What I really learned

Fuller people: this one goes out to you :-)

For the last day of my summer class, Presbyterian Creeds, we had to write a one page reflection paper completing the sentence "The one thing I've learned in this class that will impact my ministry most is..."  In typical me-fashion, I threw my paper together an hour before class, writing something kind of vague about studying the confessions and creeds of the PC(USA) as historical documents.  It wasn't insincere, but it also wasn't really the most important thing I learned, or the thing that will impact my ministry the most.  It was something else entirely.

First, a confession is in order: I came into this experience modeling inappropriately judgmental behavior.  It's no secret that my seminary falls pretty hard on one side of the ideological spectrum.  And while I may be one of the most theologically conservative people at my seminary, in general I fit in fairly well there.  Over the last few years, the environment I've been learning in has pushed my boundaries in really good ways, and I've grown tremendously there. 

All this to say: before this summer class, I prepped myself to go to what is, ideologically speaking, the "other" seminary, and to meet the "other" people who believed "other" things about various issues.  The first day of class, I listened for cues in the language used, watched for body language when certain topics were brought up, and inwardly scoffed at some of my classmates' comments.  Let's face it: I was being snotty.

I learned pretty quickly into that two week course, however, that in my effort to pay attention to what people thought about certain controversies, I was forgetting to pay attention to the people themselves.  And what a shame that would've been if I had never woken up.  Because the people I met in this "other" place were wonderful--they were welcoming, funny, dynamic, intelligent, faithful, and kind.  They showed me that, as God's children, we are all much more deep and complex than the opinion we express on one issue, or our ability (or inability) to support the party line.

So what was the most important thing I learned in this class, really?  The most important thing I learned in this class is that, if I want to live authentically as a child of God in community with my sisters and brothers, I have to get off of my ideological high horse and get to know my sisters and brothers for who they are in Christ before anything else.  And that doesn't mean I can't go to bat for the real issues that are important to me; but I think when we start by understanding who we are as children of God, together, it becomes a little easier to deal with the issues.  It makes us less desperate when we realize our salvation, and our Divine heritage, does not rise and fall with our stance on our modern day controversies.

I saw this sort of interaction modeled on the first day of class when my professor invited her mentor, a former PC(USA) Moderator, to speak to us about one particular issue.  He presented one side of the argument graciously and with a directness I admire.  My professor was honest in saying that she completely disagreed with her mentor--but she listened to him with love in her face, and at the end of the day they went to dinner together.  That, friends, is the sort of relationship which I think will keep this denomination alive.  That is the sort of denomination I am proud to be a part of.

So I owe one big thank you to my classmates at Fuller for waking me up to the biases I didn't even know I have, and reminding me of that one very important lesson: issues are important, but people should always come first.