Service: Learning About Ourselves.... and others

If I am not who you say I am, then you are not who you think you are - James Baldwin 1968

How do you know who you are? Probably in part because people told you things about yourself and the group of people that formed the "we" and "us" to whom you belong. In part, that identity was probably formed in contrasting relation to those who were not part of that group.

All experiential or contextual learning implies something "other" than the normal experience the classroom. In reality the classroom provides a context and experience but the creation of these "new" teaching approaches ("pedagogies") imply that something different can be done to expand learning. The idea is to create a context of difference; something that forces the learner to pay attention to different things. Often the goal is ultimately self-knowledge, a crucial part of development as a human being.

In adventure education, the "outdoors" or "wilderness" is a major part of the context. By encountering the created world more deeply, or alternately, by presenting "participants" with uniquely disorienting challenges and problems in an outdoor context, we teach them something about themselves individually and as a group of people. The isolation and unique subdivison of the groups as well as the unique problems that present themselves (or are presented) create a unique social environment (thanks Dave Tanis). We may learn about nature ("the environment") and survival skills, but for the most part, outdoor skills are for the educator. Minimal competence and experience is an advantage to the learning experience because the learning relies on UNfamiliarity. If a "participant" is familiar with a particular challenge, they are also familiar with how to overcome it and thus, their capacity to learn something "new" is diminished, though not eliminated. This reality (as well as a playful sadistic streak) is what drives the amazing creativity of outdoor educators.

What about service-learning? The context may be rural or urban, national or international. Since most student (in the college environment of Messiah at least) don't serve where they live any of these contexts may be sufficiently "other" to provoke new ideas. However, service-learning faces a unique problem in the way identity can form in service. "Service" always implies a "served" other. Rather than "participants" who are there to learn something by finding and pushing against their own limits, one is the designated "servant" and it is implied that there is a need out there that the servant can meet.

A dichotomy is set up:
On one side is the "servant" - competent, responsible, theoretically need-less.
On the other is the "served" - they are uniquely marked as possessing a need that they lack the capacity to meet themselves.

Thus, "servants" are prone to approach the "service" context looking for problems that need the application of their existing competencies. Things that are not a problem (community assets), or not a problem that we the servants can remedy right now (systemic inequity), may be overlooked, but these MAY be the exact things that would provoke LEARNING. Those of us involved in service learning are obviously intent on the needs of the "servant," many of which correspond to and complement the needs of the "served." The dissolution of the dichotomy I described above and a growing sense of reciprocity and role-swapping is the key to learning.
We might begin by assessing our own deficits and critiquing our assumptions with questions like this:
Does MY community need service? Why or why not? What needs do I and my community have? Why do I think THIS community "needs" service? What could I learn from the community I serve? What strengths does it possess?

Christians are called to be disciples of Jesus. A disciple IS first and foremost, a LEARNER. One cannot be a disciple without the humility to admit that one has needs, even if they are only a deep-set and inarticulate sense of deficit in one's soul. Maybe we need to learn something about ourselves to figure out what that deficit is, and maybe we can't do it alone. God may intend to teach us these lessons through other "needy" people.
The irony of the whole arrangement of being a disciple is contained in the parable of the sheep and the goats in Matthew 25. Jesus calls his disciples to serve the most "needy" and he tells them that when they serve the "least of these," they will be serving Him. Jesus also communicates that this is something we "need" to do to experience the salvation of the kingdom of God. So when we serve, we must be mindful that there in the one we serve is the one to whom we attach ourselves as LEARNERS. We need to become the disciples of the "least" of these, in order to understand who we really are.

Christian Manliness

Here are some excerpts from my talk for the Messiah College Men's Breakfast:

I think a lot of guys struggle to figure out what mature Christian manhood means….  I do think it has something to do with responsibility and being able to handle responsibility. I like to think a real man is someone you can count on. But if “responsible” means being serious, I don’t want it, because I like to have fun. If it means just following the rules, I don’t want it, because some Jesus was not a blind rule-follower. Responsibility MIGHT mean that you don’t follow the rules but you accept the consequences without whining or trying to get out of it. In short - I want maturity that has something to do with living a vital life!

G. K. Chesterton, the British Catholic writer said that “Jesus promised his followers only three things – that they would be fearless, absurdly happy and always in trouble.”

As I think about what it means to be a man, I’d like to think that these are qualities that fit our general conception of manhood (not that they aren’t qualities of women) but they are admirable for most men.

Still, as I look around campus, around my church which has a thriving men’s ministry, and at myself, I don’t see these things a lot of the time.

I see a lot of men who appear to be lazy,insecure, fearful, stoic, bored and relatively tame. Not really alive.

As Christians we know we can’t be violent jerks or womanizers so it’s like we have to choose between being a sort of nice, bland, non-entity who follows the rules, or one of the guys from the show "Jackass."

Another problem I see is the extent to which guys trade in real masculinity for vicarious or fantasy masculinity. It’s like guys are saying: “I can’t be the kind of man I admire (be it James Bond or Maximus) so I will enter a fantasy world where I can pretend to be that guy or watch movies that allow me to vicariously experience a life of action and vitality.”

Porn and first-person shooter games are stimulating and addictive substitutes for action, adventure and romance.

I think that real manhood, as well as being “absurdly happy” and “always in trouble” really flow out of the freedom from fear.

The fact is that people fail to achieve what they are capable of and fail to live life to the fullest because of fear.

In Matthew 13 – Jesus tells the Parable of the Sower

The one who received the seed that fell on rocky places is the man who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. But since he has no root, he lasts only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, he quickly falls away. The one who received the seed that fell among the thorns is the man who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke it, making it unfruitful.”

Fear has to do with a person’s sense of security.

Fear includes worry and anxiety, stress, shame, embarassment etc. 

I generally think that what we should aim for is courage, not fearlessness.

Courage says, “I AM afraid, but I will not allow my fear to knock me off the path that God has for me, today, tomorrow or ever. If it ever does knock me off, I will take the most direct route back to that path and keep going.”

Sometimes we try to fake fearlessness, because sometimes the thing we’re most afraid of as guys is being exposed as a fearful person.

“The only thing we have to fear is…_____.”?

Fear of failure keeps some people from even trying, in every area. Whether it is making a bold move on the athletic field (and for some people, just stepping on the field is scary), making a bold move with a woman you’re interested in, getting a job, or talking honestly about what’s going on with you, fear can stop you. The truth is that “If you’re not failing regularly, you’re living so far below your potential that you’re failing anyway.”

If courage is among the most manly attributes and can only be exercised by doing something we are afraid of, and the thing we are most afraid of is being vulnerable with other men, then the most manly thing we can do is that!

It is also a tool for God's redemption in our lives. James tells us to confess our sins to one another...

the unlikeliest missionaries

The 15 member punk-rock marching band entered the Student Union in mismatched uniforms with individual loudspeakers strapped to their hats. They marched in front of the stage and then turned to face the audience; playing loudly. In a single broad line, they advanced toward the 70 or so students in attendance, who appeared to not know what to make of this spectacle. When they got to the edge of the "crowd" they didn't stop. They marched. Stepping up onto tables or anything that was in front of them and stomping their way into the audience while tactfully avoiding fingers and toes. Everyone laughed. The performer/audience barrier had been breached.
Being on the "sending" end of the missions experience for college students I am deeply aware that we need missionaries as badly as the people and countries we are sending teams to. Mother Theresa used to speak of the spiritual poverty of the West. Sometimes I see spiritual poverty at Messiah too. It manifests itself in insecurity and complacency among other things.

Mucca Pazza played at one of Messiah's Wednesday Night "B-Sides" concerts that showcase artists that haven't quite "made it." Its not hard to see why on one level. MP could have a unique appeal. I was at the Union talking with representatives from Food for the Hungry when they marched in. I only stayed for 10-15 minutes, but I was delighted with what I saw and heard. Here's what happened...

Mucca Pazza continued to play (loudly) and to intermittently march around the Union. They were always making music together, but sometimes they were literally together and sometimes members of the band would take off through the crowd on solo missions. One fellow was the "cheer-leader." He wasn't cross-dressing. He just had pom-poms. This guy would get in people's faces, shake his pom-poms, dance, and grin like a maniac. At one point he was standing on top of a wall, by himself, 15 feet up, shaking the pom poms like crazy (I heard about this later, I don't know how he got up there).

At first, 5-10 students moved to the front of the stage and sat down. Other students were texting and twittering away and the Union filled up. So did the area in front of the stage.
People were laughing and smiling.

NOW, you have to understand that at the few "B-Sides" I've been to (the concerts start at 10, so unless I'm on campus for a missions meeting... I'm out) the usual protocol seems to be 5 enthusiastic fans up next to the stage and everyone else hanging back. Their mouths are rigid horizontal lines. Their heads bob slightly in rhythm. It's like everyone is too cool to show that they are enjoying the music. Mucca Pazza blew that apart.

They were so fearless about what they were doing that students seemed to drop their own insecurities. By the end of the show (this is hearsay again) EVERYONE was on the floor in front of the stage, jumping up and down and dancing with enthusiasm. The whole spirit of the thing was positive, communal and free without being rebellious or hedonistic and Mucca Pazza set the tone for that. These crazy people were ROLE MODELS.

Christians need to be as fearless, uninhibited, joyful and encouraging as Mucca Pazza was that night. We need to break down the us-them barrier and involve people in the Christian life, even if they aren't "part of the band."

After they finished their second number, one of the band members got on the mike and said:
"Thank you Messiah College, for inviting us and having us here. We really like you. And thanks for being SO into us!"

I shouted back: "NO! Thank YOU!" and walked out of the building.

Come back any time Mucca Pazza, you were the unlikeliest missionaries, but I was blessed by your coming and by what I saw happen in the student body.