When God goes to school
When I was young, I approached each new school year with a mixture of anxiety and excitement. My love for learning kept me going, but who knew what embarrassments awaited me in the cafeteria. And who would sit by me on the bus?
At some point along the way (in elementary school, I hope) I remember having a breakdown and complaining to my parents in no uncertain terms that I no longer wanted to go to school. I figured I would be just fine sitting at home reading books and researching on the computer. I didn’t want to deal with the challenges of actually going to school. I think my repeated response to my parents’ pleas was the ever-so-popular childish response, “But, why?”
My parents, in their very patient ways, explained the importance of what I would experience at school – the learning, the relationships, the personal growth – and then my dad said something that’s stuck with me. “School is sort of like your job,” he said, “I go to work every day, and you go to school. It’s where you’re supposed to be.” Dad didn’t quite use theological language, but he was getting at the notion of one’s calling, one’s vocation. My elementary-aged calling was to go to school and learn. It’s what society expected I do, but it was also what I could do to serve God best as well.
John Calvin, the father of Presbyterian theology, was a master intellect (and had a profound sense of spirituality). Calvin emphasized the importance of knowledge of the world, but always with the reminder, “that the knowledge of all that is most excellent in human life is said to be communicated to us through the Spirit of God.” Knowledge is a gift from God, just like school. So kids, parents and grandparents, learners everywhere, study away. It’s God’s gift. And as the poem below suggests, keep your eyes open for you might even see God.
Paradise High
by Marcus GoodyearGod slouches at the front of the universe
leaning against his desk, taking roll
with a red pen in his spiral book of life.
He teaches every subject himself,
every grade, every student. He leads
every parent conference appearing
as principal, department head, counselor,
and teacher. At night he walks the halls
alone with a broom and a trash can.
He’s not too grand to pick up
the wad of gum some kid mashed … Continue Reading
Presbyterians and Presidents
I don’t plan to post every church newsletter column, but this one seems blog appropriate. Whatcha think?
Pastor’s Column, November Newsletter
A church member asked me on Sunday if I knew anything about a historic link between Presbyterians and public service. She had heard that Presbyterians more often hold elected office than those of other denominations and wondered what wisdom I had on the subject. Well, at the time, I didn’t contribute much at all. “Ummmm,” I think I said. But since, I’ve did a bit of research and found that, indeed, Presbyterians are very well represented in elected office, surprisingly so. Another question then follows: why?
First, though, a bit of history. Ten Presidents of the United States have been Presbyterian, and twelve Vice Presidents have claimed the denomination. So, roughly 25% of our country’s Presidents or Vice Presidents have been Presbyterian! Presbyterians nowadays make up roughly 2% of the U.S. population, and even accounting for a higher percentage in years past, we have been extremely well represented in the White House. Today’s U.S. congress includes 44 Presbyterians, 11 Senators and 33 Representatives. Not bad at all.
Why such a high proportion? Well, I can only speculate, but here I go. First, Presbyterians tend to be of higher socio-economic classes and have access to the strong education and means to run for public office. Second, though, and more compelling is the fact that Presbyterians have always made a strong connection between faith and action. Presbyterian tenets of faith tend to be public, not just matters of the heart but about how to live one’s life too. This makes us a thoughtful and active bunch. Third, and maybe this is a stretch, but our doctrine of sin holds that we all sin and fall short of God’s best intentions. We can’t fix that, it’s just who we are. Maybe our strong view of sin makes us want to work to help organize society in ways that mitigate sin’s effects on the world. And what better way to serve those goals than by holding public office?
That’s all conjecture, but I do know for certain that the way our church government functions is very similar to how our national and many state governments function. Presbyterians send commissioners to our gradually larger governing bodies – session, presbyteries, synods, and the General Assembly – sort of like government representatives in a town, a state, and nation. An individual church can offer a resolution (sort of like a piece of legislation) that can affect a presbytery, synod, or even the national church. This means each governing body is connected to the other. It also means church wide decisions are made by the body as a whole rather than by one bishop or pope. Church governance is almost, then, like democracy in action.
Presbyterians aren’t just active in government; they serve God in many vocations. Some are a bit more famous than others – like Mr. Rodgers (a Presbyterian minister), John Wayne, Andrew Carnegie, or Pam from The Office TV show– but we all seek to serve God together. So thanks for the question last Sunday. It got me, and I hope you, thinking.
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