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How do we learn? What is education?
Archdeacon Michael Smart, Priest Assistant
5 February 2006
Education is more than information. I have met well-informed but dysfunctional psychiatrists, lawyers with knowledge of the law who have broken the law and as a priest, though well informed as to the teaching of Jesus, I am not always kind and compassionate.
Information does not guarantee good character. A Christian Education is more than teaching doctrine or church practices: "though I may have all knowledge, but have no love I am nothing", said St Paul. Perhaps addressing the drink driving crisis in N.Z is not about giving more information, nor about realistic advertisements, but helping people choose to love their neighbour. The problem is a moral problem.
Today many people equate material possessions with quality of life. We are told in so many ways that the
more we have and the better the product, the better our quality of life. Consider all the home renovation programmes on TV, yet we all know people who have very little in the way of possessions, but are full of grace and goodness. Inner contentment is not only about what we possess. Education is about helping us consider causes of contentment, learning comes from reflecting on why endless possessions do not of themselves bring happiness. Friday's Herald, carried an article by a 21 year old law student in which she evaluates her options as a woman, potential mother and lawyer. She offers us a good example of what it means to be educating yourself, other than just studying for exams. Her article shows us the process of learning as she considers and weighs up what she sees in some aspects of our society. I believe God is very active in that kind of learning, though we still have to decide what we will do about what we see.
You will have noticed that when sickness occurs, or a tragedy hits us, our priorities may change. People say "I have learnt what really matters". So Geoff and Simone Sewell, from the singing group Amici, are faced with their daughter having some degree of autism. The chances and changes of life have brought them to a place of learning; they have made the decision to devote more time and energy to their daughter. I am not supporting the view that God sends these things to test us: Jesus went about doing good and healing people, not giving out sickness and disasters. Life is a matter of chance. What makes a difference is what we learn as we grapple with these random circumstances, and God is in that process, not saying to us that the sickness or tragedy is minor, but helping us fmd values and direction in the struggie. This kind of reflection is a part of any education worth the name, though it is not a process from which we graduate - it is a life long process.
How often we hear a sports person say the greatest thing they have learnt is how to get along with others, to be a team player. Learning is process that includes reflecting on experiences, evaluating consequences. We may be able to do this on our own; we may need others to help us accept the truth that stares us in the face. Our church community will be one place where this process of learning can occur and while people may not see this process of learning as a form of prayer, in fact it is just that.
One writer describing his learning of Christ, puts it this way. "I realized that the people I admired the most were expressing their faith through acts of compassion and love. I had to ask myself why I was attracted to these people". Another person was reading The Brothers Karamazov, by Dostoevsky when he realized that the greatness of Dostoevsky was to reveal the consequences for society when doubt and atheism are endorsed by the state. Learning is not knowledge of books, but the knowledge that comes from pondering and thinking through the options described in the books, and God is in that process, inviting us to see the significance of people's choices, the consequences of certain actions and to learn what makes for good relationship, and a just society.
Many people today feel dislocated. This is why people show such passion over national sports events, for sport provides them with a chance to belong, to "know who we are" , to use the popular phrase. We will want our team at the Commonwealth Games to win medals so we can rejoice in "our national success", and coaches who let us down will get the sack! I have heard people say of a family member "if N.Z loses, we just keep out of their way for a few days". As much as I enjoy sport, to belong to God, to know I am loved by God, gives me a better sense of connectedness. We know who we are, to whom we belong and have a sense of community that transcends all other barriers and limiting definitions of being human; we are a winner every time.
Tomorrow, as we observe Waitangi Day will it give us a sense of community, or will ethnic groups retreat within themselves. To link our identity to a certain place or race is to reduce ourselves to much less than God plans for us and so we will not find God's best for ourselves or our world. The people of the Old Testament had to learn that God was not confined to one place and did not live in a Temple in Jerusalem. Some never learnt this and still haven't, so wars continue over what is called sacred ground and sacred sites. But others prayed and wrestled with God, questioning and wondering about what it meant when they lost their land and their Temple was destroyed. They became the educated ones, the ones who learnt by reflection and observation that God was also by the waters of Babylon and that God didn't need a Temple made with hands.
This is not a tub thumping against possessions and a denial of the things of this earth, but I am inviting you to ask what gives you your sense of belonging. Where are your roots? Are you locked into the local or the universal, are you bigger than a Kiwi or a rugby or netball fan? Are you bigger than an Anglican and yes, bigger ,than a Christian. For those who know people in other religions soon learn, Christians are not the only ones who seek to listen to God and to discern his voice. If Waitangi Day cannot focus the unity and the validity of all people, if it cannot demonstrate the equality and rights of all people, then we must find another way to do that. When the Governor General holds a garden party in Auckland and Wellington takes it as an insult, then we know we have a way to go. How easily do you take offence? How readily do you feel slighted? Can you feel threatened by another's success?
Globalization is a part of today's life; globalization is a challenge not to retreat back into isolation. Immigration is a challenge to our sense of community, who we are. Increasingly, our weddings here at the Cathedral are of couples from various and several races: Russia, Japan, Korea, China, Tonga, Samoa, Turkey are all countries that have been represented in weddings here in the past 12 months. Since we believe in the God who is God of all people and of all nations, " who brings princes to naught and makes the rulers of the earth as nothing", we could well interpret globalization as God calling the world to see his vision and purpose. Globalization might be interpreted by us other than in economic terms; for those with eyes open to learn, we see God teaching us where his and our future lies. Will we learn the ways of peace and sharing? Who will inspire us and lead us in the ways of heaven on earth?
Our prayer might be that we in N.Z. get educated, learn how to live together, learn what gives life to people and what brings death, learn what is important to hold on to and value. And we as disciples of Jesus must go with him ftom place to place, office to office, city to city, and help people in this process of learning and education, offering God's good news, to the world. That is a vision that has always inspired people through the centuries. It is a vision worthy of our energy and thoughts and resources as a Cathedral Community as we begin a new year.
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