What is true learning? Not addition.

A church person once told me that they attend church in order to learn more and "grow in their faith". When pressed on what they mean when they say "grown in their faith" this church person said to grow in faith is to be built up in the grace and knowledge of Christ.

Like creativity, growing in Christ is about subtraction.

That sounds like a great church answer. 

Of course we are looking to be shaped in the ways of Christ. But let us address something that maybe we know but forget.

Learning is not about addition↬. It is a common understanding that when we learn it is like just filling up a container (our brain) with more information and data. This is a big reason we want our children to go to college, so they can learn "more" because there is a sense of lack without that education. 

If you have attended any level of education and reflect on your experience, it is clear that leaning is about subtraction rather than addition. 

We do not come to school with a lack but with an abundance of "what we know to be true" and the challenge of education is that it asks us to not add to "what we know to be true" but calls into question "what we know to be true". Learning is, at its core, about subtraction. 

When we attend church, and if we are there to grow in the knowledge and grace of Christ, then we must be reorient ourselves away from addition and toward subtraction or (ironically) we will never grow.

*On a separate note, this is post #800!

Fetal cells, the Church and Christ

Recently I listened to a podcast from RadioLabs that addressed the fact that a mother will carry in her body cells of the children she bore for several decades. That is to say that a mother will carry within her body foreign cells in which her antibodies do not attack.

And the thing is, we are not sure why these cells remain in the mother’s body at all.

RadioLabs goes on to speak with researchers in this area and the complexity of why these cells are there and what they actually do to the mother’s body I will leave for you to hear from the source.

What came into my head was a question – If you give birth to an idea or a cause, then will there always be your “cells” roaming around the idea/cause even after you have jettison? And if so, then how long can your “cells” remain in that idea/cause?

How long are the “cells” of the church able to move through the body of Christ? 

The Underdog Phenomena

Freakonomics podcast had an episode not too long ago that talked, in part, about what they identified as the underdog phenomena.  According to the podcast, 4 out of 5 of us cheer for the underdog.  There are a number of studies that they site that display this effect.  For instance, when people are give a choice between cheering for fictional team A or fictional team B, who is favored to win, in a fictional sport - 4 out of 5 people choose to cheer for team A, the underdog.

There are a number of people who try to explain why this underdog effect is strong in people and no one knows the real answer.  Perhaps it could very well be that we cheer for the underdog because if winners always win then there is no point to pay attention to the game.  There are a number of theories put out there as to why so many of us pull for the underdog, and I would submit perhaps it is rooted in Spirituality.

What I mean is that for some reason there has been, over time, a growing awareness of the "underdogs" of the world.  We care more about handicapped people than we did 50 years ago, we care about blind people to create a language for them, we care about abandoned kids and create adoption.  We have a growing care and concern for the underdog over time - but where did this concern come from?

Could it be that the original concern for the underdog came by way of religion?  Looking at religious laws you can see a concern for the social underdogs.  While we judge these laws by today's standards and thus they seem in many ways outdated, in the time they were created they were huge steps forward for care of the underdogs.

Could it be evidence to something "more" in this world that would give us a concern for the underdog.  Ants, cows, birds, and fish do not care about the underdog.  People do.

Could it be that people care about the underdog (and thus "cheer" for them when we can) because of a revelation in humanity over time?  A revelation that cannot be seen or measured or observed but one that in fact influences the world.  A revelation that Christians call Christ.

Have yourself a prophetic Christmas

There is a drawer in our home that houses plastic and paper bags we get from the store when we forget to bring our own.  This drawer is opened and bags are placed into it and then we close it, with intentions of using those bags one day.  Classic "junk drawer" behavior.

The other day I put a bag into that drawer only to discover that the drawer is very full.  Not wanting to deal with this at all, but identifying I must, I pulled the drawer out and saw there were not only bags housed in the drawer but also a good number of carpenter ants.  So, after seeing this, and not wanting the ants to eat out parts of my home like termites, I had to act.

This is what the light does.  It exposes things that we may not see even when we look at something with regularity.

Christmas is that time in which the Light of God comes into the world.  And much like the drawer in my home, the Light of Christmas exposes things that we might not want to see or deal with at that time (war, rape, LGBT, etc.)

Macy's is great at redirecting light in order to show you only what they want you to see.  Sales, Santa, Smiles.  The Church's mission is to work with the Light to expel darkness.  This is the role of the prophet.

The great thing about Christmas is there is an opportunity to see things that we have not seen before.  That is, thanks to the Light, we are able to see more than just bags, we can see the ants.  This is why when Jesus begins his ministry he begins with calling people to repent.  That is to say, that when the Light shines it is easy to see where we have failed and since we can now see our failings we have an opportunity to do something about it.

I wish you the very best Christmas.  I hope that we are all moved not only to deal with cleaning out the 'baggage' in our personal drawers, but also have the courage to deal with the other issues of the world that have been in the dark.