The Dialectic Christian and the Educational Virtue of Humility

It seems to be an everyday occurrence around here these days. The conversation usually goes something like this:

Mom:
You need to go back and correct these questions.

pre-teen:
Why?! I gave you answers. That's how I saw it. It isn't my fault if you think its wrong. 

Mom:
Truth doesn't change just because you want it to. Opinions change. Perceptions change. But real Truth never changes. You need to decide if you are going to insist on ignoring what is true,  lying to yourself, and forming opinions and perceptions based on those lies; or if you are going to show some humility, learn what is Truth, and develop informed, reasoned, and wise options and perspective. 

In all honesty - that is how the conversation goes in my better moments. Often it includes phrases like: "I'm not arguing with you. It's wrong and there are no friends or screen time until it is fixed." or "You are not the President. You cannot decide something is fake just because you don't like it." I often don't have a lot of patience with the black-and-white rational of the dialectic student!


This is why classical education teaches logic and reasoning during middle school -  identifying logical fallacies and training the brain to rule the heart while the heart informs the brain. We begin pushing students to look at historical, literary, and philosophical context, understanding that the student's experience is different from an author's, thus what he brings to a text is different from what the intent of an author may have been. A Christian American 21st century 13 year old sitting in his living room is going to read "Sir Gwain and the Green Knight" very differently than how an English medieval peasant would have first heard it told around a campfire.

It is also why the first of the educational virtues is humility. Especially within Christian Classical education, we recognize that the only way to learn, to increase in wisdom and understanding, is to recognize I am limited in experience, understanding, and reasoning.  The journey to Truth will be a life-long endevour of adjusting my perceptions, beliefs, and thinking.  If I am to understand what is true, I must first admit I could be wrong.  The way I read something, what I observe, my perception, my reasoning are all limited. I can know that Truth, Goodness, and Beauty ultimately lie in the Trinity, but how I understand and recognize it will be limited and flawed until I meet God face-to-face. I need those who have gone before me and those who have greater wisdom and understanding to refine, challenge, and encourage me.

I think as a Christian educator, one of the hardest parts is recognizing when this dialectic thinking has infiltrated my own beliefs. How often to do I come to a text, or even to Scripture, with the presupposition that I have a full grasp on what is True? If I'm honest - too often. Most of the time, my heart and my mind are not fully open to the possibility that I could be misunderstanding the depths of the mind of God. How often do I read Scripture and try to rationalize away something that makes me uncomfortable?  How often do I read into a text what I want to see - even if it conflicts with other parts of Scripture? We all do it. We cannot fully comprehend the mind of God, but if I don't come from a place of humility, I cannot be changed.

If I am to grow I must ask myself:

Do I allow my beliefs to be challenged?
Do I seek to have my understanding challenged?
Do I listen to some one else's point of view, try to see where they are coming from, and glean even the smallest nuggets of Truth and wisdom that may be there? Or, do I listen to argue back and prove my own (obviously) greater understanding?
Can I look at conflicts within Scripture, and wrestle with them; or, do I quickly rationalize it away with "What God really means is...." or "It's a cultural thing." or "There really isn't a conflict"? 
Do I study the context of my favorite verse, or am I satisfied that I can quote it whenever it meets my needs?

Daily, while struggling to teach and mentor my dialectic children, if I am being truly honest, more often than not, they are God's means of teaching and mentoring me more than anything. They are one of God's many means of holding a mirror up to my eyes, and letting me glimpse into my own heart. They are leading me toward more humility, and thus closer to Him.

The Gospel of Trick-or-Treat: Finding Truth, Goodness and Beauty in the Dark

Last night I sat on my front stoop watching our normally quiet neighborhood team with people. All shapes, sizes, genders, nationalities, and abilities filled the sidewalks with laughter (and the occasional scream). As the sun set behind me, my little cul-de-sac became so dark I often could not see the trick-or-treaters until they were in front of the house. In 2 hours, I had over 300 people come to my door. 

During a lull in candy-giving, I watched what was going on. In this journey I've been on to re-discover "education", I've been consistently brought back to Phillipians 4:8

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. (ESV)

Often we talk about this verse as a command to only deal with those things that are Good, True, and Beautiful. Training to love Truth, Goodness, and Beauty is one of the primary goals of a classical Christian education. But what if instead of a command to only surround oneself with the beautiful, it is a command to find what is true, what is good, and what is beautiful within all of creation, history, science, and culture?  When we look within the entire context of Scripture, we are told to live in the world, but not be of it; to let our light shine in the darkness.  We cannot be a light to a dark world if we do not engage and go into the darkness.  Hiding from, or avoiding, all darkness effectively hides our light under a basket.  We are not called to avoid the darkness, but to go into it and shine the Light of the Gospel. In order to do that, we must be able to see the Gospel in even the darkest of places. Maybe the idea of Phillipians 4 is not to hide, but to search for where God is revealing Himself through the people, cultures, and nature He has created. It is walking through the darkest and most evil this world has to offer, and seeing the fingerprint of God. 

In those few quiet moments on my front step, I wondered, "Where do I see the gospel?". If God is truly the God of all creation, the director of history, the creator of all mankind, then His mark must be on everything - even trick-or-treating. Then I saw it:

In the black darkness of my street were people from all walks of life, all nations, many languages searching for the light -  because in the light they would find grace. The light of each porch was a signal that here a door was open to any who would walk through, and grace would be given, in equal measure, to all who asked. It didn't matter who you were, who you were trying to be, what you had done - grace would be freely given.  All those people searching for unmerited favor. All those children drawn to the light, almost despite themselves. All those people trying to be something they weren't, yet receiving love despite appearances. Even in the midst of traditions rooted in pagan ritual, the Gospel was being acted out. In what Satan intended for evil, God demonstrates his love. 

The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in land of deep darkness, on them has light shone. (Isaiah 9:2)

 In the last century Christian education has become more an endevour to teach how to avoid evil than one of training to recognize the Truth, Goodness, and Beauty of God. It trains to fear evil, instead of resting in the strength, grace, love, and justice of our Savior. It tells our children to run from temptation in their own strength, instead of recognizing where God has already won the battle, has completed their redemption, and is actively working on their sanctification. This isn't to say that wisdom and discernment is not part of it, but that those things come when we are so in love with Love Incarnate, that we can see Him everywhere.

I teach Latin, Math, Logic, Grammar, Literature, History, and Science to my children not just to learn about the world, but so they can engage the world for Christ.  My heart's desire for them has become that they may be able to recognize, share, reveal, and explain the Gospel in any and every situation. That takes training in first of all what the root of all Truth, Goodness, and Beauty is, but also in using logic, reasoning, wisdom, and discernment to reveal Love where we don't expect to find Him. It is teaching them to recognize that even in those things that seem to be fully corrupted by sin, the grace and love of God is shining.

Our children are growing up in scary times. The world around us seems to be falling farther and farther away from peace and stability. They have a tough road ahead of them. It our job to equip them to be the light and to find the Light in the midst of the darkness....and maybe that begins with stepping out our own front door, into the darkness, and asking them, "Where do you see the Gospel?". 

Christian Idolatry - Flags and Guns

I've been putting off writing this for days. I don't want to. It hits too close to home and is forcing me to look at myself in ways I really don't want to. But, I'm driven to and I think it is something our nation, and the American Church, needs to confront in light of current events.

For great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised;

he is to be feared above all gods.

For the gods of the peoples are worthless idols,

but the LORD made the heavens.

Psalm 96: 4-5 (ESV)

The heart of all sin is idolatry - putting something or someone in God's place. This passage is in the middle of a Psalm extolling God's glory to the nations. "The gods of the people are worthless idols" led me to thinking - What are my idols and how do I know what my idols are?

Idolatry is characterized by one major attribute - anger. Anger tells us something is wrong. Something in our passions is out of sorts or being challenged. Jesus demonstrates righteous anger when he overthrows the money changers in the temple. His anger is kindled out of the defamation of God's House and God's name. The only time he uses strong language is in response to the Pharisees' abuse of God's Word.   Jesus' passion, His priority, is God's glory - and seeing it tarnished ignites the only violent outbursts we see from him in Scripture. His unfair trial, his disciples' betrayal, his wrongful crucifixion, the prostitute's sin, the tax collector's theft, the Roman soldiers' oppression of the Jews - none of that sparks His anger. It is only the tarnishing of God's name that brings him to anger. In every other infraction, He turns the attention of the sinner to the Redeemer. Even on the cross, he pointed those who were killing him, to God the Father. God is His God.

But how about me? What makes me angry, and when I am angry what is my goal? 

Too often, most of the time, it has nothing to do with God. Something else is provoking my heart to feel my priorities, my gods, are being threatened. Maybe it is a child's pride conflicting with my own. Often it is because my plan isn't working, or others aren't following it. Sometimes it is because someone is challenging decisions I have made or positions I hold, and because I have allowed my identity to be wrapped up in those, I take it personally.  It sparks anger that other's are not bowing to my god.

Recent events have brought me to my knees in grief over our national gods - especially among fellow believers. Look at what we get angry about and who we blame. More importantly, what we don't do and say.  How much time have we spent discussing how a flag should be honored? Sit, kneel, stand. We talk about respecting the Constitution, honoring veterans, and nationalism, but how often have we used this as an opportunity to express our longing for God's Kingdom? That every knee that bows is a longing for a Nation, a Kingdom, that will never fail ruled by One who will never let us down. How many memes, editorials, tweets, and Facebook statuses have been shared that make fun of or deride an individual? Who, or what, are we really prioritizing? Is it a nation, or a soul in need of its Savior? What is our god?

How about politicians and celebrities?  When your favorite president or community leader is criticized, do you get angry, or do you seek God's glory? Do you like and share social media that idealizes a human, or do you seek God's face?  When confronted with someone from "the other side", do you criticize, judge, and humiliate another human created in God's image, or do you "seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness"?

When scores of people are killed and injured at a concert, do you place blame on a person, or a weapon, or a law, or the lack of a law - or do you fall at the feet of God and lead those around you to His footstool?

When confronted with opposing views of marriage, education, family planning, social justice, immigration, etc, etc, do you bring individuals to the foot of the cross with love, grace, humility, and compassion? Too often, what I see, what I do, are at their very core, attempts to control and protect idols. We are not pointing to the glory of the One True God. I struggle against being crucified with Christ, so that I may live instead of Him living in me.

We have an idolatry problem. We fall at the feet of a flag, a nation, a legal document, an ideology, a false sense of security - trying to control people God wants to free.  America will one day fall. Presidents and community leaders will die. Freedoms will come and go - but the Kingdom of God will remain forever.

Ascribe to the LORD, O families of the peoples,

ascribe to the LORD glory and strength!

Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name;

bring an offering, and come into his courts!

Worship the LORD in the splendor of his holiness;

tremble before him, all the earth!

Say among the nations, "The Lord reigns!"

Psalm 96: 7-10a (ESV)

Multum Non Multa - Slowing Down to Go Further

We've all been there. That place in life when you need a clone, or extra hours in the day to get it all done. Home. Work. School. Church. Friends. Community Service. Family. Personal Growth. Sports. Crafts. All good things. All good things.  I often feel as if I am always busy, yet never getting anything done. There is always somewhere else to go, another chore to be accomplished, the next item on the list....

Inevitably we crash. Sometimes we simply need a do-nothing day at home. Then there are those times we completely break down - whether physically or emotionally.  We break under the constant pressure to do it all and to be it all. Stress related illnesses and diseases are no stranger to the modern American.

Multum Non Multa - Much not Many. 

The first time I heard that phrase I was very confused. How can you have much of something, but not many? Isn't it an oxymoron? In a way it is, but it encapsulates a truth the ancient world, and more importantly Christ, knew was vital to a well-lived life.  The idea of Multum non multa is that our time is better spent, and our quality of life is better when we do fewer things, but do them well. There is such a thing as too much good. Depth is more important than breadth. Quality is more valuable than quantity. Less is more. 

Take a walk down the aisles of Target. You have $1000 to make your life more beautiful. How do you spend it?  Often in life we stock our cart as high as we can. We will even put some on credit. Nothing in your cart is "bad", it may even all be good things that you will enjoy.  Everything you bring home is going to bring happiness - at least for the time being. But in 1 month, 6 months, 10 years, how much of that is going to end up in the trash, shoved under a bed, or sent to GoodWill? And when the credit card bill is due - what do you do then?

Living a life of "Much not Many" is walking out of Target, across the street to the local work-worker, choosing wood, stain, and fabrics, and paying for instruction in handcrafting a beautiful rocking chair in which babies can be cuddled, fictional lands explored, and stories told. A chair that can be passed down from generation to generation.

Within education, this means carefully choosing what we study and when. This is why many classical models revolve around history. Students study a set time period's history, literature, art, music, philosophies, theologies, and scientific achievements and discoveries - digging deep into not just the what, but the how's and why's. They look at history's big picture, how that picture is composed, and how all those components work together. A rotating 3 or 4 year cycle means students come back to the same material multiple times, each time with deeper study, research, and understanding as they grow in wisdom, rhetoric, and logic. Each rotation allows them to dive into the details and depth of that one picture. They are trained to find and love the truth, beauty, and goodness in the picture as a whole, and in each of its components. They study Latin, because it includes the study of grammar, vocabulary, spelling, logic, linguistics, and foundation of western culture - in mastering one language, they have mastered the fundamentals of all Language. They study math not as a set of utilitarian facts and algorithms, but as a language that describes the world around them. We spend hours in the early grades training in spacial relationships and place-value while attaching purposeful meaning to fact memorization, so that in the later years algebra and calculus become simply the "rhetoric" of the art of numbers. Multum non multa. (I am beginning to realize much "classical" curriculum is overly complicated and includes too much at the expense of better things, but that is for a different discussion.) 

Multum non multa is the next step in achieving Schole - it is putting aside good things to focus on the best things.  It is properly ordering our loves and lives. Our lives have many good things, but what is it that we should LOVE? Enjoying too many good things means we are not loving anything. 

The easiest way to begin working toward schole, is to prioritize and structure our life around those things that are most "true, good, and beautiful".  What are my priorities? What is not just good in life, but what is best in life? How can I structure my day, my week, and my months to focus on what is best?

I've begun making a few small adjustments to help keep me and our home focused on the "best". We have started using the Daily Lectionary for morning devotions. We are read one of the Psalm readings together, taking a few moments to discuss what truths about God we see, followed by reciting the Nicene Creed, singing the Doxology (the 6 year old's idea), prayer requests (personal, friends, family, national, and world) and praying Thomas Aquinas's "Ante Studium". In 10 to 15 minutes we have started our day with praise, learning a little about the nature of God, internalizing the basic tenants of our faith, and directing our thoughts, joys, burdens, and studies to the Creator. It also includes literary analysis, memorization, current events, theology, music training, and spiritual formation.  It is simple and easy, yet incorporates many great truths and beauties that will benefit all of us for the rest of our lives. As an added bonus, even mornings that begin with grumpy children (or Mommy), ruined breakfast, and unexpected events, settle into a more peaceful atmosphere simply by having a routine focused on what is best. We have dropped AWANA and Classical Conversations this year - both good programs that were detracting from better things in our family life. I have worked on simplifying household chores, so now most of it can be completed in about 20 minutes after dinner - leaving me time for better things in the afternoons and evenings. 

Christopher Perrin says, "Stress is a dysfunctional relationship with time."  Much of the stress in our lives is because we are spending our time on good things, but not the best things. We are jacks of all trades, yet masters of none. We fail to realize that by spending time investing in one or two great things, we learn more, we can be more, and we can do more. 

I believe Christ pointed to this concept in his ministry.  God gave us a world with many good things to do, but He also gave us one singular goal:

 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, 

and all these things will be added to you. 

Matthew 6: 33 (ESV)

He reiterated this to Martha. Martha who was so busy doing many good things, but missed the best! 

But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha,you are anxious and troubled about  many things, but one thing is necessary.

Luke 10: 41 (ESV)

When we focus and prioritize our life around glorifying God, it simplifies it all. There is only "one thing necessary" and all those other things will happen. 

When I am stressed, when life seems to be chaotic, the to-do list is never ending, and nothing is being done well, I need to ask myself one question, "What glorifies God?" When I slow down to focus on my one purpose, I am more and I go further than I ever thought possible. 

Schole - In Just Being

I was asked this week, "How do you have time to think like this and to post what you are thinking?" My reply, "I have to. It keeps me sane."

A completely inadequate answer, but in the midst of taking care of children, it was all there was really time for. This has been a long journey, and one I am still struggling to understand and walk. I've spent several years maintaining a household, educating children, going to Bible Studies, faithfully attending church, yet living with the nagging feeling that there is more to life than this. There was a time when I thought I found the American Christian life of a home educating wife and mother fulfilling - but that was gone. I was bored. I was depressed. I was always overwhelmed, no matter how much or how little I was doing. I was praying, involved in a Bible Study, going to church every week, most days had personal devotions - yet something was still missing.

I was so busy "doing", I wasn't just "being". As I've looked back to when I started becoming dissatisfied, I realized it coincided with some major life events in which I made some very small, yet very significant changes. Not that I ever had it all together, or was ever completely content - I am too human, too selfish, too prideful for that - but when a few things were removed from my daily life, I gave up those things that really make me - me. For as long as I can remember, I've had music at the core of my life. Whether it was lessons as child, singing with a choir, working as church organist, then as church pianist, much of my week has always involved music. A change in my husband's job changed that. I went from multiple weekly rehearsals and daily practicing, to 15 minutes once a week in church with a team that had no means of practicing often trying to keep 5 wiggly children in-line at the same time.

The second thing that had always been core to my life was study. I love reading, researching, learning, questioning, and reasoning. Through my formal education years, my life revolved around it.  As a young teacher I was constantly reading new research, striving to find new and better ways to reach my students and understand their development. As a new mom it was parenting - and with our first 2 children having exceptional needs, reading, researching, and experimenting with ideas, activities, and approaches to meet their needs. Then it was being challenged with grace-based parenting, instead of the moralism so prevalent in the church and homeschool communities I was in. Then it was homeschooling - I was the only person I knew doing it, so it took a lot of thought, prayer, reading, experimenting to find what this new life-style was and how it works.  Then it was Bible Study, first as a participant then as a leader - diving into the Word of God in ways I never had before. Going beyond the stories, theology, and application to the heart and character of God. Then life changed.  I was no longer needed for bible studies. I had been through curriculum so many times I had it memorized.

Then I made probably the biggest mistake - I began listening to voices, well-meaning voices from God-fearing people, who told me I was in a stage of life where my only priority was my husband and children. Someday I would miss it all. It was selfish to want more.  God had called me to serve them and the music, the teaching, the study was pulling me away from that. So I threw myself into meal planning, lesson planning, home making - doing all the things a good wife and mom is supposed to do.

They missed the point of life. My role as wife and Mom are roles I play - they are important ones, but they do not define me. They can be taken away at any time. I can wake up tomorrow to find I am no longer a wife, no longer a mother. There is no guarantee that a year from now I will be a chaplain's wife and home educator. The one thing that will never change, the one thing, the only thing that really defines me is who I am in Christ. The core of who I am, what really satisfies, what makes me complete is Worship. I was not created to be a mom. I was not created to be a wife. I was created for Worship. What I lost when I gave up music and study was not extra activities that pulled me away from my purpose - I lost how I was created to Worship. Those rehearsals and practice times always began and ended with time to just enjoy music for the sake of the music. It was through hymns, choruses, Bach, and Mozart I most clearly heard and saw the heart of God. It was how I poured out my love, my hopes, my dreams, my sorrows. It isn't surprising that in college when asked to write on a theological work I chose "A Mighty Fortress is Our God" - because through a hymn I understood the heart and soul of the Reformation and grace.  In study and teaching, it was never just preparation for a class or work, because the "work" always lead me to a place where I was searching for the fingerprint of God. I saw Him and understood Him in pedagogical theory, Piaget, and Plato ways I couldn't in diapers, dinners, and dusting.

In "doing" all the "right" things, I stopped Being who I was created to be. The irony of the error of those well-intentioned voices is that I was a better Mom and a better Wife when I was taking the time to "be". This is the heart of "schole". Schole is not about relaxing, kicking our feet up, and putting the work aside. It is enjoying things for their own sake. It is enjoying the music for the sake of the music itself. It is reading the book for the beauty and value intrinsic to the book. It is taking a walk for the sheer enjoyment of Creation. It is doing things just "to be", not "to do". As created beings, it is worship. It is marveling in the music of the spheres, the praise of creation, the creativity of the created simply because they have been given to us to enjoy. The natural result in true "schole", is true, real, meaningful, soul-changing understanding of the Creator. It energizes us for the daily work, it pushes us toward doing more, because it opens us to seeing the hand of the Creator in the necessary work of life. It was in seeing and understanding God that I was able to love the diapers and discipline. Praising through Mozart made it easy to praise through meal planning.  Struggling with Daniel opened my eyes to see God working through an angry pre-schooler.  Allowing the lyrics of "Who Am I" to touch my soul placed in me the grace, patience, and love I needed to be the wife my husband needed me to be.

So how do have the time? How do I not have the time?!  It is in taking an hour or two a day to struggle with philosophy, or to discuss the nature of God with a friend, or to sit and listen to Beethoven, or to walk by myself with only my thoughts,  that I am really able to do all the rest my life demands.

The only way I can "do" all things that need to be done, is if I am "being" who I was created to be.

Schole - The Hard Work of Leisure

In leisure, man oversteps the frontiers of the everyday workaday world, not in external effort and strain, but as though lifted above it in ecstasy.

- "Leisure: The Basis of Culture" by Joseph Peiper

"So why are you here?" was the first question asked in class. Answers were as varied as each individual: For the adventure. Just to do it. To go with friends. To see new things.

My answer: Because my husband and daughter want me to. 

Though, while true, it wasn't a fully satisfying answer. While I was sitting in that classroom because they had enrolled me, there was something deeper and bigger tugging on my heart. It was about 4 weeks later, and 50 ft under sea level that the answer came to me - worship. I was there not for the adventure, or to share experiences with friends and family, or to see new things - I was there for worship. 

The Westminster Shorter Catechism states it perfectly: What is the chief end of man? The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. 

We were made for one thing - Worship. And Worship is the root of schole- leisure. 

In the first third of his book "Leisure: The Basis of Culture" Joseph Peiper lays out that the fall of Western Civilization will come not from a lack of work, but because of the cult of work. Work for completely utilitarian purposes. Work that is done to fill our stomachs, clothe our bodies, and to give life purpose. Western civilization works for the sake of work. It even rests for the sake of work - which really isn't true rest at all. We work so that we can take a break from work, so that we can be more productive at our work. 

We have been groomed and indoctrinated to think leisure is a lack of work. It is the weekends on a beach, an evening of Settlers of Catan, Saturday morning donuts and cartoons. When the term for leisure is used in scripture, and through other ancient works, it has a very different meaning. Schole, the Greek word from which we get "school", implies not a lack of work, but an active pursuit of what is means to be human. The classical understanding of education is working to find the what it true, what is good, and what is beautiful. It is working toward understanding something bigger than ourselves. It is a pursuit in and of itself - not a quest toward more knowledge, more opportunity, more meaning, more experiences - but to simply be. It is hard work, but it is not burdensome. It takes a lot of energy, but it isn't wearisome. It is actually a work that invigorates us toward more work. 

"Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me,....and you will find rest for your souls." Matthew 11: 28-29

Jesus reiterates this idea of true rest in Matthew 11. He doesn't say "Come to me and sit under your beach umbrella".  He says to "Take my yoke and learn". His rest is active. It is a pursuit of Him, not an escape from toil. It provides "rest for your souls" - at that deepest level of who we were created to be. 

On this Monday morning, after a weekend of 3 underwater dives, I am sore. The journey there was not easy - at one point it left me vomiting from over-exertion. My body is weary, yet my soul is looking forward to the next dive.  This morning, my spirit has a new sense of vigor. Because, for a few brief moments, 50 feet underwater, surrounded by walls of coral and schools of fish, with only the sound of my own breathing, relieved of even the weight of my own body and the apparatuses keeping me alive,  I was free to worship and understand my Creator in a whole new light and at an entirely new depth. It is going to take a lot more work to more fully worship in this manner, I still have much to learn and many skills to refine, yet the "yoke" of  worship is leisure to the soul. 

It is a pursuit of understanding and knowing my Creator, and thus who I am. 

Schole - Living Life Classically

It is 9 am Sunday morning. My husband and 3 of our children were up and out of the door early for a base church service. I am supposed to be herding the other 3 out of bed and out the door toward the service we usually attend --- yet I am sitting on our back patio, listening to birds sing, cicadas chirp, cars zipping down the road, and airplanes taking off.  My heart and soul are yearning for worship, for peace, for connection with Something bigger than myself - yet in ways very different from what I can find in any church here on our little island. The liturgies, hymns, choruses, creeds, scripture readings, preaching, and sacraments are all good and necessary - yet too often move too fast, cover too much, are ruled by the clock, and focused on personal application or lost in theological intricacies,  loosing what it truly means to Worship. They become the airplanes over powering the birds singing. What I need, is "schole" - contemplation, leisure. Worship that take the time to engage the heart, soul, mind, body, and relationships (both with God and others).  If I am honest, this is not just what I am missing in corporate worship - it is what I am missing in my life - my marriage, my teaching, my learning, my parenting, my daily chores.  What my soul needs is the hard work of slowing down, listening, searching, discussing, and contemplating Truth, Goodness, and Beauty.

The last several months I've been digging into the intricacies of Classical Education - a quickly growing movement to re-learn and re-claim educational tools, pedagogies, and content from the ancient and middle ages that have been lost with the advent of modern progressive education. While I set out to read and study for professional and parenting reasons, it is leading me on a journey of self-discovery. As I've been tracing what has been lost and why, it has struck my core that what has been lost, and what is being learned within this renewal movement, is not just about formal education, but life and all that our modern world has lost in the pace of Progress. The principles of Classical Education cannot be effectively applied to a classroom, or homeschool, without being lived out in every aspect of life. While our modern world is focused on productivity, what can we do, how well can we do it, and how much can get done, the Classical world yearned for Truth, Goodness, and Beauty.

There is much irony that as modern peoples we have systems, technologies, and knowledge that leave us with more  "leisure" than any in the Classical world would have dreamed of; yet we run non-stop races to be more, make more, and have more in hope of that week on the beach or a weekend BBQ with friends.  Yet the Ancients, Plato, Aristotle, Aquinas, Augustine, had none of our modern conveniences and scientific understanding, but lived daily lives of  true "leisure" and saw beauty that we can only yearn for. They lived in a "music of the spheres" that we can't fathom. We have lost "schole" - leisure at its most basic and fundamental definition.

I would like to invite you to join me on this journey of renewal. Not as an educator or parent, but as a human - as a created being designed to glorify its Creator and rest in Him. I want to explore what it means to apply the eight fundamental principles of Classical Pedagogy to life:

1- Festina Lente - Make haste slowly
2 - Multum non multa - Much not many
3 - Repitio mater memoriae - Repetition is the mother of memory
4 - Embodied Learning
5 - Songs and Chants
6 - Wonder and Curiosity
7 - Virtue
8 - Schole - Contemplation and Leisure

I want to begin with "schole", because I believe it is really the most fundamental. It is both the ends and the means of the other seven. It is doing the hard work of sitting at the feet of Truth, Goodness, and Beauty, and having the virtue to receive it.

The Face of Christ

I was waiting for a couple children to finish lessons when he sat down and started talking - a Marine, homeschool Dad, and brother in Christ. He began telling me about a local, Japanese organization he is involved in and some of the challenges of being the only American in the group. He talked about how at times the responsibility of being the face and representative of our nation, and our military, to a foreign community can at times feel heavy. The responsibility of knowing his dress, his manners, his attitude, his body language, and his work reflect on not just him, but on a nation and force he loves. In a community where tensions can at times escalate because of cultural differences, he doesn't unwittingly want to be one more reason for hard feelings. Then he started telling me this Holy Week was adding to that.  He was told he was needed Easter Morning, and was met with animosity when he said he couldn't be there. He said he struggled to explain, to a completely non-Christian community, why he could not fulfill an obligation. He knew he could loose his position, Japan does not have equal opportunity laws like the US, and he was risking tarnishing the good relationship he had established - one he knew in the eyes of his Japanese colleagues would reflect on not just himself, but the Marine Corps, and American as a whole.  He finally gained some understanding when he explained this Sunday as a high Holy Day, and as they would not work on a Shinto holy day, he could not work on a Christian holy day.  While grateful for their understanding, he realized he was no longer just the face of the Marine Corps and Americans to this Japanese community. He was now the face of Christ to a completely non-Christian world. He may be the only example of Christ some of these people ever meet.

It made me wonder - how would I live my life differently if I truly thought of every action and attitude as the only portrait of Christ someone would ever see?

What picture of Christ do others see as I am grocery shopping? Pumping gas? Speaking with my children? Talking about my husband? When I am tired? When I am overwhelmed? And my digital face.... How do the memes I 💓💓, the articles I 👍, the statuses I post, reflect Christ? If someone tracked my digital life, would they see the Christ of Scripture??

The Jesus we celebrated this weekend allowed himself to be arrested, humiliated, beaten, and brutally killed for the very people who were calling for His death.

The embodiment of Holiness and Truth gently corrected the adulteress, and protected the prostitute - offering forgiveness, justification, and love while calling them on their sin.

The Creator of the earth calmed the wind and waves for men with a lack of faith.

The Owner of all creation applauded the meager gift of the poor widow who gave all for love of God, while rejecting the rich, pompous, powerful man whose large donations and loud boasting glorified himself.

When I "like" an op-ed that labels people as "snowflakes", are those immature, poorly educated college students seeing the face of Christ?

When I share a meme poking fun at "liberal logic", are my left leaning friends seeing the face of Christ?

When I share articles characterizing all illegal immigrants as rapists and murders, or refugees as potential terrorists, do my Mexican and Syrian neighbors see the face of Christ?

When out of fear I remove my girls from the bathroom being used by a transgender individual, does that image-bearer of God, see the outstretched, loving, and welcoming arms of Christ?

When I cheer bombs being dropped on Muslim men, women, and children, do they see the Son of God hanging on a cross for them?

I am in no way saying we should avoid anything that could offend others. The truth is always offensive. Real love is offensive. Christ was offensive - which is why He died.  But...

We are to be wise as serpents, and gentle as doves. We are to speak the truth in love. We are to rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep.  We are to look beyond the outward appearance, and look on the heart. We are to offer water to the adulteress at the well. We are to stop the mob's justice and point them to their own need for justification. We are to teach and train the children and immature. We are to heal those arresting us. We are to pray for those killing us.

We are to be the face of Christ in a world that does not know Him.

If we are not laying down our lives, we are not pointing to His.

Normalizing Normal

The question of what is "normal" has come to the fore front over the last decade as our culture and laws have grasped on to ideas and behaviors that have traditionally been seen as abnormal. Within the Christian community, especially the Evangelical and conservative communities, there is a lot of talk about preventing sin from becoming "normalized" in the minds and hearts of our children. Just ask about the newest live-action "Beauty and the Beast" and tempers begin flaring over how much children should be exposed to and how much popular culture is trying "normalize" behavior and attitudes rejected by traditional Christianity.

I've sat back, listened, and wondered - What exactly is "normal"? And what, as Christians, are we supposed to consider "normal"?  Is submission and adherence to traditional Judeo-Christian values really what is "normal"?

None is righteous, no, not one;

no one understands;

no one seeks for God.

All have turned aside; together they have become worthless;

no one does good,

not even one."  (Romans 3:10-12 ESV)

Over and over again in scripture, we are told all of Creation groans under the oppressive weight of sin. All of mankind is "dead in the trespasses and sin....we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind."  (Eph 2: 1, 3)  The more I read scripture, the more I realize, it is sin that is normal. 

We don't like that. We don't like that our normal state is one of sin - drunkenness, lying, cheating, murder, selfishness, extra-marital sex, homosexuality, transgender, lazy, idolatrous, blasphemous, lawlessness. That is the "normal" human condition. That is not the way mankind was created, but because of Sin, it is what is normal. In our completely natural, God-free state, that is who we are. In our normal condition, we reject everything God created us to be, and live in the passions of our flesh. We were born searching for happiness and purpose, driven by our passions and feelings to find it where ever and how ever we can. 

Yet the natural human state leaves us feeling unfulfilled. Those passions of flesh feel good for a time, but leave us wanting more, or different. As Christians, we know that fullness of life only comes from God, so we have "normalized" Christian values. We have spent decades preaching if you go to church, follow the 10 Commandments, sing "Just As I Am", deny the passions within you, and "turn to Jesus", God will find you and save you. If you run from sin, God will save you. 

The most devastating part of this, is it is a lie. We can live "good" lives. We can avoid much of the heartache and devastation sin brings. We can feel happy, and content, and prosperous. We feel good about helping the poor, keeping the 10 Commandments, and practicing the Sermon on the Mount. We can avoid all the "big", obvious sins. The lie is easy to live with. It creates a nice, yet dangerous, front that allows us to ignore the truth. In working to avoid our normal human condition, we reject the Gospel. 

The Gospel is not easy. The Gospel begins with one basic premise - We are all trapped in sin that feels good and appeals to our natural nature.  The entire Old Testament law proves we are incapable of escaping sin. The law was given to teach us what sin is (Romans 3:20)  - not to teach us how to avoid it. We have no problem sinning. We have no means, on our own, of stopping. (Though we certainly do a great job of thinking we can!)  The first thing the Gospel demands, is the painful recognition that we are all dirty, hopeless, destitute, and dead in sin. The first step of Gospel living, is recognizing I am no different than the worse of all sinners. It is realizing dealing with the "exclusively gay moment" in Beauty in the Beast may be uncomfortable not because it is normalizing sin in my mind, but because it taps into a "normal" part of me that I don't want to look at.  It is reading history, and recognizing that except by the grace of God, I am the slave owner. It is watching a passionate movie scene, and acknowledging part of me wants that.  The Law shows us that what is normal and desirable, is not acceptable in the eyes of God. 

That is where the hope of the Gospel jumps in. Sin has been conquered, and we no longer have to be slaves to our normal nature. WE become abnormal. It is not the non-believers who are different from us. WE are different from them. We are the abnormal. 

So where does that leave us when navigating through a world that is increasingly accepting of its natural condition? 

First, we need to recognize that generations of "normalizing" Judeo-Christian values within the culture has led us to this place. What we are seeing, is the world standing up and saying "This is who we are!"  After generations of enslavement to laws and traditions, the world is simply being what it naturally is. It is throwing off the chains of religion. We have been born this way, and it isn't a choice.  When we understand the depths of the power of sin, we should not be surprised when it rises up. We should not be shocked by sin. If we are shocked by it, it is because we do not comprehend its power. 

Second,  We need to remember - We are the abnormal.  Through Christ we are "new creations".  The Holy Spirit is "normalizing" in us what is not natural. It means the world should be shocked by us. It should be shocked by the love, grace, compassion, humility, joy, peace, patience, kindness, self-control, and self-sacrifice of the Holy Spirit working through us. We should be shocking. We should stand out. We should be counter-culture. Our lives should be so controlled by Christ, His death, and His resurrection, that the rest of the world takes notice - not because of the laws we demand it lives by, but because of the freedom we have to be everything it can't. The world should be shocked by the power of God within us. The world should take notice not because I demand movies, books, television, and laws conform to a God it doesn't acknowledge,  but because I am free to say, "Yes. I want to do that too, but I have something that is bigger, better, and more satisfying. I do not need to act naturally to have real joy, peace, and purpose."

Third - We need to take a very hard look at what we mean as individuals and parents by "normalizing sin".  As Christian parents, our deepest desire for our children is Christ. We want them to so desire and long for Him, that their hearts will never be satisfied until they are sitting in His presence. It takes much wisdom and discernment, and knowing each individual child, to know when we are teaching and training in righteousness, and when are we over-protecting them from the truth of the sin-filled world they live in. Are we protecting immature hearts and minds, or denying who we are outside of Christ? Are we trying to demonstrate a more glorious way, or are we hiding from the harsh reality of a fallen world?  It is hard, it is devastating, it is ugly, and it is violent, to show our children who they naturally are, who we naturally are, and what the world around them naturally is. Are we standing in the way of them experiencing their need for Christ?  Do our believing children know that the only difference between them and the "sinner" is Christ? Are they so shocked by sin, that they fail to see the tragedy of a life without God? Are we protecting our unbelieving children from their own nature to the point they are not being driven to the cross?  Do they need to see and experience normal to realize they were created for so much more than this? Is it when we step out of the way, that they will find themselves at the foot of the cross? 

Could it be, that in "normalizing sin", we can better demonstrate Christ to the world, our children, and ourselves?