Must We Learn to Love to Learn?
Do you remember your very first day in school? How old were you when you began preschool, or kindergarten, or 1st grade? What was your teacher like? Were you encouraged to participate, meet new people, and learn new ideas and information? Take a moment to consider these questions. Now, go back in time and think about your classroom. What did your room look like? How were the chairs and desks ordered? What kinds of textbooks did you use? Do you remember the school supplies you used? What do you see? What do you remember? How did your experiences shape the way you learned?
I remember my kindergarten class with Mrs Markham at Wesleyan Day School in Sandy Springs, GA. I remember art time, play time, and even opportunities to trade "scratch and sniff" stickers with my friends. One of my best memories of my 5-year-old year was getting to meet new friends. I enjoyed getting to play at my new friends' homes, and experience the blessing of not having homework. Moving into elementary school, God gave me the right teachers who helped me begin to learn about the world around me, and in so doing, helped me learn about myself. In middle and high school I can remember learning from compassionate teachers who truly cared and when I arrived at Wake Forest in 1994, the rigor of study and expectation to communicate what I learned was paramount to success in college. Though I loved my time in school, and in college, I spent much of my time taking for granted the blessing of simply learning to learn. I missed out on the love of learning because I was too focused on believing that education was a means to an end...to graduate, get a degree, and find a good job. There is nothing inherently wrong in having this view, but trust me, it's a view that can easily kill the joy in life. After all, what is life if it is not learning? I submit to you that it's no life at all.
When we go back in time and remember that favorite teacher, or that favorite grade, or that favorite subject, it's impossible to associate the love of learning without including the love of friends with whom we've shared the academic journey. This parallels our own spiritual journeys, too, as the life we live in and through the local church provides us with friendships which nourish and encourage us during the difficult and hard moments of our days, including those of celebration and rejoicing. It is true that learning does not take place in a vacuum; rather, we learn with others because learning builds community, and when we learn the right things, God's things, we work towards building a learning environment where all are welcomed to participate and grow together. This is the blessing of God's Kingdom.
It was not until I felt the call to full-time ministry in late 2002 that I realized my thirst for knowing more of the living waters of Christ was taking shape. I told my pastor, Rev. Bill Fryar, that I felt God was calling me to Divinity School, and he replied by telling me that he and his wife Anne had been praying that exact thing for me--it was time. I was ordained in January of 2003 at First Baptist Church in Walnut Cove, and began my first classes at Campbell University Divinity School that month. What I found was astonishing--because I wanted to be there, I wanted to learn, and that desire to learn reflected in the grades I received. I was passionate about God's call! I loved my classes and I loved the people. And by the time I walked across the stage in May 2007 to receive my Master's degree, the work I put in was all worth it. I was prepared to engage my local church context with new tools, and new resources, to directly impact UBC. More than that, I found a love of learning that has truly never left me. While I've allowed that love of learning to wane, and while I've become lax in my pursuit of learning by teaching those things which are within my spiritual "wheelhouse" through the years, there is nothing like the experience of digging deeply into scripture, wrestling with difficult texts, and admitting that the Bible can be messy and unnerving at times. It's supposed to be this way. After all, doesn't God promise us that we will find him, but only when we are seeking him with all our hearts?
I love to teach and preach, and I hope all of you can observe that when I do so. I am invigorated by these blessings, and I also enjoy those one-on-one prayer moments that happen, serendipitously, with church members. We learn about who God is in those moments; we grow closer to Christ and to his church in those moments. Though there have been moments when I've hit the "pause" button on learning, I do indeed love learning and watching others learn, too. Perhaps God wants us to learn to love learning! You love Jesus and his word, found in the Bible. You love your families. You love your friends. What else do you have a passion for that you'd like to pursue? What subject have you put on the backburner simply because you "didn't have enough time?" What would you like to study that would stretch you, challenge you and bring out God's best in you? What type of hobby would bring new life into your personal experience and help you develop new skills which would benefit those around you? Maybe we need to encourage one another to learn to love learning again. There are several studies you can find online about the benefits of lifelong learning. I invite you to go here to learn more:
The website article above mentions that we benefit in at least five ways: economically, intellectually, cognitively, socially and spiritually. Based on these areas of benefit, why would we not choose to remain in a posture of lifelong learning? When we innovate, create and face challenges our bodies and minds respond and develop; God made us this way! Consider Proverbs 1:5. The writer of wisdom says the following about learning:
"Let the wise hear and increase in learning, and the one who understands obtain guidance..."
(Prov. 1:5, ESV).
Throughout the Old and New Testaments we see how God's leaders have benefitted from a lifelong relationship with God, learning of him and following his guidance. Jesus even calls his followers to rest and take his own yoke upon them, to "learn of [him] for his yoke is easy and his burden is light" (Matt. 11:29-30). His disciples spent three years learning and still didn't truly understand until after the resurrection; even then, it took the descending power of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost to make God's presence felt and known. God's Holy Spirit was going to comfort and encourage and remind them of all that Jesus taught them. Paul, who knew the Torah and Prophets, spent time learning of Jesus before he began his transformative mission and ministry tour (3 specific journeys). His learning and education prepared him for persecution and abuse. But no one suffered as much pain and suffering as our Savior, Jesus Christ, who began his learning early, taught in the Temple at age 12, and learned from God while teaching his disciples, getting away to spend time with the Teacher, his Father, in order that he might know what steps to take, steps that were foreordained in order that we might find salvation. This salvation must cause us to constantly learn, and learn to know who God is in our hearts, what gifts he has bestowed upon us, and how we can go and "...make disciples of all nations" with the help of the Holy Spirit. We are taught so that we might teach! The learning never, ever ceases!
So after 11 years, God opened a door for me to attend Duke Divinity School as a Doctor of Ministry student. As I write this article I am in a restaurant adjacent to my hotel, feeling grateful for the difficult, yet fruitful learning I've experienced alongside my new friends and ministers in the journey of ministry. We are digging the scriptures together, sharing our joys and our pains together, and hoping to become the servants God has called us to be, "sharpening the saw" (Stephen Covey's language) and reflecting on how God can be proclaimed, taught and worshiped in our own local church contexts. It has been a fascinating and at times overwhelming experience, but I wouldn't trade it for the world. Thank you for supporting me in this educational journey, one where I get to learn...to love to learn again! I've realized that my first intensive at Duke has taught me that lifelong learning is a way to fulfill God's potential in and through us.
So let's continue to learn together, and learn to love to learn! There is much to study and observe in order that we might hear God's voice, or find him at work. We are to join him in active ministry yes, but there are moments when we must stop and intentionally decide to learn, for the sake of growing, for when we do this, in community, we are challenged to become the people God longs for us to be, a church who seeks wisdom and knowledge in order to be bless and benefit another. This is the lifelong learning that the Kingdom of God provides, all because of the lovingkindness of the Father through the grace of his Son, Jesus.
School's in session. What do you want to learn? Jesus promises to meet us where we are and that he will be found by us--when we seek him with all of our hearts. The study time is worth it, and the reflections we share bless God's community of faith. We can testify that to know Jesus, and be known by him, is the greatest and most productive education of all.
After all, remember this spiritual mandate?: "Be still, and know that I am God" (Ps. 46:10a). To know him, is to pursue him; to pursue him is to learn of him...for he is gentle and humble in heart. And you shall find rest...the rest that comes from learning of Christ. That's a Sabbath I want us all to share!
Learning to love to learn again...and again :),
><> Pastor Will <><