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Ok, here is my long-awaited post on what Honors was like on Thursday.

I was teaching with Erika Babikow, and we had the priveledge of bringing together President Swartzendruber's presentation with the rest of the classes we have had as Honors students. The president spoke about what it is like to be the leader of a university and the types of issues he has had to deal with in the past. [Ironically enough I overslept on Tuesday and was late to class. Most embarressing thing to happen to me since I've been here...]

So we had to decide after his class on Tuesday what we would talk about on Thursday. It was difficult because so much was discussed, but we ended up honing in on his statement that we can choose what we want to become. The idea of choice became central to our class on Thursday.

We had the students read this essay by Annie Dillard: http://www.sheftman.com/ewrt1a/dillard/weasel.html
and asked them these questions:
1. What is your necessity and how are you living in it?
2. Is there a correlation between the president's words of choosing how we live and the last few paragraphs of Living Like Weasels?
3. Meditate on the phrases below and at least one other that shimmers to you and write a sentence in response... A. I would like to live as I should B. We can live any way we want. People take vows of poverty, chastity,and obedience--even of silence--by choice. C. I think it would be well, and proper, and obedient, and pure, to grasp your one necessity and not let it go.
4. What connections do you see between previous classes and Loren's talk?
5. In previous classes we have often heard Judy say that "everyone has strengths, everyone is creative, everyone leads from every chair." Yet we do not always see this lived out in our lives. How do we CHOOSE to live our strengths/be a leader/be creative? How much of our success is genetics or intuitive and how much is personal choice? In what ways do we fail?

We divided up the class into two groups, originally calling them talkers and non-talkers. I was the leader of the talker group. :) The discussion went ok. Not perfect, but good. And it wasn't as awkward as it could have been.
Anyway, after completing our class, Erika and I had to respond to some questions by Judy. She asked us about how we divided up the class and wondered if it was a good idea. I responded by reframing our decision as "Snap decision makers" versus "Processors," and she thought those were better labels. I think that Judy liked the direction that we led the class overall. It was a good experience.

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On Friday night we went and listened to the jazz ensemble in the common grounds. Jon is an amazing guitarist...he made me miss Chris Kefer and James Wolpert. :( And I was surprised by James Souder; he is in my honors class and plays tenor sax - and he is amazing! So in turn I also missed Cheryl and Chris and Abe and ... yeah, I was a bit nostalgic on Friday night.

Today - wait, is it Sunday already? what? ok, I really should sleep now - I went to Gift and Thrift and bought 4 hard cover books for $3.89. That has to be the best use of $3.89 EVER. And I got a copy of Pilgrim at Tinker Creek! I am just on an Annie Dillard kick, I guess. Ha. I also bought two books by Mark Twain and a book by Brock and Bodie Thoene.

This evening I went to a soccer game with Mariah, Kathryn and Jon. It was cold and wet and fun, and I missed my brother. Can't wait for fall break. Hey D - you better be pretty funny over Thanksgiving, I've been talking you up to Thia and Molly! :)

I still want to write about "The Rich Young Rulers." Basically, some really awesome people from Walking Disciples are planning a revolution. Key names to remember: Rebekah, Lucas, Alice, Meg.
I'm not quite sure how to write about this. I sort of stumbled across their discussion by accident. And you sort of have to know their back stories and - oh, I'm not going to be able to explain this at all. Ok. All of these people are involved at OCP and they care about people. A lot. Rebekah suggested that we give half our clothes away, for example...
So we were talking about this book called Rich Christians in a Hungry World (I think...I need to double check about the title) and we started talking about wealth. And people who want to be wealthy. People going to college so they can be wealthy. Alice said that she has talked to people who think she is totally batty for not wanting power or wealth but instead wanting to just BE with people and to hang out with them. Basically to love. Then Lucas started to talk. And I was astounded.

He spoke of the Rich Young Ruler that is written of in the gospels. Meg had been saying that we need to interact with people in the church who are wealthy, and Lucas said that "it is dangerous to legitimize this [lifestyle]...I've been reading the story of the Rich Young Ruler and I have been thinking about our interpretation. We say that it is difficult for a rich man to enter heaven, but could it not also be read as it is difficult for a rich man to give up his wealth? Eye of the needle difficult? It is easier to hold on to our wealth and to pray for grace that it is to live like Jesus said."

This is a paraphrase, for sure, but word for word in these two phrases: "It is dangerous to legitimize this" and "It is easier to pray for grace."

So Alice chimes in with, "We need to love until it costs something."


They want to build a confession booth. More precisely, a reverse confession booth, of the type described in Blue Like Jazz. They want us to confess to each other each week. They want to read the Bible out loud to each other every day. They want to love until it costs something.

What is faith? What is this thing we call Christianity? Who is Jesus? Do I look like him?
I remember one of them saying that they have met more people at EMU who are purposely deciding they will not seek wealth than anywhere else they have been, but they also spoke of people at this campus who do not understand that there are people in Harrisonburg who are homeless.
I wonder where I fit in on that continuum. What would I give up? Have I ever loved anyone til it cost something?

Lucas, with his crazy dreads and ripped sweats and radical ideas, makes me want to live this til it is something real. I'm not ready to give up half my clothes. I'm not even ready to stop gossiping, to tell the truth. My heart is a work in progress. But amazingly, astoundingly, miraculously enough - somewhere between the influences of the theology I'm learning, the challenges of my academics, and the disciples I am meeting, seeds are being planted in fertile ground.



That was a long post, but worthwhile, yes?

Edit:
Oh! I just remembered something! A few weeks ago Thia and I were talking to Meg...long story, interesting ideas, etc etc, and Meg said [quoting a friend of hers] "We're Democrats because the church sucks so much." And two weeks ago during honors Elias said that if we are dividing the body of Christ into various parts based on fuctions as illustrated in the passage in Corinthians, then the modern American church is a giant appendix.

Ouch! Wake up, chuch USA! Now would be the time.