Sermon: Teaching as a Spiritual Act
Rev. Dr. Gaye W. Ortiz
Unitarian Universalist Church of Augusta
September 8, 2013
This
past week saw Jews all over the world celebrating Rosh Hashanah, which means
"beginning of the year" in Hebrew. One of the popular practices
during this time is to eat apples dipped in honey, symbolizing the hope for a
good year to come. And may it be so.
Earlier
we commissioned the volunteers and staff of Children’s and Youth Religious
Education. They have been working hard to prepare for the beginning of this
year’s classes. The teachers will introduce new curricula to our young ones
that will be a true opportunity for growth, but only if it comes alive to them,
and with some age groups that takes a lot of effort, ingenuity, and creativity.
I would imagine that, in addition to being exhausted by the packed hour they
spend in class, the teachers will also be satisfied when they see their kids
learning and really entering into a collaborative effort in the classroom.
But
would they agree that teaching is a spiritual act?
Writer
and educator Parker Palmer defines
spirituality as "the diverse ways to answer the heart's longing to be
connected with the largeness of life." (The Courage to Teach, 2007 Tenth
Anniversary Edition, as quoted in http://www.spiritualityandpractice.com/blogs/maps.php?id=16445 ) With that perspective, spirituality is not just
one way but encompasses ‘diverse’ ways. I think we see that spirituality here
every Sunday, when each of us is driven by our heart’s own longing for
connection.
This
morning I would like to speak about my own search for spirituality through
connection in the context of education; I had reason to reflect on this
connection when I was preparing for my credentialing interview with the
Ministerial Fellowship Committee. I wrote an essay about my philosophy of
religious education that informs much of what I am feeling today as our young
people go into the classroom. I am hoping that they will encounter the
largeness of life through an encounter with religious education.
When
I turned 18 I did two things that shaped my life: I got married, and I became a
Sunday school teacher. Tomorrow Wil and I celebrate 41 years of marriage. I’ve
spent many of those years as a teacher in religious education, and in higher
education – but I have also been an educator, as many of you have, through my
own family connection with children. Two daughters and four grandchildren have
put me in close proximity to teaching the lessons of everyday life. Being a
grandparent is to me a rewarding and incomparable religious experience!
Maybe,
if your upbringing included church and Sunday school, you have never forgotten
your early experiences. My childhood memories of Protestant Sunday School
include one Sunday of utter terror, when the lesson was about the creation of
the world. I became panicked at the thought that once upon a time there was
nothing - I can’t imagine any teacher being able to calm my fear, my mind was
reeling with the thought of nothingness.
Outwardly,
probably, I must have looked okay, but reflecting on that feeling has taught me
to be sensitive to the sometimes overwhelming effect of knowledge on little
ones.
Later
- in my pre-teen phase of attending the Church of God of Holiness with my grandparents
- I was memorizing dozens of Bible passages every week for the Sunday School
quiz. I enjoyed doing it but many of the quotes were obscure or just didn’t
make much sense; I was memorizing just for the sake of a competition.
But
41 years ago, the excitement with which I approached teaching Sunday School for
the first time (when I was still really a child myself) says a lot about the
role model I had prior to taking on that responsibility. As a Catholic in high
school, my favorite Sunday School teacher was an Irish nun, Sister Odile, and I
loved her kind and patient way with our class. She made me eager to learn
because of how she presented the material. I really did want to be like her for
a short while, and I even took a weekend trip with her to visit the Franciscan
convent in Savannah; I had visions of becoming a nun teaching inner-city
children…but instead, I married after graduation. I was excited about teaching
a 4th grade Sunday school class and I took a correspondence course
in religious education so I would feel competent in it. This was the first of
many courses on religion that I would take in my life!
I’m
aware that I sound like a real freak, an 18-year old girl, married, with an
enthusiasm for teaching religious education! But my love of teaching blossomed
after having my children. When we moved to Yorkshire in 1983, I had an ambition
to take art classes, and for a year I did. But I also taught 4th
grade RE again, and became the Director of RE for a small Catholic parish; I
prepared children for their confirmation as well as teaching Sunday school
class.
But
when I became the DRE I realized that I had more questions than answers, and it
was then that I found…the nuns again! Sr. Mary Bernard Potter and the Leeds Diocesan
RE Center provided all kinds of RE resources. Those connections made me eager
to teach RE in schools, and so I began looking for a degree course in Theology
and Education. The college I applied to, a Catholic college of the University
of Leeds, had no more places in that degree but did have openings in Theology
and Media. Before I knew it I’d graduated and was teaching priests how to write
church newsletters and give radio interviews! And when I finished my Master of
Theology at Edinburgh University I became a full-time university professor
teaching exciting courses on theology and film, Judaism, feminist theology and
ethics. I spent 20 years as an educator in higher education, the first 10 years
at an English university, and then communication studies and cinema at Augusta
State University.
I
was a student at the same time for some of those years, working on my Ph.D.
thesis while teaching full time. It was valuable and insightful to experience both
sides of learning.
When
I became a Unitarian Universalist, I was thrilled to learn how seriously UUs
take learning. The way some people refer to Religious Education as ‘Religious
Exploration’ made me aware of the value that is placed upon the right to
question, the appreciation of reason, that makes UU history and theology so
rich. Shortly after joining this church I asked the board to let me develop an
adult RE program here, assessing and planning curricula and facilitating classes.
We had a great Wednesday evening program, and it grew as other church members
found an enthusiasm for teaching courses. Almost every classroom was filled
during some seasons of Wellspring Wednesday with people – children and adults –
eager to learn and play together.
My
many years of teaching university students and adults didn’t really prepare me
to work with children, even though a few times as a lay ministry associate I
took responsibility for the Story for All Ages during Sunday service.
It
was only when I went to the Aiken Unitarian Universalist Church as a guest
speaker one Sunday – even before I became a ministerial candidate – that I
realized connection with the largeness of life could come through teaching
children. The worship coordinator in Aiken – who was Naomi Frost-Hewitt – told
me I would be doing a Time for All Ages, and really did not let me off the hook
even though I was feeling pretty intimidated when she told me about the group
of pre-teen girls there.
During
my service they were so engaged in my story, which was set around a bag of
childhood memorabilia I’d brought to share with them – they didn’t sit still,
they commented and asked questions and were a real part of the story.
Little
did I know then that I would go back to Aiken as Consulting Minister and they
would be teenagers! I learned to get through the often rambunctious Time for
All Ages during Sunday services as well as Children’s Chapel several times a
year.
One
memorable Sunday I was showing photos of nature, including one of a fallen tree,
its roots up in the air. I asked the children, “What do you think made this
tree fall over?”
One
of the middle school girls answered right away, “Gravity.” This was a moment of
epiphany for me! Never assume you know what answer a child will give to your
question; it was, in fact, such a Unitarian Universalist answer – confident,
thoughtful, reasoned, and one of several possible answers! I was expecting
‘wind’ or ‘a storm’ or even ‘drought,’ but as soon as gravity was invoked it
made such sense and provoked an enjoyable moment – the entire congregation
warmly clapped and laughed in delight. We praised and affirmed that student’s
authentic response.
That experience has caused me since then to reflect
upon what I hope to be the fruits of religious education for both teachers and
students.
The MRE serving the Shelter Rock Congregation, Dr.
Barry Andrews, says “the best education our volunteers can receive about managing
a classroom or what it means to be a practicing Unitarian Universalist is
through the experience of teaching itself.”
Dr Andrews states that “The essential
qualities of a good church school teacher are a love of children, a sense of
wonder about life, empathy and the ability to listen, and a willingness more to
share who you are than what you know.”
That stated, let me share five main points in my
holistic philosophy of religious education:
First,
It Takes a Village: RE is an
opportunity for the congregation to appreciate and participate in the curricula
that is available through the UUA and chosen by our RE staff. I believe that
the assumption that parents will naturally be the teachers, so other members
need not concern themselves with it, is short-sighted and not indicative of the
covenantal relationship that we have as church members. People who volunteer to
be RE teachers will be sharing their faith – sharing who they are, as Dr
Andrews says - and can be living examples for our children of how UUism
continues to be relevant to their identity as they grow up into adulthood.
Teachers can be role models just like Sister Odile was for me.
In
our Sunday services, before children go off to classes, we regularly have a
Time for All Ages; adults as well as children should be able to benefit from
the lessons learned in this segment of intergenerational worship within a
caring community. Time for All Ages, when planned as carefully as the other
elements of the service, makes learning fun for us all. It should not just be a
book read in a monotone voice to the children sitting in front (I have experienced
this in more than one church, and if I was losing the will to live, I can just
imagine how the children felt). Just as we can inspire and entertain children
with a creative delivery, we can also easily bore them without one.
Second,
Teaching is a Spiritual Practice: For
this building block of my philosophy of religious education I cite the essay
“The Soul Only Avails: Teaching as a Spiritual Act” written by Dr Barry Andrews
(www.uua.org/re/teachers/framing/15417.shtml). In it Andrews articulates the vision I have of
the educator as mentor and companion for children as they undertake their
religious life journeys. When I
use the term ‘spiritual practice’ it is in the sense that teaching demands an
openness to something larger than myself; a relationship between me, the
student, and learning; a relationship that commands respect and reverence.
Third,
Children’s Chapel: I am a firm
believer in children being present in a worship service, so they can catch the
infectious feeling of a worship service that is well-done, and so they know the
adults in the church and see how we enjoy worshipping together.
This
year we also have opportunities for them to help plan and participate in Children’s
Chapel. There is a lot of care with which the elements of the service are
considered and allocated to the various classes, and there is creativity in
using all forms of art, music, role-play, and interactive and inclusive
communication. The religious education of our children must not only comprise
the ‘usual suspects’ of principles and sources, history, sexuality education,
values etc, but also how to do meaningful worship well.
Fourth,
Growth: I learn something every time
I interact with students, and I would hope that this is also the experience of
all RE teachers and volunteers. It is both humbling and inspiring when we all
learn from each other, and the content of a curriculum is only part of the
learning experience. My expectation is that RE will enrich the learner and the
educator as we rediscover and grow in our faith. To quote Emerson, “Be the
companions of their thoughts, the lovers of their virtue.” In any communication
encounter between two people, both should come away changed in some way, and to
be admitted to the sacred ground of children’s learning is a special encounter
indeed.
Fifth, Our Whole
Lives: There is one more piece to my philosophy, and that is a firm
commitment to the OWL curricula. We are a denomination that has been ahead of
its time in many ways, and the development of OWL with the United Church of
Christ has been so timely and valuable.There are
trained facilitators in more than half of all UU congregations. Thousands of
children, teens and adults have taken and have been enriched by OWL programs.
Not only do they learn about sexuality, they learn about UU identity.
The
website for “Our Whole Lives Program Ministries and Faith Development” says
that: “Every faith tradition has its own approach to sexuality.
Unitarian Universalism has a long history of supporting comprehensive sexuality
education in our congregations. We also advocate publicly for sexuality
education and equal rights for people of all sexual identities. Sexuality is
about biology, identity, relationships, responsible choices, justice,
inclusivity, and self-image… all of which are intertwined with our faith and
values. Some of the most important “milestone” decisions we make in our lives,
such as marriage/life partnership and creating families, involve relationships
and sexuality. Intentional sexuality education is especially important in a
world in which people of all ages are constantly bombarded with social and
media messages about sex, and misinformation about sexuality.”
“Our
Whole Lives recognizes and supports parents as the primary sexuality
educators of their children. It creates a partnership between the family and
the congregation through parent orientations. Many congregations also offer
parent education programs.”
I
believe in the continual training of teachers in, and regular scheduling of,
the OWL program in every UU congregation. I intend to support and advocate for
OWL and other sexuality education curricula for our congregation.
The
Congregational Study Action Issue chosen at General Assembly last year for the
next 3 years is Reproductive Justice. Because we are so fortunate to have the
OWL curricula, we have a real part to play – the part of reason and
enlightenment - in the culture wars we see being acted out in legislative sessions
across the country.
Learning
and education never really stop; in fact, in our society I believe they are
more important than ever.
And so I welcome this new year of Religious Education
with great appreciation for the spiritual joy and growth that it creates, and I
hope that you will reap the benefit of that by volunteering.
Remember that “Thomas Jefferson once said
that he was content to be a Unitarian by himself. If we all felt that way,
Unitarian Universalism would be a one-generation phenomenon.” (Andrews) Walk
the spiritual path with our children and rediscover the sense of wonder,
connection, and community for yourself.
GWO – 9/4/2013
