In As Much As

The first time I taught the class was in the Spring Semester, 1995 and it was called Christian Doctrine. I’ve taught the class every spring since that time, and occasionally in summer school. Over the years the name of the course has changed, first to Biblical Theology, and in its most recent catalog appearance, Theological Foundations for the Christian Life.

 I had a part in the current title for the course, because I believe that doctrine, theology, or whatever we want to call it, can’t merely be another academic check off on the path towards graduation. Theology that doesn’t express itself in life-changing realities might as well be left untaught. In fact it would probably be best if left untaught!

But the name of the course isn’t the only change for that course. When I first taught it, a part of the course requirements was to write a paper on a particular theological topic. To do well on that paper, a student had to do a lot of research on a particular topic, analyze the research in view of biblical testimony, and turn in a well written paper. While none of that is a bad thing to do, for some reason I kept having this sense of dissatisfaction with the assignment. I’m not sure if it was the fact that many students weren’t able to write to please me or reading that many papers was a burdensome chore I wanted to avoid.

The reality is, and I hope I’m not rationalizing my way around the burdensome nature of reading term papers, that something else bothered me about that assignment. I just couldn’t convince myself that the greatest need for a student in his or her first formal study of theology was to be able to write a detailed paper about a particular topic. Every topic we cover in the class is imbedded in the idea that it isn’t really theology until it begins to change who we are and how we live.

For at least five years now, students are put in groups, and groups are required to do what I call a Theology in Life Project. The description of the project includes things like it can’t be done in a local church (that is too easy, I’m not opposed to the local church), it has to take the group outside of normal comfort zones, and the group has to tie the project itself to something we have learned in class.

A part of the preparation for the project is that students have to read from Authentic Christianity, a collection of quotes, essays, etc. from John Stott. The section they read is “Christian Thinking on Social Issues,” where Stott argues that words are abstract, and must be embodied in acts of love. In other words, “real theology” isn’t just learning a dozen reasons why God is God, but actually finding a way to put what we know about God into action.

This morning was group report day for this spring’s class. On their evaluation forms, the class (a total of 33 people) reported investing more than 320 hours in their projects. They did amazing things. One group spent the night outside a homeless area in Atlanta, “just listening.” Another group spent an entire Saturday working at Hope House in Union City with special needs children, while another group spent an afternoon “getting dirty hands” working in the landscaping at Hope House. Another group spent hours and a good bit of their own money making the Point University football team understand that they were indeed a part of the Christian community. Another group did a shoe drive for Atlanta Mission, only to discover when they went to deliver a truck load of shoes, that their help was needed in the nursery, where, as one of the team members said, two overgrown boys “had to put on their nurturing skills” in taking care of small children.

Still another group put on a cook-out and game time in a needy East Point neighborhood, where one lady said, “I walked into a blessing.” A group of four ladies spent an afternoon working in a nursing home near Greenbriar Mall. These ladies were motivated to do this project by Stott’s suggestion of the need for “uncomplicated compassion.”

We ran out of time and still have two groups to report next Tuesday – but I’ve already looked at their written reports, and I know we will hear two more excellent reports from teams who took theology seriously.

All the groups did great things, but those great things are probably not the most important part of the activities. Without exception, groups hinted at or plainly said that their own lives were impacted by what they did. A group that worked with special needs children for a whole Saturday reported that they discovered “how easy it was to love children they once would have likely avoided.” The group who spent the night on the streets of Atlanta “listening” said they realize now better than ever what it means to say all humans are created in the image of God. Another group told us “if you’re serving in your comfort zone, you miss the point.” Still a different group reported that they better understand how “heaven sometimes overlaps earth.”

For me, “heaven was overlapping earth” big time in our class this morning!

I know that Point University isn’t populated by perfect little Christians who always make the right decisions and whose behavior never needs to be addressed. My role here means that I sometimes see the underbelly that isn’t always what it should be. But that’s always been true. In fact, in a letter written by President Redmon on March 27, 1968, he said, “I am sure you are aware that there have been some very unfortunate happenings among our students recently. Some have broken college rules and have engaged in conduct unbecoming Christians.” I have probably written a few notes like that myself during the current academic year, and unless the Lord reappears before next year, will probably need to write a few like that next year.

The folks who always want to be critical of young Christian adults and Point University will always focus on “some very unfortunate happenings.” There isn’t much I can do about that. But had you been sitting in my class this morning, listening to these young Christian adults describe not only what they did but what God did in their lives, then I’m thinking it might be just a little harder to be so negative about young Christians!

I love being in those moments where “heaven overlaps earth!” Hard to be critical of that! Jesus would likely say, “In as much as you have done it to the least of these . . .”