MONDAY MORNING REFLECTIONS - BACK TO SCHOOL PREPARATIONS

BY STEVE DUNN

I have been in the ministry for 45 years--starting as a youth pastor back in 1971.  Since 2008, I have added teaching graduate students in a seminary to my resume.  Since last January I have added teaching history to high school students from Korea to my professional mix. I am about to do both again. Monday Morning Reflections this week is late because I am busy completing syllabi, lesson plans and initial lessons for high schools kids (9th, 10th and 11th graders) and seminarians (only God knows some of their ages and it would be ecclesiastically/politically incorrect to ask).  High school starts next Monday, seminary two weeks later.

At this moment I am firmly reminded of the words of Solomon, an ancient wise man of centuries ago:

As they say in my profession: "That'll preach."  And so far that is true just for the instructor.  It will soon be the lament of my students and their compatriots.

Yet as I wade through all the paperwork and other preparations, it is a labor of love.  It is also a critical endeavor.  Knowledge is the beginning of power and ignorance is not bliss, it is dangerous.

Education provides knowledge, but more than that--the discipline of learning and the accountability needed not only to get a good grade but to live life with competence, confidence, and significance.

Knowing the details of early American politics may not come into daily usefulness for all of my high schoolers, any more than the nuances of biblical interpretation for my seminarians.  But the process of learning with its requirement to live by standards of excellence and to use that learning with integrity are survival values for society and the Church.

I love my students too much to let them be wallow in ignorance, shackled by laziness, and handicapped by an uninformed life.  And I love our nation, our world, and the Kingdom of God not to do my part in educating.

So now--back to the preparations.  May they bear much fruit which will last.

© 2016 by Stephen L. Dunn.  You have permission to reprint this provided it is unchanged, proper authorship is cited, it is in a publication not for sale, and a link is provided to this site or to www.drstevedunn.com. For all other uses, contact Steve at sdunnpastor@gmail.com