in daily life requires facility with regard to the rituals, narra- tives and norms of a practicing community of disciples and famil- iarity with the rituals, narratives and norms of 21st century life in a globalized, pluralistic world.
How do I live a PHOTODISC
to God. The ELCA’s social statement on education states:
“Education belongs to our baptis- mal vocation. Our particular calling in education is twofold: to educate people of Christian faith for their vocation and to strive with others to ensure that all have access to high quality education that develops per- sonal gifts and abilities and serves the common good.”
Where inequality exists, we are called to ask helpful questions and work closely with educational lead- ers in our communities, cities and states to improve educational quality, especially in regions where poverty and discrimination loom large. As an Old Testament scholar, Luther worked tirelessly to ensure that the wisdom and practices of the past were honored and passed on. At the same time, he argued against some of the current Chris- tian practice of his day. His reform of the church was, as the late Tom Christensom, who was a professor at Capital University, Columbus, Ohio, describes it, “an act of faith- ful criticism.” Luther expended lots of energy teaching a different view
of the gospel and correcting bad practice.
Thus, Lutheran education involves criticism. Criticism isn’t an end in itself, however. We engage in faithful criticism in service toward God’s creating, redeeming, sanctify- ing truth. Healthy criticism involves self-criticism, rooted in the recogni- tion that human beings fall short of God’s intentions.
As Christensom described it in
his book Gift and Task of Lutheran Higher Education (Augsburg For- tress, 2004): “More than anything else we, as human beings, need to be critical of our own abstractions, par- ticularly of all those abstractions that claim ultimacy.”
Healthy criticism also involves
humility. We can’t know the mys- teries of the created world without learning from our neighbor. When we forget to learn from our neighbor, the means of grace, stewarded by the church, are the means for forgiveness and reconciliation. To speak the Christian faith today requires fluency with the biblical and theological language and with the culture of our neighbor. Discipleship
Christian life? What do disciples of Jesus Christ in the 21st century do? What is faithfulness in this moment? These ques- tions are central to the Christian life and can be answered in multiple
ways, not simply one.
Faithfulness is a willingness to entertain the argument about what it means to be a disciple. There isn’t one way to be a disciple or live a life of discipleship. Rather, discipleship is a faithful response worked out in response to faith, for individuals and communities. It’s also true that figuring out how to be a disciple requires lifelong engagement with the questions of faith in Jesus Christ. The response you figure out when you are 10 or 15 can’t be the same when you are 42, 67 or 85.
Let us recommit to lifelong Chris- tian education in our homes and in our Lutheran institutions, learning together to figure out how to be dis- ciples in this moment and this time. Sometimes what we learn together is going to feel just like it always has— familiar and comforting. But some- times what we learn together is going to feel raw and unfamiliar. In those moments of discomfort, the Spirit will be nudging us to expend some energy to imagine our Christian life in new and different ways.
October 2013 19
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52