You Have To Be There!

Will and his Mom!

My son Will leaves after school this afternoon (but not until after 3 PM; spies will be watching to make sure they don't leave a minute too early!) for a band trip to our nation's capital with about 90 other students and their adult leaders, and he is very excited about the all night bus ride (just kidding) and the great itinerary planned for them while in DC.  But the trip was almost sabotaged by some Hillsborough County School Board member.  In their infinite wisdom, someone denied the request to miss two days of school for the trip, saying they were only allowed one approved day.  So everything had to be re-arranged, almost derailing the trip.  The thought process of some educational administrators never ceases to amaze me.  Someone actually thought- worse yet, actually believed- that being in classrooms 2 days before the start of Spring Break would be more important to the learning process of high school students than time spent in Washington, DC.  Some extra-intelligent administrator with a master's degree in education felt that hours spent in class daydreaming about spending next week at the beach would be more useful to the student's education than being on a tour of the White House (which they will be one of the last groups to do tomorrow thanks to the current "sequestration") or the Capitol building.  Missing a day of Spanish 2 could never be replaced by time spent at the Smithsonian Museums.  One more history lecture could make a bigger difference than participating in the ceremonial "Laying of the Wreath" at Arlington National Cemetery (which they are doing) or visiting the Holocaust Museum, the Vietnam Memorial or Mount Vernon. Since NONE of that makes any sense, I am left to assume that it was calculated that missing one extra day of school would somehow negatively impact the be-all, end-all of education in USAmerica today- the almighty test scores. Thanks to hard work and good leadership, they are still getting to do all of those things, giving up an extra day of their Spring Break so that they can experience the REAL education of seeing DC. But that ridiculous decision could have ruined it all.  You can talk about history, civics and national pride all you want, but nothing educates like actually being part of it all.  We learn so much more through experience than any other teaching method.  I am so glad Will gets to go, because just hearing about life doesn't work. You have to be there!

The same is true when it comes to our faith.  The church often acts like we believe that people can be educated into the presence of God.  We offer so many classes and spend hours debating theology and biblical interpretation. But if we really read those bibles we take classes to be told about, we will notice a trend.  No one is educated into God's presence.  It must be experienced!  Great church leaders like Peter, Paul, Martin Luther, John Wesley and George Fox were all changed by encountering Jesus, not by reading about him.  Certainly learning helps us to experience the wonders of the almighty, and often prepares us to see God in new ways. But if we "stay in the classroom" of faith, we are missing the point.  Jesus says to "follow me."  To "love one another."  To "feed his sheep."  These are all actions.  The heavily educated church leaders of biblical times were called Pharisees- or the "brood of vipers" as Jesus referred to them. Is that how we want to end up- with lots of knowledge of the law but with no concept of grace in action?  There is an old Quaker saying about going to church.  When someone asks, "When does the service start?" the correct answer is, "When we walk out the front door!"  To discover the Holy Spirit at work in the world you can't just talk about it.  You have to be there!

So by all means, today you should do your daily Bible reading and take time to pray.  You should contemplate the things of God and what He requires of you and your life.  But don't miss an opportunity to get out there and DO in the name of Jesus!  You can encounter God in random acts of kindness and love in whole new ways.  Don't miss out.

Because of Jesus,