Teachers, Who Do You Love?
Teachers, Who Do You Love?
Quicksilver Messenger Service – Who Do You Love
“When love and skill work together, expect a masterpiece.” (John Ruskin, arti critic, around 1860).
(1.) On the Pastoral Role of Teachers. Let’s turn the tables on the original meaning of this classic blues song by Bo Diddley (1956). After hundreds of variations over the years… from Clapton to Thorogood, from the Band to the the Doors, from Santana to Townes Van Zandt; and let’s not forget my favorite version from Quicksilver in 1969. So why not take the song’s rhetorical question in an entirely different direction? How about if we embrace that title as being the heartbeat of Christ-centered education? In fact, the Christian school’s answer to that question will define the nature of that school, its identity, and will reveal if its purpose is effectively achieved. Another way of asking this all-important question is, ‘What do you treasure,’ or better yet, ‘Who do you treasure?’ After all, “Where your treasure is, your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:21).
(2.) Love and Skill. “The teacher had first to know and love his students before he could cultivate their souls and bring forth fruit… The teacher’s love for his students was part of the process of their formation.” (Robert Louis Wilken). So here we find the king and queen of Christ-centered teaching. Classroom skills are tools in the service of love. Professional competence includes the ability to love the students. Yes, love is not enough, but neither is technical teaching skills. Mediocre teaching is just as unacceptable as mediocre loving in the classroom. Love for students should be the motivating factor in professional development. Christian teachers love their students so much that they yearn to be the best teachers they can be. And what better way is there in which a teacher can prove that s/he belongs to the truth being taught in the classroom than by demonstrating active, genuine love? (1 John 3:18-19).
(3.) Their Native Language. “Learning succeeds best with a child who is emotionally stable. This stability is best achieved through filling your student’s emotional love tank. Your children will sense how you feel about them by how you behave towards them. If your child genuinely feels loved, it will be far easier for him to learn and respond in other areas.” (Chapman and Campbell). It makes sense that each student, as each adult, has a primary love language that speaks loudest, a preferred way to receive love. Evidently, we all need each of these five love languages to grow and mature, but there is probably one which is more effective in communicating love: A Friendly Touch; An Affirming Word; Some Focused Time; A Personal Gift; An Act of Service. So I propose that a loving teacher is responsible to know each student well enough to discern his/her love language and intentionally speak that language in and out of the classroom. If teachers don’t bother to speak their language, the contents of the instruction might as well be taught in a foreign tongue. It’s fascinating that in the latest brain research, students learn best when they have learned to trust their teacher. For higher order learning to occur (problem-solving, creativity, analysis, recollection), an atmosphere of trust and belonging is vital. An atmosphere of trust means that a student feels security, a strong sense of acceptance, belonging, and connectedness. Perhaps nothing promotes that feeling of belonging more than when a student feels s/he is known and understood. A teacher’s role is to truly know, accept, and understand the child. When that happens, learning is most likely to occur.
(4.) A Personal Relationship. “Although learning the content was part of the instruction, what counted for more was the example of the teacher and the bonds of friendship formed with the student…. This friendship was piercing and penetrating, an affable and affectionate disposition displayed in the teacher’s words and his association with us.” (Robert Louis Wilken). Christian teaching is an incarnational activity in which the teacher fleshes out the grace and truth of Christ. For this to happen, a genuine human relationship needs to develop in which each student is not viewed impersonally as simply another desk-filler but personally as a heart-filler as well. After a significant time spent in a Christ-centered classroom, perhaps a student can avoid the heart-breaking conclusions drawn in this poignant song: ‘This ain’t no love that’s guidin’ me…”
Ain’t No Love Live w/ Lyrics – YouTube
(5.) The Only Source of This Love. “For we know how dearly God agape-loves us, because He has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with agape love; God has poured out His agape love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit whom He has given us; We can now experience the endless agape love of God cascading into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who lives in us!” (Romans 5:5) Agape-love is the supreme of all the loves, and desires the highest good of someone else. Agape is “the highest level of love known to humanity,” (C. S. Lewis), and thus can only come from above with God as its source. Agape-love is the ultimate expression of God’s nature, the essence of His character. The most virtuous person on the planet cannot manufacture agape-love as if it’s merely a highly esteemed trait. We don’t have it in us. We aren’t born with the ability to show agape-love. It is impossible for us to demonstrate it on our own, because it can only derive from God, and not from human nature. Agape-love is an undeserved gift. Faith in God comes first, even a microscopic faith. And then agape is poured into our hearts as believers, and it then spreads to the world. This divine love being poured into our hearts is meant to be demonstrated to others through acts of mercy, kindness and compassion. This love, this affectionate yearning that others are blessed, spills over from our hearts only after being poured into our hearts through a faithful submission to Jesus. Through the Holy Spirit, agape-love can realistically become second nature to us and in us, displacing the old lesser loves in a Christian’s life. Agape-love is the means by which God’s divine love may reach the world. Agape-love is an eternal virtue, and it lasts forever (1 Cor. 13:8). It is the primary fruit of the Spirit, the divine love offered to us to spread God’s love to others. Love poured into us, love splashed out to others… God’s gift to us in order that we would offer that gift to others.
Ubi Caritas / Taizé – Eric Costa + Coro – Música Católica
Ubi Caritas is an ancient and anonymous prayer in Latin. Here is the complete text in English:
“Where charity and desire are one, there God is.
The love of Christ has united us, let us both fear and yearn for the living God, and yearn from the heart.
Let us devoutly love one another.
Where charity and desire are one, there is God. Amen.”