Sometimes sporting events lend themselves to intriguing conversations, especially at baseball games. Last week at Colin's game I spoke with a special education teacher. I was intrigued by a comment she made about teaching. She noted that when a teacher is self-oriented, they have a hard time helping students learn. Of course, a good number will understand the teacher's instruction and follow right along, but what about the others? If a teacher is self-oriented, that teacher will have a hard time adjusting method, attending to various learning needs, and being sensitive to students. A self-oriented teacher will grow impatient when students “fail” to learn. Refusing to adapt and adjust to the apparent need, the teacher will often strike out with judgment, scorn or ridicule. When that happens, learning is tossed out the window since the environment is no longer safe for the student. Not only is the student denied the chance to learn and grow in this environment, but the teacher is denied the chance to watch what happens when a child finally gets it.

Her observation helped me recognize the importance of being other-centered so that we are more sensitive to people around us. There is a lot of brokenness out there and we often times don't recognize it. We go moving past and brushing by, without inquiry, without concern, without compassion. I like how Eugene Peterson in the /Message/ paraphrases the following passages, “Jesus got them together to settle things down. ‘You've observed how godless rulers throw their weight around,’ he said, ‘and when people get a little power how quickly it goes to their heads. It's not going to be that way with you. Whoever wants to be great must become a servant. Whoever wants to be first among you must be your slave. That is what the Son of Man has done: He came to serve, not to be served—and then to give away his life in exchange for many who are held hostage’" (Mark 10:43-45). “Don't push your way to the front; don't sweet-talk your way to the top. Put yourself aside and help others get ahead. Don't be obsessed with getting your own advantage. Forget yourselves long enough to lend a helping hand” (Philippians 2:1-4).

Can we slow down a bit and listen? Can we find more gentle ways to help kids learn and grow and experience the world? Can we laugh a little more and judge a little less. Can we seek another’s honor before our own?

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the German theologian who poured out his own life at the hands of the Nazis because he refused to allow the church to be the tool of oppression, wrote:
"The church is the church only when it exists for others. . . . The church must share in the secular problems of ordinary human life, not dominating, but helping and serving. . . . It must not underestimate the importance of human example which has its origin in the humanity of Jesus."

The other day when Jess and I were in Mojo's Coffee Shop she noticed a poster on the wall entitled How to Build a Community:

Turn off your TV
Leave your house
Know your neighbors
Look up when you are walking
Greet people
Sit on your stoop
Plant flowers
Use your library
Play together
Buy from local merchants
Share what you have
Help a lost dog
Take children to the park
Garden together
Support neighborhood schools
Fix it even if you didn't break it
Have pot lucks
Honor elders
Pick up litter
Read stories aloud
Dance in the street
Talk to the mail carrier
Listen to the birds
Put up a swing
Help carry something heavy
Barter for your goods
Start a tradition
Ask a question
Hire young people for odd jobs
Organize a block party
Bake extra and share
Ask for help when you need it
Open your shades
Sing together
Share your skills
Take back the night
Turn up the music
Turn down the music
Listen before you react to anger
Mediate a conflict
Seek to understand
Learn from new and uncomfortable angles
Know that no one is silent though many are not heard. Work to change this.

Now that's good teaching!


Tom


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