I start each class

with a reading from the Psalms. Not necessarily in strict numerical order, I read one Psalm and then offer prayer at the beginning of each class. I might add a brief comment here or there; I might take the chance to explain something like Selah, Mikhtam, or 'Psalm of Ascents.'' Occasionally I'll drop "parallelism" on them when appropriate. But by and large I just read and pray. Often I will pray the psalm or a sentiment in line with the gist of the psalm. I want my students to see that the beauty and richness of a meditative reading of scripture: one that is not informational but transformational; not exegetical but practical; not for the grade but for the soul. I'm of the opinion that practicing Lectio divina is the best way to teach it.

Lest Room 152 be an intellectio-exegetical (is that compound legitmate?) ivory tower, I intentionally want to model a reflective, meditative, life-touching way of Bible study that touches the heart. The Psalms are neglected in our curriculum; there is no formal teaching of the Psalms at Ezell-Harding. So this is my attempt to provide some exposure to the material in a way that is, quite frankly, non-instructive, non-"educational", non-"intellectual." Not that we turn off our minds, but that we see a different side to Bible study. I feel like I should do this since so much of what I do in Room 152 is an (explicitly) academic inquiry into the text, its background and interpretation. Someday I'd love to offer an elective course in Spiritual Disciplines; I have no doubt it would be a memorable course. In the mean time I can practice and model the disciplines of study, prayer and meditation. For my veteran Juniors they will have heard many Psalms (and I throw in some Proverbs as well) in three years. Maybe this is just as effective as a semester course(?).

Along these lines I'll refer you to John Willis' blog (see link in the sidebar). He's an OT prof at ACU and elder at Highland Church. His blog is a nice, brief resource for Psalm study. No doubt you can find lots of stuff online about the Psalms; you may or may not have stumbled onto Dr. Willis's stuff yet. It'd be worth your read.

For my students: you may comment on any of his posts for extra credit.

All: Grace and peace.

Part Second

A neat opportunity came my way in mid-May. I was approached by the good folks at the Disciples of Christ Historical Society about a summer internship. I had to really ponder the depths of my soul as to whether or not this was for me (read: of course I'd be interested, when do I start?).

The thing about archiving is often the squeaky wheel gets the grease. In my case, I was to do a preliminary sort on the Society's holdings from the National Christian Missionary Convention and the National Convocation of the Christian Church. The material was in some 39 boxes, each full to the brim, and none comprehensively sorted. My task was to list the contents of each box, basically an inventory of what we had. Then begin the task of separating NCMC stuff from NCCC stuff; then systematically arranging the materials into what will (someday) be a usable collection. Emphasis on usable. These materials were the squeaky wheel because, for being such a vital component of the organizational structure Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), they were, for all intents and purposes, a closed collection because the material was inaccessible (unless, of course, you had hours to sort through it yourself). So the intern's task is to help make this collection accessible to users and historians. And so to the basement of the Thomas W. Phillips Memorial: to sort and arrange, and stack and file and rearrange, and re-sort and shuffle and re-stack.

There are several really neat things about this internship. First of all, the great people I worked with: great atmosphere! I've already blogged about Sharon Watkins, but also Glenn Carson (new President), Sara, Marlene, Maureen, Elaine and May. And Charlie Howell. Finer people you will not meet. Secondly, that the NCMC/NCCC was begun in Nashville by Preston Taylor. How many times have I heard his name, or driven past Greenwood cemetery (on Elm Hill Pike for you Nashvillians)? Taylor baptized Marshall Keeble! I was connecting to a whole segment of my own Nashville Restoration movement past I never knew existed. Who knew that Nashville (yet again), played such a pivotal role in the life of the church? Thirdly, that a white acapella boy like me would be working on the official records of the African-American caucus of the Disciples is flatly ironic. Aside from knowing the name of the caucus, I didn't even know there was such a thing as NCMC/NCCC before this summer. Again, this is a whole area of which I was not only largely ignorant, but in which I really had no serious interest.

It is at this point I learned the most. Years prior to the Civil Rights movement there was an effort afoot among the (you would think) socially conscious Disciples on behalf of the neglected, underrepresented, marginalized and more-often-that-not ignored and despised negro. That there was even a felt need for something like NCMC in the late 1910's, later to be reformed into NCCC after Restructure in 1968, is telling. I'm reminded of our racist past. I'm reminded that my negro brothers and sisters had to beg and plead for recognition as brothers and sisters. They demanded equal footing when churches hired pastors, colleges hired professors and the Disciples denomination called and hired staff and officials. That they had to demand such from their brothers in Christ is telling! That they had been excluded from the life of the church is shameful. I learned a lot in the basement this summer.

At some points I wondered why all of the energy and money and time spent on denominational machinery, staff and programming (I'm a simple congregational-autonomist, after all). At some points I grappled to comprehend the institutional racism at work even within the (again, you would think) social conscious and liberal Disciples. At some points I marveled at the sacrifice and conviction of the leaders of the NCMC/NCCC: brothers and sisters who suffered economic, educational, social, cultural and religious persecution and disadvantage. Yet the programs of evangelism, benevolence, encouragement and fellowship carried on because they believed that it was worth the fight.

Not at all unlike a summer course in counseling, this research/archiving endeavor opened my eyes and heart, engendered a concern in my soul, and lifted and enlarged my vision.

My time in the basement was well spent indeed. And I still have a few more hours to squeeze in before the end of the year!

Grace and peace.

A long time ago

I said I would reflect a bit on my twin summer excursions in counseling and archival processing. These two otherwise unrelated fields of interests converged quite by coincidence, and in so doing, ironically, left me with the same thoughts and feelings.

Part First:

Summer semester 2005 saw me pass the 50-hour mark toward the MDiv with a course in Counseling for Church Leaders. Co-taught by two profs (with Bible/Ministry expertise of Mike Matheny and Psychology expertise of Paul Turner), this course was an entry-level course in the basics of counseling theory, theology and practice for the church leader/minister/pastor. It was a cogent and thoughtful course, addressing the various issues most often dealt with by career ministers, church elders and other church staff and leaders. Not a doubt I am a better people-helper because of thinking through the material.

In particular I come away from that course with the conviction that the church has the resources, theologically speaking, to meet people in the difficult moments of life. Evangelism aside (which is one obvious side-discussion that this could lead into), counseling/pastoral counseling, and pastoral care are extensions of the ministry of the Holy Spirit, the Comforter of God. The church is gifted by the Spirit, indwelled by the Spirit and carries forward the ministry of the Spirit to meet people in the brokenness and despair of life and to speak to them the word of life. Isn't that marvelous?' Again, the issue is not, at least in my thinking, that the church counsels because it will bring the pagans in, but more so that the church is involved in the ministry of counseling because the church is a part of the ongoing work of the Holy Counselor himself. I realize that there is little semantic difference in that previous sentence, but there is a great deal of perceptual difference in many churches. It seems that we often buy into the notion that a program like a counseling ministry, a visiting counselor or a giving the preacher a few counseling lessons will be some kind of magic pill for church revitalization or church growth. That sort of thinking can be crass and naive. We, in our best moments, ought rather to see our lives and our churches as safe places wherein our communities, families, friends and neighbors are touched with the redemptive grace of God. It would be a shame if our hurting friends and neighbors come to conclusion that we are interested in helping them for what appear to be selfish ends of inflating the numbers. How much better it would be if we saw counseling as just what the church is about because the church is the church.

Repeatedly the comment surfaced in our class discussions how the ministry of counseling is not something limited to the church professionals, but is a ministry in which we all are already involved. The church, as church, is already in the counseling business. Its not a tack-on ministry; its missional and who we are. That acknowledged, the task is now to make sure we carry on the ministry well. Also, we discussed how most ministers are well-equipped for short-term focused counseling and do that sort of ministry well. It was heartening to be encouraged by the instructors and the course reading that nearly every minister has some set of skills useful in counseling relationships. From that given then, again, the task is to carry on the ministry well, maximize those strengths, and be aware of weaknesses and inadequacies in order to assist folks in getting the best help available.

In short, my eyes were opened to the theological reality that counseling is much broader than I realized, much more theologically grounded,much deeper missionally, and far more necessary than I previously I thought. My eyes are now open to the missional nature of good counsel. I have lived so long in the world of exegesis, hermeneutics, theology and exposition that having a course like this was surprisingly refreshing. It is honestly outside of the area in which I would like to live (its comfortable being an exegetically-minded hermit). But this class convicted me that the redemptive work of the Spirit needs me out in the midst of brokenness in order bring healing; hard to do that in a cave. Perhaps there is a parable here for churches: its easy to speak to ourselves in language we understand about Bible stuff we have long ago mastered; its quite something else indeed to walk alongside the hurting in redemptive (dare I say therapeutic?) relationships. Exegesis can be very sanitary and safe. Counseling will make you vulnerable, scared and uncomfortable. Exegesis can be a retreat from the world; counseling will call you to engage the world.

The problem with having a blog

is that you have to constantly keep the thing updated. Not that I have kept it up to date; and what does up to date in blogspeak mean anyhow? Weekly? Daily? Yeah right! If the previous posting tells you anything it is that I most certainly will not be blogging on a daily basis. In fact, the previous post is why I haven't been back here; I wanted the little girl to keep top-billing for as long as possible.

The Ice's are settling into life as a family of four. So far it has been great. We have forgotten that babies cry so much, but we are getting used to the late/early feedings. I say this two days before classes start again. Ask me how I'm doing in a week when I have to be at school at 7am.

Speaking of school...the annual in-service week ritual begins today. By "in-service ritual" I (emphatically) do not mean school-wide meetings, faculty meetings, departmental meetings, the curriculum planning, copying syllabi and handouts, arranging desks or any number of the myriad of things I should be doing. I'm speaking of my annual midnight screening of the two best inspiring-teacher-genre films made: Dead Poets Society (tonight, in a just a few minutes) and Mr. Holland's Opus (tomorrow evening).

I watch these two to get me humming for another go at it. You know, keep-the-faith sort of inspiration. This pair of films pulls off the best of the genre in well-acted style. They poignantly (nice movie-critic term there) remind the viewer of what teaching is all about, albeit each does so in its own way and with its own particular twist. The John Keating character in Dead Poets is the foil for the boys in the film. I'm convinced that this character (although equally arguably the central figure in the movie) is actually a support for the unfolding growth in the cadre of young scholars. Here we learn more about the students than the teacher. Here we learn how the teacher impacts students but it comes through the characters of the boys. Mr Holland on the other hand is the central character of the film bearing his name. But there we see the introspective growth of the teacher throughout the film; and that in a variety of relationships (with his wife, son, a student (!), his principal, a colleague). Only at the crescendo (that was intentional) of the film do we see how he has truly impacted his students.

Both films convey the complex peaks and valleys of teaching. Both are well worth the ritual investment of time I spend each year (actually, I watch each one about three times per school year: August, Christmas break and April). Why April? When you have a spare hour ask anyone in education why April; you'll get your earful.

At any rate, this actually brings up a blogproject I will start very soon. I want to explore my vocatio as teacher from several angles: historical, theological, practical, perhaps others. I am actually this week completely revising my teaching strategies, syllabus, and goals for the year. This has been a long time coming and a long time in the making. And it has prompted not a little reflection on my part about what teaching is, should be, and what a teacher is and should be, and what the encounter between teacher and pupil is and should be.

So if you don't hear from me I'm either teaching, burping a baby, reflecting about teaching, changing a diaper or prepping to teach, burp or change diapers.

Any of you seen either of these two films? Care to comment?

For the Barthians out there; I've found another prayer I'll post soon.

Grace and peace.