Agency

Last week our summer student staff met with the summer orientation staff for one of our regular professional development sessions. The topic was the Reformed Identity of Calvin College, which was established from the beginning as “messy.” One of the foci of our conversation was the question of our agency in the process of redemption, something about which Calvin’s vision statement makes some claim when it says that “Through our learning, we seek to be agents of renewal in the academy, church and society.”

This got me thinking about what it is that we hope for students who go out into the communities of this city/country/world to do service-learning. To what degree are these people agents for God’s redemption in a broken world in the short time they spend serving there? In the four years I’ve worked professionally in the Service-Learning Center, this question has been a compelling one that I come back to perennially. One of the keys here, I think, is the phrase “Through our learning…” which qualifies our claim of agency.

So, what does this mean for students who might spend an afternoon stocking a food pantry for StreetFest? Or a week encountering the complexity of coal mining’s impact on Appalachian communities? Or a semester tutoring an English language learner at an urban elementary school? Or many hours interviewing community members for an ethnographic study in Peru?

My hope is that at the conclusion of each student’s experience, they might view their situation through a lens of shalom. Imagine what this place would look like in the fullness of God’s kingdom. Each person encountered would be living an abundant life, expressing their unique giftedness as an image-bearer of God. Relationships would be restored in such a way that each interaction contributes to the other’s flourishing. The flora, fauna, and built environment would all declare the glory of God. True shalom will be even greater than we could possibly hope or imagine.

But our communities are far from this vision of shalom. They are broken, fallen. Comparing our actual experience to the kingdom can help illuminate further questions: Has my service done anything to alleviate the brokenness here? How are people and organizations working towards renewal? How does the sin that affects all of my daily actions (and inactions) contribute to the brokenness I’ve seen? What is my agency in the fallenness of our world?

We trust that in spite of overwhelming brokenness in the world, Jesus Christ has power over sin. Through his resurrection, he will prevail in the redemption of this world. We may feel powerless, on a tiny boat about to capsize amidst torrential downpours, hurricane force winds and monstrous waves. But if we lift our eyes in search of the horizon hidden behind the storm, we may see a ghostly figure amidst the squall. That person, who with a word from his lips can command the rain to subside, the wind to cease, and the waves to still, beckons us to step out of our boat and walk towards him through the storm.

It is not in our own power to walk on water or to calm the storm, but with the power of the risen king behind us, we can step towards shalom.
-Noah

The Irresistible Revolution

I've heard Shane Claiborne speak twice, the book was on my shelf for more than a year, I've even had dinner with him! I thought that I'd heard what he had to say and that I didn't need to read the book, until a conversation with one of my students who'd read Irresistible Revolution in High School. After reading the book, he and a few friends decided to honor the lunch ladies at their school with a special dinner, served by tuxedoed high schoolers. So I picked it up and read it over the past month on airplanes and buses. Sure, I'd heard several of the anecdotes from the book in his presentations, but there is so much more. Claiborne refers repeatedly to source material that inspired his own theological reflections on the relationships between Christians and poverty: Martin Luther King Jr, Dorothy Day, Charles Marsh, and others. He wrestles articulately with a lot of the things I've wrestled with in the years since I began college: how should Christians respond to sweatshops, violence, war, the church? His response to these questions is in many ways more radical than mine have been, but they have both encouraged me to persevere in ways that I've invested my life more deeply and challenged me in ways that I've made selfish choices. He reads the Bible as if Jesus really meant what he said, and challenges the reader to do likewise. I'm considering this as a text for a group of students I work with who will recruit volunteers from their residence halls to serve in various capacities, mostly within under-resourced communities. My hesitation comes with the sometimes political slant taken in the book, that may serve to alienate several of the students I work with. However, as I've now finished the book, I'm more convinced that his message and Biblical interpretation are right on. I'm recommending this book broadly, if you are a Christian who is serious about your faith, or someone whose not been convinced that the Christianity we see in America today is for you. I'm also wondering which other writer/speakers I've short changed by assuming that I know all they have to say after hearing them speak for forty minutes.

That Superwoman in the Bible

So one of the reasons I spend Tuesday afternoons each week at Alexander Elementary School, a public school near my house, and one where Calvin students have been serving and learning for many years, is to stay close to reality and avoid the dangers of ivory tower disconnectedness. This paid off for me yesterday when one of the students (the ONLY student yesterday, a 4th grader who was supposed to get on the bus but came alone to Bible Club instead) came up with one of those precious questions that keeps me going. This particular student has been unusually faithful in attending our Tuesday after school Bible Club, and she has paid good attention not only in Bible Club, but also during other church opportunities at our church, just a block from the school, and another block from her house. So yesterday, prompted by a hodgepodge of thoughts only a fourth grader could relate to, Katuska blurted out "Is that story of the superwoman the only one about girls in the Bible?" To which Barb, my co-teacher and I replied in great confusion, "Superwoman?" "You know, that girl who only had one penny and when she gave it, even though all those rich people gave more money, she was the one the story says gave the most?"

I don't remember our response, and frankly, it wasn't important - it couldn't match her question, no matter what we said. Off topic, out of the blue, random as anything, Katuska's question, and the way her mind has internalized the story of how much it matters to give out of whatever you have available - this seems to be how the Spirit works. I say (to myself and to you) "pay attention" and listen for that Spirit's words, and don't ever be surprised when they come from unexpected places.