the best teaching moments

before i go back to grading tomorrow, i wanted to remember some of my favourite teaching moments. it was really good to teach again - and to remember again the feeling that being in front of a classroom is where i belong. but i must also acknowledge that this time of teaching was tempered with a bit of disappointment. we talked about community, especially related to "new monasticism" and broken places, along with the Reformed faith - and although the students knew little to nothing about "new monasticism," the concepts of community and the Reformed faith (or just Christianity) are both things that they had heard so much about already that it was hard to get them excited about it. and i had not recognized enough ahead of time that some things are hard to get passionate about if you simply accept it as a good thing and/or do not experience them - and community is a bit like that. and i was not as prepared with stories, questions, and/or challenges to help them experience it more fully. the class lacked structure somewhat, as i did not want to stifle any of their thoughts and/or voices but it me awhile to realize that they did not exactly see this as a freedom to relate what they were learning to their own experiences and/or questions. i was a bit surprised by the class - and did not know how to adapt quick enough to their expectations and reactions. and i was behind enough in the grading to miss things that i could have caught earlier. things improved as i started seeing more things but it still felt a bit like things didn't quite all fit together - and perhaps i will do it again, but it will be structured differently (the emphasis will be less on community and more on reaching out to the broken places of the world, with intentional community being one way of reaching out).

but despite my disappointment that i did not structure the class in a way that was best for learning, there were still a lot of great moments:

- i chose to begin the class using the same Bible text that was read in chapel here in Oudezijds 100 and then pray according to the pattern here: first, to give thanks, and then to intercede for the world, the church and Israel, and for the communities of which we are part. it was good to be connected to one of the most important tasks of the community here - praying together.

- almost every day a certain student thanked me for the class at the end of each day, irrelevant of how good the class period was. and i appreciated his thankfulness for the effort i put into class, and i was daily reminded of the privilege i had in sharing what i knew with the class - and encouraging them with what they knew.

- i got to see something special about each of the students - and so they moved from being names and faces on a piece of paper to being complicated and unique, full of questions and challenges and opinions along with hopes and dreams.

- the book we read, Shane Claiborne's The Irresistible Revolution, challenged a lot of people, even those who found him hard to hear because his experience and opinions were so different from the ones they had known all their lives. Shane advocates being more reckless in living out our faith, which are words that many people (myself included) growing up where Christianity is ordinary (and somewhat safe) need to hear.

- some of my students asked if they could take me out for lunch - just so they could hear more about my life and experiences - and i was honoured by their appreciation of me and my experiences.

- while the students were discussing questions in their small groups, one group got so into what they were discussing that a couple of students in other groups asked if they could join them (it was about whether working in a casino could be considered an appropriate job for a Christian). as we talked about it later in class, it became a bit clearer how and why they could disagree on something that seemed so obvious to some of them. and it made my heart glad to know that some of them continued to discuss this outside of class time.

- throughout the class and at the end, quite a number of them remarked that they had learnt to see things a bit differently, that they had been challenged and/or glad to have taken the class. and as that was my hope for them and the class, it makes me thankful.

- i am looking forward to reading their final exam question about how what we talked about in class applies to a "broken place" connected to their own lives - i have heard already about their concerns for the nursing home system, adoption, education, or their own families. i am hoping that they are foolish enough and courageous enough to try to make things better (or as we talked about in class - redeem things by restoring shalom (i.e. restoring things to how they should be)), in whatever small ways they can, for a situation that is close to their heart.