Every time I read a book like this the overwhelming question is, "What do I do with this? How do I need to change? Now what?"
What do we do with a book like this? Do we put it on the shelf and dust it off 5-10 years from now and say, "That was a great book!" or can we use it as an agent for change to better align ourselves with what the scriptures say and what God requires of us? How can we use this to better reflect the God we serve?
The only way books like this will change us is for people, particularly groups of people working with children, to examine our own thoughts and attitudes in light of the thoughts and ideas we find in the scriptures. Hopefully, we change how we think and ultimately how we act to better reflect Godly, Christ-like, scriptural attitudes, and understanding. Books like this deserve groups of parents, seminar students, ministry professionals, and caring community members taking 18 chapters worth of time to read, ponder, and talk about the thoughts, ideas, and implications that these authors share. Especially if you have a thinking, reading community. Some of it is dense reading but most of it is pretty straightforward. Hey! Jenny leaves to go back to school today and I've finished the book!
One person is one person. One person is only the beginning. It takes wise leadership and it takes one community after another to change church society and culture and ultimately the larger community. Social gospel, social change? Maybe, but if it better reflects the nature of God and as a result more people turn to Him, isn't that a good thing? Which comes first, individuals changing or changes in administration/leadership? We serve a God who requires us to do, not just know - as individuals and as organizations. Whether or not we know and what we know is reflected in the choices we make and in our actions.
I think that when we see our attitudes and actions in conflict with the scriptures either as individuals or as an institution and we try to express or explain the things we need to change to someone else, one of the biggest challenges is not just convincing others but using language that cuts through the understandings and perceptions that put our listeners on the defensive, language that cuts through all the understandings that keep them from hearing.
I can read through this book (or the scriptures) and say, why is this so different from what I already know or what I'm already doing? Or I can read through this and see very distinct differences. Maybe some of it is timing and the work of the Holy Spirit but in 1 Corinthians 2:12-14 Paul talks about words. This whole post-modern generation (maybe every generation) struggles with definitions - language- to show differences, neccessary changes in our cultural thinking to hopefully better reflect the God we serve. At the same time we use care with our language when we want to focus, not on the differences, but on the faith we share.
Solomon tells us there is nothing new under the sun so maybe it's not trying to unveil something new but to keep returning to something very very old and helping people see and hear Father, Son, and Holy Spirit through His Word.
May Father, Son, and Holy Spirit be glorified generation after generation and give us grace and wisdom to hear His Word and do His will.
Monday, August 10, 2009
TCITB: Chpt 18:
from TCITB
Chapter 18
"Vulnerable Children, Divine Passion, and Human Obligation
by Walter Brueggemann
Brueggemann greets the reader with imagery of the she - bear of scripture (2 Sam. 17:8, Proverbs 17:12, Hosea 13:8) passionately poised to protect her young. He reminds us that God is like that. [TCITB p. 399-400].
He talks about nurturing our own young, generation after generation, with that same passion in the face of the ever-present temptations to take much easier cultural paths. It's easy to forget that, as he says, these paths are mediocre alternatives compared to the one that calls us to maintain our God-given identity and hold fast to much richer deeper memories, heritage (or tradition), and hope that we share following the Way of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
He cites Exodus 12-13. He talks about the Passover celebration as a tool for recognizing that we are part of an "odd" community, a tool that helps impart not only the understanding that we are different but it is also a tool to share identity and worth with children. It gives parents opportunity to share not only what God did for Israel past but for "me," the parent. He talks about redemption in light of God-given value using examples of OT redemption but not without traditional evangelical language. [TCITB p. 400-406]
He talks about the need for saturation. He talks about the tendency for uninvolved children to question and challenge what is so very personal and present for their parents but scripture (and the Passover celebration) equip us and encourage us to be ready with answers. He suggests that perhaps the approach in Exodus 12-13 more targets younger children and Deut. 6, older children. [TCITB p. 402-5]
He reminds us that God told His people, "[when you grow prosperous. . .] do not forget the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt..." (Deut. 6:11-12) Among some subtle and less subtle references to affluence he says, "affluence will produce amnesia: by contrast, the sons and daughters of oddness will recognize that they have been treasured." [TCITB p. 407] He says that despite "saturation nurture in oddness . . . [i]t is predictable that in this saturation nurture some impatient, nearly contemptuous teenager will ask, "what is the meaning of the decrees and the statutes and the ordinances that the Lord our God has commanded you?" [TCITB p. 407] He says, "Soon or late, the children of oddness must come to see that the oddness is about a demanding ethic that anticipates response to the requirements of YHWH. This community not only receives the world differently from YHWH; it also enacts the world differently in glad response to the many gifts of YHWH." [TCITB p. 408] He explains this better than I am.
He looks at Joshua 4. He talks about Israel and the stones at the Jordan. He says, "Now the community is moving stones around in the Jordan River. The narrative knows that if you move stones long enough through a complex narrative, some child will ask: 'what do these stones mean?" (Josh. 4:21) And then, once again, the adults are ready with an informed response both proclaiming the promise and acknowledging that we live by it. [TCITB p. 408-409] There is something here too to consider about story-telling and creating curiosity in children. You appreciate food more when you're hungry. I (usually) remember answers to the questions I ask better than random information.
Brueggemann says, "This entire set of transactions between parents and children represented in these three central texts is designed to inculcate the children into a particular version of reality that is rooted in miracle and that eventuates in covenantal obligation." [TCITB p. 409] This is an interesting discussion.
"With the fierce dedication of a she-bear, the parents intend to situate their children in this particular version of reality; the educational process is intense and insistent, because the life and identity of the children are at stake through this interaction, for life and identity of a particular kind are of course in jeopardy if children fall out of the lore of the family, whether by negligence, resistance, or seduction to other versions of reality." [TCITB p. 410] This is not so much a how to as it is vision and encouragement to saturate our children in that which will grow faith, identity, worth, and obligation as one of God's children.
Brueggemann talks about transition. He says, "Nurture and socialization are a process-through education, liturgy, and many forms of saturation-concerned for and contained within family and clan." The socialization process distinguishes between 'us' and 'them'. He sites Joshua 24:14-5. He says, "There is no doubt that the Old Testament expends immense energy on the 'in group'. . . Given that fact, however, it is also clear that the Old Testament, in its final form, also knows that 'the others' are on the horizon of faith and cannot be excluded from covenantal perspective." [TCITB p. 410] God is God of heaven and earth. He says, "In a contemporary society of narcissistic fear and acute self-preoccupation it is important to make the connection between familial peculiarity and a more inclusive awareness that issues in larger responsibility." He looks at how we can do that (extend our caring beyond our own circle) with the biblical passion of the she-bear. He encourages policy making focused on "protection, care and valuing that are as unconditional as the unconditional regard we know for our own children." [TCITB p. 411] Again, this is not a how-to but vision for saturating our children in a faith that will carry them through adversity to reach out and care for a world much greather than their own circle with that same passion they were raised with.
He emphasizes that children left alone without adult advocacy and protection even in our society are as vulnerable today as in ancient times. He proposes that biblical "'welfare' concerned not only food and physical safety, but also nurture in respect, dignity , and well-being" reflecting the very nature of God. [TCITB p. 412]
He cites Deuteronomy 10, Hosea 14, Psalm 10. In Psalm 68, he discusses God as father to those who by definition have no father. He notes the verbs in Psalm 146:7b-9 as powerful "doing" words and notes the people groups who benefit. [TCITB p. 415] He has a wonderful paragraph tying God's character to our obligation to do.
In the last pages of his article (and the book) Brueggemann makes a strong biblical argument in the form of cause and effect focusing on attitude adjustment that will ultimately lead to changes in our choices and actions reflecting IMO an ancient and fast disappearing "fear of the Lord'. [TCITB p. 4:16-4:20]
The author concludes showing us again how nurturing our own children and defending and caring for children who aren't our own are "elements of the same agenda." He cites Matt. 7:9-11, James 1:27, Malachi 4:5-6, John 14:18 to reinforce his point.
A nice conclusion for this book.
Chapter 18
"Vulnerable Children, Divine Passion, and Human Obligation
by Walter Brueggemann
Brueggemann greets the reader with imagery of the she - bear of scripture (2 Sam. 17:8, Proverbs 17:12, Hosea 13:8) passionately poised to protect her young. He reminds us that God is like that. [TCITB p. 399-400].
He talks about nurturing our own young, generation after generation, with that same passion in the face of the ever-present temptations to take much easier cultural paths. It's easy to forget that, as he says, these paths are mediocre alternatives compared to the one that calls us to maintain our God-given identity and hold fast to much richer deeper memories, heritage (or tradition), and hope that we share following the Way of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
He cites Exodus 12-13. He talks about the Passover celebration as a tool for recognizing that we are part of an "odd" community, a tool that helps impart not only the understanding that we are different but it is also a tool to share identity and worth with children. It gives parents opportunity to share not only what God did for Israel past but for "me," the parent. He talks about redemption in light of God-given value using examples of OT redemption but not without traditional evangelical language. [TCITB p. 400-406]
He talks about the need for saturation. He talks about the tendency for uninvolved children to question and challenge what is so very personal and present for their parents but scripture (and the Passover celebration) equip us and encourage us to be ready with answers. He suggests that perhaps the approach in Exodus 12-13 more targets younger children and Deut. 6, older children. [TCITB p. 402-5]
He reminds us that God told His people, "[when you grow prosperous. . .] do not forget the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt..." (Deut. 6:11-12) Among some subtle and less subtle references to affluence he says, "affluence will produce amnesia: by contrast, the sons and daughters of oddness will recognize that they have been treasured." [TCITB p. 407] He says that despite "saturation nurture in oddness . . . [i]t is predictable that in this saturation nurture some impatient, nearly contemptuous teenager will ask, "what is the meaning of the decrees and the statutes and the ordinances that the Lord our God has commanded you?" [TCITB p. 407] He says, "Soon or late, the children of oddness must come to see that the oddness is about a demanding ethic that anticipates response to the requirements of YHWH. This community not only receives the world differently from YHWH; it also enacts the world differently in glad response to the many gifts of YHWH." [TCITB p. 408] He explains this better than I am.
He looks at Joshua 4. He talks about Israel and the stones at the Jordan. He says, "Now the community is moving stones around in the Jordan River. The narrative knows that if you move stones long enough through a complex narrative, some child will ask: 'what do these stones mean?" (Josh. 4:21) And then, once again, the adults are ready with an informed response both proclaiming the promise and acknowledging that we live by it. [TCITB p. 408-409] There is something here too to consider about story-telling and creating curiosity in children. You appreciate food more when you're hungry. I (usually) remember answers to the questions I ask better than random information.
Brueggemann says, "This entire set of transactions between parents and children represented in these three central texts is designed to inculcate the children into a particular version of reality that is rooted in miracle and that eventuates in covenantal obligation." [TCITB p. 409] This is an interesting discussion.
"With the fierce dedication of a she-bear, the parents intend to situate their children in this particular version of reality; the educational process is intense and insistent, because the life and identity of the children are at stake through this interaction, for life and identity of a particular kind are of course in jeopardy if children fall out of the lore of the family, whether by negligence, resistance, or seduction to other versions of reality." [TCITB p. 410] This is not so much a how to as it is vision and encouragement to saturate our children in that which will grow faith, identity, worth, and obligation as one of God's children.
Brueggemann talks about transition. He says, "Nurture and socialization are a process-through education, liturgy, and many forms of saturation-concerned for and contained within family and clan." The socialization process distinguishes between 'us' and 'them'. He sites Joshua 24:14-5. He says, "There is no doubt that the Old Testament expends immense energy on the 'in group'. . . Given that fact, however, it is also clear that the Old Testament, in its final form, also knows that 'the others' are on the horizon of faith and cannot be excluded from covenantal perspective." [TCITB p. 410] God is God of heaven and earth. He says, "In a contemporary society of narcissistic fear and acute self-preoccupation it is important to make the connection between familial peculiarity and a more inclusive awareness that issues in larger responsibility." He looks at how we can do that (extend our caring beyond our own circle) with the biblical passion of the she-bear. He encourages policy making focused on "protection, care and valuing that are as unconditional as the unconditional regard we know for our own children." [TCITB p. 411] Again, this is not a how-to but vision for saturating our children in a faith that will carry them through adversity to reach out and care for a world much greather than their own circle with that same passion they were raised with.
He emphasizes that children left alone without adult advocacy and protection even in our society are as vulnerable today as in ancient times. He proposes that biblical "'welfare' concerned not only food and physical safety, but also nurture in respect, dignity , and well-being" reflecting the very nature of God. [TCITB p. 412]
He cites Deuteronomy 10, Hosea 14, Psalm 10. In Psalm 68, he discusses God as father to those who by definition have no father. He notes the verbs in Psalm 146:7b-9 as powerful "doing" words and notes the people groups who benefit. [TCITB p. 415] He has a wonderful paragraph tying God's character to our obligation to do.
In the last pages of his article (and the book) Brueggemann makes a strong biblical argument in the form of cause and effect focusing on attitude adjustment that will ultimately lead to changes in our choices and actions reflecting IMO an ancient and fast disappearing "fear of the Lord'. [TCITB p. 4:16-4:20]
The author concludes showing us again how nurturing our own children and defending and caring for children who aren't our own are "elements of the same agenda." He cites Matt. 7:9-11, James 1:27, Malachi 4:5-6, John 14:18 to reinforce his point.
A nice conclusion for this book.
Thursday, August 06, 2009
What did God do?
How often do we give kids opportunities to come back to class with stories about what God has done for them during the week (or just to share with you as a grown-up or with family and friends)? Does it put kids "on the spot" needlessly, does it make some kids feel more special or less special than someone else or does it grow their faith?
Sometimes it's answered prayer.
Sometimes it's just growing eyes to see or ears to hear something to be thankful for.
Sometimes you think, "Wow! Look at what God did! It could have been worse..."
Growing thankfulness without one of your kids rolling their eyes because you're thankful for EVERYTHING! and it starts to sound contrived. And we should be thankful for everything . . . but you know what I mean. There are things God does that we couldn't possibly do. There things that could've happened for any number of reasons but why not give God the glory? (even if you don't always say it out loud)
If giving and serving in secret is the name of the game. Consider keeping a box in the corner of the room (or just inside or outside the door) during the school year where kids or parents can drop a piece of paper with a way they've blessed or been blessed by someone (no names) - something they've found particularly meaningful. Near the end of the term (maybe those last weeks before summer break) read a few at the end of each class or let the kids pull one out and read it. Maybe you'll want to do it more often than that. Use them as a worship tool for praise. Use them to inspire those random (secret) acts of kindness. The scriptures have told us for generations to remember what God does and praise Him.
Sometimes it's answered prayer.
Sometimes it's just growing eyes to see or ears to hear something to be thankful for.
Sometimes you think, "Wow! Look at what God did! It could have been worse..."
Growing thankfulness without one of your kids rolling their eyes because you're thankful for EVERYTHING! and it starts to sound contrived. And we should be thankful for everything . . . but you know what I mean. There are things God does that we couldn't possibly do. There things that could've happened for any number of reasons but why not give God the glory? (even if you don't always say it out loud)
If giving and serving in secret is the name of the game. Consider keeping a box in the corner of the room (or just inside or outside the door) during the school year where kids or parents can drop a piece of paper with a way they've blessed or been blessed by someone (no names) - something they've found particularly meaningful. Near the end of the term (maybe those last weeks before summer break) read a few at the end of each class or let the kids pull one out and read it. Maybe you'll want to do it more often than that. Use them as a worship tool for praise. Use them to inspire those random (secret) acts of kindness. The scriptures have told us for generations to remember what God does and praise Him.
more food!
You'll read the last post and think I planned this. I didn't. Saw these in my inbox from amazon this am. I've not read the books. But I was impressed by the growing variety of tools for CM out there.
The fact that there's a book of science devotions was what originally caught my eye.
Then I saw all these books using food, cooking, and tasting. You know how we talk about concrete learning and 6 senses with kids? Ok, five senses. (Maybe we are teaching with six senses but, ah, another blog post.)
Again, I haven't read them but check these out: 1, 2, 3, 4, and there are more on some of these pages.
Enjoy!
And remember when you're making something as a lesson or craft activity you can always make extra so you have something for kids to deliver to someone else. Not sure how copyright works with this but it might be fun to give the kids opportunity to take the recipe home if they want to share the food and the story with a family member or a friend.
The fact that there's a book of science devotions was what originally caught my eye.
Then I saw all these books using food, cooking, and tasting. You know how we talk about concrete learning and 6 senses with kids? Ok, five senses. (Maybe we are teaching with six senses but, ah, another blog post.)
Again, I haven't read them but check these out: 1, 2, 3, 4, and there are more on some of these pages.
Enjoy!
And remember when you're making something as a lesson or craft activity you can always make extra so you have something for kids to deliver to someone else. Not sure how copyright works with this but it might be fun to give the kids opportunity to take the recipe home if they want to share the food and the story with a family member or a friend.
Tuesday, August 04, 2009
Do you know where your food comes from?
Went to my folks this week. A young couple is working the farm now. My girls stayed longer than I could stay and they heard this story. I thought it was rather amazing.
Apparently the young couple's 7 year old son was the only child in his small rural class who knew where their food came from - meat comes from animals, eggs come from chickens, milk comes from cows. Bread-flour-grain. Vegetables come from gardens...BECAUSE he helps his grandma in the garden and he's on the farm with his parents while they're working when he isn't in school. They probably do other things, too but they work incredibly hard to make ends meet and I'm not even sure how often ends meet. Anyway ... it's not like he read it in a book although he might have. Is this no longer critical information? Is it enough to know that our food comes from the grocery store? What does it say about our relationship with all that God has made and made available to us?
I can't seem to find it but I read somewhere a great quote. The heart of it was that Native Americans respected the land they lived on because they depended on it for their survival. Yes, they hunted. Yes, they gathered, but they didn't waste. They only used what they needed. They had a visible, tangeable, practical day to day relationship with God's creation. Anyone who lives off the land . . . and knows that their livelihood depends on it on a day to day basis learns to respect it. There's give and take.
I found the story rather amazing, especially in a very rural - once farm community - very small town. If kids in the country don't know where their food comes from I can't imagine other kids do. It was just interesting. Yes, God is creator and source of our food and all that we need but it's about understanding and respect and appreciation. It's all tied together.
Apparently the young couple's 7 year old son was the only child in his small rural class who knew where their food came from - meat comes from animals, eggs come from chickens, milk comes from cows. Bread-flour-grain. Vegetables come from gardens...BECAUSE he helps his grandma in the garden and he's on the farm with his parents while they're working when he isn't in school. They probably do other things, too but they work incredibly hard to make ends meet and I'm not even sure how often ends meet. Anyway ... it's not like he read it in a book although he might have. Is this no longer critical information? Is it enough to know that our food comes from the grocery store? What does it say about our relationship with all that God has made and made available to us?
I can't seem to find it but I read somewhere a great quote. The heart of it was that Native Americans respected the land they lived on because they depended on it for their survival. Yes, they hunted. Yes, they gathered, but they didn't waste. They only used what they needed. They had a visible, tangeable, practical day to day relationship with God's creation. Anyone who lives off the land . . . and knows that their livelihood depends on it on a day to day basis learns to respect it. There's give and take.
I found the story rather amazing, especially in a very rural - once farm community - very small town. If kids in the country don't know where their food comes from I can't imagine other kids do. It was just interesting. Yes, God is creator and source of our food and all that we need but it's about understanding and respect and appreciation. It's all tied together.
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