious – it is not all about us. But the subtle temptation to claim good outcomes as being from what we have done is strong. The opposite temptation is to blame all of our failings on others. Both temptations come from a self-frame of reference – that is, we decide what is good or not from our point of view.
The Apostle Paul saw the impact of such thinking in the Christian church. He knew that people tried to construct their own frameworks of success and effort, and then judged others by that framework. His response was clear:
Galatians 14-16 For my part, I am going to boast about nothing but the Cross of our Master, Jesus Christ. Because of that Cross, I have been crucified in relation to the world, set free from the stifling atmosphere of pleasing others and fitting into the little patterns that they dictate. Can’t you see the central issue in all this? It is not what you and I do—submit to circumcision, reject circumcision. It is what God is doing, and he is creating something totally new, a free life! All who walk by this standard are the true Israel of God—his chosen people. Peace and mercy on them! (The Message)
Similarly, we can have in our profession of teaching, lots of ‘little patterns’ to which we must adhere if we are to be considered successful. Of course, many of those patterns are present to help avoid the chaos that would ensue if we did not have routines that help us keep order as a community. But Paul’s next statement is the hub of the matter: “It is what God is doing” that counts.
Paul believes this so strongly, that he describes such a heart state as being evidence of being truly God’s people!
So – it is good to celebrate worthy outcomes, like happy grandchildren and classes that do well. But – do we celebrate these events with thankfulness to God for this opportunity to serve in these contexts, using the gifts He has given us, in the strength that He provides? Or is it about ‘me’?
How can we routinely celebrate worthy outcomes in our classes and school in a way that explicitly thanks God for this good?
Blessings,
Stephen Fyson
Aug 16, 2022 | Wens Pen
FATIGUE IN DOING GOOD
There can be two common confusions about continuing to do good. One is uncertainty about what ‘doing good’ actually looks like. The other is that it is simply too hard to sustain. There are many other dynamics involved in doing good, but these two seem to swirl around us in our kind of ministry.
One reason for this confusion is that we live in a world with increasingly diverse opinions about what is the right thing to do in different situations. That can even be as basic as, “What does good teaching look like?” Some subsequent questions can include: Does good teaching focus strictly on outcomes based on strong data collection? Does good teaching mean making sure students never “feel bad” (whatever that might mean for you and them)? Does good teaching mean that you run a perfectly behaved classroom? [PS – we encourage you to read Augustine’s On Christian Teaching to help answer “What is good teaching?”]
And then there is the issue of keeping it all going. We are told that teaching is becoming more demanding. This apparent increased workload is often reported to be because of more bureaucracy, and more encumbrances around what to teach.
How are we to keep it up?
Our ‘friend’, the Apostle Paul, gives this pastoral advice:
Galatians 6:9-10 So let’s not allow ourselves to get fatigued doing good. At the right time we will harvest a good crop if we don’t give up, or quit. Right now, therefore, every time we get the chance, let us work for the benefit of all, starting with the people closest to us in the community of faith. [The Message]
Paul has explained what ‘good’ is about earlier in his letter– it is the grace and truth of Jesus Christ. Earlier, Jesus had explained that we are to be His salt and light in being the message as well as the messengers of this grace and truth. This includes how we relate to each other, our students, and their families. But Paul has also reminded us in his previous chapter that we are not alone. We are only able to demonstrate grace and truth through the work of His Holy Spirit. He also notes that perseverance leads to bearing fruit in God’s time, in His way. That is why we are to help anyone we can with the resources God gives us, within our contexts.
It is God who decides what resources we have – our gifts and time. It is God who enables us to see the need around us. It is God who provides the opportunity and strength to act on this discernment.
Why then should we weigh ourselves down with being worried about tomorrow when God gives us enough to do today? (see Matthew 6:33-34) It is God’s gifts to us that we are using to do good. And it is in His strength that we can do good and speak truth. The Apostle Peter summarises it so well for us:
Most of all, love each other as if your life depended on it. Love makes up for practically anything. Be quick to give a meal to the hungry, a bed to the homeless—cheerfully. Be generous with the different things God gave you, passing them around so all get in on it: if words, let it be God’s words; if help, let it be God’s hearty help. That way, God’s bright presence will be evident in everything through Jesus, and he’ll get all the credit as the One mighty in everything—encores to the end of time. [1 Peter 4:8-11, The Message]
Amen.
Stephen Fyson
