On my "real" blog, the issue about prayer in the schools was brought up and I thought I'd present my secret agent perspective here. I'm not against public prayers. I think it is important to pray together as families, as communities as the body. However, I think most our prayer work is done personally. We are the CEO's temple and we are to be a house of prayer and pray without ceasing. The privilege of us agents is to be able to communicate to the CEO anytime, anywhere. Schools can not take that away, nor can any institution. Rom.8- not life or death, not angels or demons, not anything in all creation can keep us from this transfer of love called prayer. What is at stake in the debate of prayer in the schools is public or communal prayer- and I agree that it should not be a part of school. Jesus taught us to beware of praying to be seen, on the street corners and to pray behind closed doors- this is the heart of the secret agent. But it is not a thing of being ashamed of the faith or of hiding. If we were in a muslim country, I would not like the schools to force my children to recite muslim prayers and I don't think it's fair that we should do the same just because we call ourselves a "christian" nation. To love people of other faiths would not be to force our religion or prayers on them. Furthermore forced prayer (as in someone praying for an assembly or sports team when EVERYONE is not an agreeing christian) as well as forced religion has always miserably failed. The best thing to bring a more christian atmosphere to the school would be the persecution of christians. Historically and currently in the world, the growing movements are where people are authentically loving and living as the Lover did through and despite persecution.And although I know that home-schooling is life giving in many instances, as a secret agent, we are purposeful about engaging culture. We don't want to shy away from the hurts, the pains, the "sins" and sinners, but become friends, especially to those who are having troubles, the misfit, the poor, the bully. These are the children who hurt the most and what a better place to find them and become a natural part of their lives than through school? If the kingdom belongs to our Christlike children, why take the kingdom livers out where their greatest influence could be?
I can't foresee our future, and I may totally change my mind when we get there, but as of now, I'm excitedly looking forward to the time when our kids are in the public school system. Excited for the people we will meet, parents and kids, excited about having them in our home or going with them on trips or helping them with studies. What if our kids classes started to experience community and love and sharing? What if we had clothes swaps and free tutoring and exciting activities that brought the kids together outside of class? Parties that included and made every child feel loved- like they belonged? What if they learned to serve others together, these kids of different cultures and backgrounds and socio-economic classes? I think it would look more and more like the kingdom and prayer would not be an issue- if you can or can't- it would be as natural as breathing. It would be a movement. It would change lives, the school and whole communities.
6 comments:
wow, great post!
i totally agree with your perspective concerning prayer in school and forced religion. scripture teaches us, "honor others above yourselves"...
i don't think american christians know anything about this, they demand their rights and demand that others swing about and heal to whenever we want to practice our religious forms regardless of the context! how is that honoring others?
scripture also says, "why not rather be wronged?" i don't get it when christians demand that they be treated just this way or that way... particularly christian customers! they tend to be the worst, just ask any waitress about the sunday noon crowd.
i also value your convictions concerning public schools...
i don't necessarily agree.
but i do value your passion for kingdom work in the schools and for letting AO1 and AO2 take part in kingdom work!
very refreshing!
peace
miller- thanks for your input and I would like to hear your take on public schools (here or in person)- and not to argue, but because I am really interested. We've had lots of friends home school and we will have to make a decision some day.
Personally, both as a "foreigner" and as one who firmly believes that my allegiance is to the Lover and Him only and that I am both a citizen of the world and a resident of heaven- I have a huge problem with pledging allegiance to any flag. Not sure how that will play out.
miller- thanks for your input and I would like to hear your take on public schools (here or in person)- and not to argue, but because I am really interested. We've had lots of friends home school and we will have to make a decision some day.
Personally, both as a "foreigner" and as one who firmly believes that my allegiance is to the Lover and Him only and that I am both a citizen of the world and a resident of heaven- I have a huge problem with pledging allegiance to any flag. Not sure how that will play out.
AW,
this is for us and we don't want to hold it out as good for anyone else! we have thoughtfully decided that this is best for our family for this season.
with that sincere disclaimer, we feel there are several problems with public schools that we want to avoid.
1st is that the state is not responsible for the education of our children. (again, this is our own personal view and i'm not making generalized statements here) we feel that it is our God given responsibility to take on this endeavor... the state has no vested interest in our children and the represent nothing more than a number to state.
2nd, we totally disapprove of the assembly line technique the state has chosen. it is boring and the average child is done trying by the third grade... they start learning to work the system. this teaching teaching technique is flawed in many ways, not the least of which is that it doesn't take into consideration the needs of individual children.
another disclaimer, public schools are not capable of taking the needs of every individual into consideration! we believe that is another good reason why we should be the ones to teach our children.
3rd, we believe that children are exposed to social ills far too early. for many children this is not avoidable due to the nature of this fallen world. however, we also believe that it is our responsibility to protect the innocence of our children until they are more mature. for instance, i don't want my kids having to make a decision about whether to look at pornography in the fourth or fifth grade. or whether they should say no to drugs, or pick on others because of their appearance or whatever...
we'd rather protect them from those decisions as long as we can ... until they are more mature.
the last thing i'll list here is that public schools don't value the things we value, nor do most of the attendees. friends and teachers and curricula can exert tremendous pressure on a child in terms of values. combined with the agenda of the state concerning societal change... i think the potential for disaster is too great for me to send our precious little ones into it.
but these are the things we see and in some cases public schools can't be avoided!
but we're going to as long as possible.
we feel very strongly about this but at the same time really wish to avoid judgementalism in any way. the good thing about this time and this place is that we are still free to raise our families as we think best! but for how long...
Agent Wife, just wondering-- what about student-led prayers (prayer groups before classes, "see you at the pole" and that sort of thing, a la James Dobson?
Miller- thanks for sharing, that certainly makes sense and sounds like a great God-vision for you and your family. That's one thing I love about the body, we can do it different and it's ok and even good, because it brings out all the fabulous flavorful sides of the Lover.
Mark- I totally think student-led prayers and initiatives are life giving, especially when done in love. I think the schools need prayer, from home and on-site, but that means we don't get riled either if a muslim group wants a club and prays also. I also think it's important for it to be voluntary. I think where a lot of the debates on prayer in the schools and the ten commandments being posted are just a religious reaction to change.
Instead of fighting over these issues, if we infiltrated the schools with love: programs to help kids and families and foster a community spirit, there would be true repentance and the infectious love of Jesus would bring "Christian values" to the schools because people would be impacted by Christ's love.
Post a Comment