cairns

“Sometimes I think there is really only one Christian denomination in America: American Civil Religion — a consumerist, militarist, therapeutic, colonial, nationalist chaplaincy that baptizes and blesses whatever the richest and most powerful nation on the planet wants to do.”

Brian McLaren in The Irresistible Revolution by Shane Claiborne.

The next sentence begins, “But then I hear a voice like Shane’s…”

We better hope he is wrong in the first sentence and I am just starting Shane’s book to see what different voice he raises.  But, if he is correct in the first sentence, where does that leave the American church when its master is neither the wealthiest nor the most powerful on earth? The data is already in.  That day is fast approaching.

We can keep our heads in the sand.  But then the only side of Christianity the world will see is the one today’s popular TV and radio hosts already display so brazenly.

I’m going to see what Shane has to say, then go back and read Tolstoy.  Bought both with a gift card from one of my young students today.  And, I am going to visit the nation best poised to overtake us.  Meanwhile, I will be contemplating whether the church will ever join those of us looking for our way back to The Way.

peace

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My daughter’s little Corolla blew the alternator the other day and left her stranded in the median of the expressway.  I had to go pretty far and through several lights to get on the expressway at a point that would get me to her.  By the time I got there, two tattooed men in an older pickup already had her car tied to their truck saying they would tow it anywhere she wanted.  They had chased off at least one car neither they nor my daughter liked the looks of trying to convince her to “just get in and we’ll give you a ride.”

They also said they would fix it for her since she had just bought the new alternator.  I hesitated, having spent four and half hours the day before figuring out how to just replace a split belt hoping that was the only problem.  (Worked just long enough for me to go buy gas too!)  She already had an appointment to get it fixed at a local shop the next day.  Then Mer mentioned needing to stop at Autozone, which was close by, to get another belt since the new one just broke.  They said, “Great!  You ride with your dad.  We’ll pull the car up there, and they will even loan us the tools to fix it for you.”

And they did just that. They brought her car up to Autozone’s lot, took the tools I had brought along, popped the hood, and started working.   The alternator had been out of the car for several minutes when my daughter brought them some cold drinks from inside and asked me if the old alternator was what she needed to take in to get her core refund back.  It was still so hot I couldn’t even pick it up!  I had to lay the box beside it and roll it in.  And those two men stood there in the sun, worked on that HOT engine, put in the new alternator, and were going to drive away with nothing but a cold drink and a thank you.  I paid them anyway, and they acted surprised.  The older of the two thanked me (how backwards is that!) and said, “We’re Christians.  When you see somebody in trouble, you stop and help.  That’s just what you do.”

And it occurs to me that I would like to peek at God’s record book.  I have a feeling that the angels who actually show up to do His will when people are in trouble are tattooed fellows in older vehicles a lot more often than suits in new cars.  Jesus said it was hard for the rich to enter the Kingdom.  These two men were already living in it!

peace,

Greg

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Had a very good final day with my kids.  One young man came up serious and polite and said, “I want you to know you have been a turning point in my life.”  Pretty wonderful for a fourth grader!  Lots of hugs, some second and third hugs about did me in.  As much as kids love summer, they are going to miss our class time together.

Also got to share with them that while we stay neutral in public schools and require respect for all views, it does not mean that all things are equal and true.  Assured them that there is Truth, there is right and there is wrong, there are choices that lead to a quality life and ones that do not.  I congratulated them on being the highest achieving homeroom I have ever had.  I reminded them that when they see me at school next year, we are still teacher and student.  But, I also assured them that now when they see me away from school they are my young friends and free to ask me anything they need to know about Truth, right, wrong, life.  AND I am free to answer!

I promised them that they will be in my prayers until we are back together and invited them to have their parents contact me if they need anything over the summer.  We laughed a lot, learned a lot, and practiced loving respect.  I cannot ask any more than that of my little friends.  Well done kids, well done!

peace,

Greg

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Tomorrow starts my final week with this year’s crew of elementary students.  I hope I have served them well.

We will finish the final pages of The Last Battle having read our way through all seven books as we moved through the year.  I hope I can handle it.  The final pages always get to me.  The longing of my heart is contained in those paragraphs.  Still, they cause me to reflect.  CS Lewis, himself an educator, uses the words ‘the term is over the holidays have begun’ (Perhaps paraphrased by my memory) to describe leaving the Shadowlands for true life in Aslan’s land which is the reality beyond all realities.  I know the feeling of joy when school is out for an unexpected snow day or the long awaited summer.

But, I hope my little friends will feel more than set free.  I hope they will have experienced reality and love in our classroom.  I hope they will not leave with the same degree of joy with which I plan to eventually run further up and further in to Aslan’s country!  It is sad to me that we have turned learning, the pursuit of truth, into schooling which makes people miserable enough to compare leaving us to going to heaven.

I don’t think we have changed it much since Lewis’ time.  In many ways our current reform efforts are making it worse.  But, I thank God for even the exasperating days with my y0ung friends and fellow learners.  And, I raise to the throne with gratitude every other teacher who daily walks the presence of the divine into the lives of their young charges right here, right now.  Finish well.

peace,

Greg

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My thoughts are all turning to China. I am waiting on Visa to visit Beijing from June 15 to July 3. Have been using Google Earth to zoom in on different parts of the area. Amazing, simply amazing to a boy from the sixties that I can sit in my recliner and look anywhere I want in the capital of China.
Do I hear an irritating Disney song beginning to play?

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I got a thank you note from a mom.  I appreciate it, I really do.  But, still it bothers me.

See, all I did was make arrangements for her daughter to stay in my room while I take the rest of the kids to the bus.  She waits in my room.  The other daycare kids get to their assigned places and calm down.  Then she has at least a chance to join them without getting in trouble.  I know why she and her mom appreciate it, she has been in trouble in daycare a lot lately.  But, all I did was give her permission to sit in my room a few extra minutes!  Today she even straightened the place up for me, and I didn’t ask!

I appreciate it anytime somebody in our rush-about culture takes time to say thank you.  I just wish acts that simple and small were too common  among those who take care of kids to rate a thank you!

peace

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It happened to me again today.  I was finishing the class sessions with a small group of teachers in our course on diversity in the classroom.  As usual on the first Saturday, some of them said they didn’t know anything in their classroom to bring and share for how they teach diverse populations.  When they started looking and sharing, plus discussing issues from the text and lectures, it was obvious that this is a group of strong teachers who do many things to take care of the diverse populations they serve.

So, this afternoon I took us into the final discussion of how can classroom teachers change what schooling has been unable to solve in my entire career — the achievement differences evident in groups identified by race or income.  Their hearts were evident as they talked about the pain in trying to reach the one’s who refuse to be reached.  Trying to love and guide the one’s who refuse to show any acceptance or response.  And, I started choking up.

I tried to share with them stories from my career of kids who never let anyone know anything was getting through, but came back later to say we changed or even saved their lives, of some of the Christalites we loved with all our hearts and did everything we could for only to see them die young, and of how our society just fails in general to show gratitude.  I wanted them to know that every effort to live out the Gospel to/with kids matters.  And, I was still struggling not to tear up and break vocally.

When it came to me that I needed to share with them that we are NOT God.  We are not given the power to reach them all.  Indeed, as one who believes in human free will even unto the ability to choose hell,  God has not granted God the power to reach us all.  But, He died trying anyway.  Here is to every child loving teacher who walks in His footsteps.

peace

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The young students in my fourth grade room WANT to learn.  I give them new things to try and they work, they question, they try more, they practice, they check to see if they are on track, they ask when they get stuck, they work some more.  They obviously enjoy working to learn new things and enjoy the accomplishment of gaining new knowledge.

So WHY are we running off to assemblies every day?  Why do we have these interruptions without advanced warning in order to try and plan some reasonable progression on lessons?  What happened to “time on task” which was considered SO important after the effective schools research came out?  Why do the local professional development people tell us to stick to the tested standards, if the administration is going to keep sending us off to the gym for another program that is not based on them?  What good will it do the Governor, State Superintendent, or local Superintendent to lengthen the day or school year if we spend it doing every possible field trip and assembly whether they are accomplishing our learning goals or not?

I am more convinced than ever that the Barney character on How I Met Your Mother said it all.  Our society is no longer concerned with actual accomplishments.  We value those who appear to do big things and fear those who actually do anything above the minimum.  I for one think it is sad.

I would start talking about examples at church as well, but this entry might become endless and even more judgmental.  But, you see I am over fifty now.  My people are not known for living to a hundred, so I know I am well into the second half of my life.  I will not stop being the oddball now.  I intend to keep doing things that  are real, that matter, that help…even if I am protecting a community that does not care from the danger of giants where others see only windmills!

peace

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Today some of my public school fourth graders asked me what my favorite word is.  I thought what a strange wonderful question as possibilities ran through my mind.  I have about hundred of most things if you ask my top ten!  Lots of choices ran through my head - grace, love, etc. are too abstract for them to know what I really mean.  Public school is not the setting for deep explanations.  With the recent stress level, a few obviously inappropriate choices rolled across the list as well.

I finally asked if they were going to report me for not keeping church and state separate if I told the truth.  They grinned and said, “No!”  So, I told them if I have to limit it down to one favorite word it would have to be the name, Jesus.  They all smiled and a few of them said, “me too.”

It wasn’t PC, could be taken as exclusionary if I had any children of other faiths in the room, but it was big and small T true.  I just cannot lie, or deny.  I still believe it is the name above all other names.  I do not believe it is a synonym for other names of God, the force, or the universe.  Recently, some events of our lives have been out of control almost beyond survival levels.  But, I know this, I hope in this, I rely on this, I live through, in, for, and about this One, this Jesus.

peace

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Watched Hallmark Hall of Fame movie last night about a woman rescuing children from death at the hands of the Nazi’s.  After everything I have read, and all the places I have been privileged to go, I still do not understand two things about our relationship to “others.”

I will never understand, maybe in the head — but never deep within my soul, how one comes to see another as so different from oneself that they can be considered unworthy of life and grace.  I can imagine myself reaching that level in response to adult perpetrators of atrocities, that is why I choose to be a pacifist.  I know I could reach the point of being willing to kill.  But, I cannot imagine how one reaches the point of deciding that is the correct response toward the worst of us, let alone the least of us.

The other thing I cannot understand, as I try to help four daughters finish their journeys into adulthood, is how we ever claim to “know” the mind of another at all.  We all both share and hide even in our closest relationships.  We think we know what we observe, what we hear the other say, even what our own role in the relationship is.  But, the unknowns always exceed the knowns.  If we cannot be sure of the inner nature of those we love, how can we become sure we are correct about those we do not?

It is beyond me.

peace

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