We certainly got what we wanted. There's nothing like a field trip to get you excited about learning! Dr. Borders is making a huge point to us and I really hope that we all take it and run with it. We have the ability and the power to change the way that things are happening at Huntingdon, but we really have to work as a team to hear each other out (or read our blogs and comment on them). 

Normally, our goal in class is individualistic and grade focused, but Dr. Borders is challenging us to set new goals and raise the bar for education. With the promise of a good grade, our focus can be on something greater. 

What are we going to do? 

Communication

So, we all have issues with the way that things are happening in our classes, on our campus and in our society...but we aren't going to solve anything just complaining about it. We don't associate the classroom with learning (as we stated in class today) and we want "kindergarten" back, but still want to be treated like adults....

Our professors (Dr. Borders not included) are teaching the way they were taught. They teach the way they were taught how to teach. They are teaching the way college classes around the world are generally taught. They don't know they're doing anything wrong.

If we don't tell them that we aren't learning in the classroom they won't ever understand it. Learning is in the hands of the student. Professors can't force knowledge into our brains. I honestly don't think the solution to our issues are that huge...we just need to communicate our desires for classroom environments to our professors.

In science it's easy to do an experiment or observe something in order to understand the topic of discussion. In psychology we can study real people's behaviors. In english we can act out stories, or write our own versions. In religion we exegete, discuss, and pretend to be Romans and Zealots. In business classes we can make our own "businesses" and apply what we learn to them as if they were real; or maybe students could create actual businesses that provide services or supplies to other students. It's not that hard to think of ways to make classrooms more like "kindergarten" with hands-on learning, we just have to help our professors get a little creative.

"There's nothing we want more!"

We sang this song at Emerge this week and I really love it now. It is from Song of Songs. The words are all amazing, but I think the bridge has the greatest words. "I don't want to talk about You like You're not in the room. I want to look right at You. I want to sing right to You." I think this is awesome because I often find myself talking, praying, even worshiping like its to some distant God, but Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit are so incredibly personal I can't imagine what our faith would be like without them. "There is nothing we want more" than Christ in our lives and to worship Him.

"Come be the fire inside of me!"

“Place me like a seal over your heart,
like a seal on your arm;
for love is as strong as death,
its jealousy unyielding as the grave.
It burns like blazing fire,
like a mighty flame.

Many waters cannot quench love;
rivers cannot wash it away.
If one were to give
all the wealth of his house for love,
it would be utterly scorned.”

-Song of Songs 8:6-7

On Fire for Jesus?!

In class today as we were looking at various peoples' depictions of who Jesus is...I remembered a statue that I saw once in front of a church on the side of the interstate in Ohio. I remember seeing it from the road and wondering who decided that this church needed a gigantic Jesus in front of the doors! (My second thought was that maybe this church could have helped feed some hungry people or build some wells for people in Africa...rather than spending thousands of dollars on a huge Jesus!)

What Jesus looks(ed?) like doesn't actually effect our worship of God. Building gigantic statues or painting hypothetical portraits of him don't really help anything. Who Jesus is is not a huge white guy with facial hair. The early church didn't even want to write God's name because it was like an idol...why should we try to guess what he looked like?!

I recently found out that this statue of Jesus in Ohio was struck by lightning and burnt down. I do think, however, that the church decided to rebuild it (costing even more money)....

Karen's Spiritual Journey

Karen, the little girl in the video, shows a great progression in her spiritual journey, even through the few clips that we've seen in class (and more available on youtube). The people she interacts with everyday have a surprisingly large impact on her views of Christianity, and what it means to be a Christian.
Karen faces a lot of issues like whether Satan is even real and what kind of things people have to do in order to be Christians. It seems sweet and silly in the series, but these questions are not unlike the ones we face every day. Karen approaches these things from such an innocent point of view that it really effects the way that she reacts in her life. She thinks that being a Christian means sleeping a specific amount of time and drinking milk, just like her teacher. Are there things that we assume we have to do in order to be considered a Christian? We might not think that you have to drink milk (which I certainly hope not, since I'm lactose intolerant); however, some people think you have to attend church worship weekly to be a Christian but going to church doesn't make you a Christian (although it is important).
I think sometimes we also don't realize when we play a role in someone's life like Karen's teacher was to her. In another clip, Karen's teacher was teaching her stories about Jesus while telling her about the things she does everyday, so naturally, Karen assumed she needed to do the same things. In this clip, Karen talks about what she has learned about Satan from her teacher. It's obvious that other things have influenced her views as well, especially in her view of death (she even quotes Star Wars).
If one thing we are really supposed to do as Christians is share Christ with the world, then we should probably be more aware of the roles that we play...