In the courtroom...

As another week draws to a close, with it come many lessons learnt. Lessons which at the time seem far from easy, yet they are lessons none the less, lessons which are important and valuable if progress is to made in the classroom of life. Thankfully, knowing that there is a teacher of the highest credentials behind the scenes, the Omnipotent Lord of the universe, makes the lessons that little bit easier to fathom. From my limited experience of teaching, the students rarely enjoy the more challenging lessons. If they had there way, they would opt for games every time! However, when you think about it, if they played games every week, would they make any progress in their English? Probably not. More often than not, if progress is to made, hard work is required.

The lesson I have been learning is that of 'decision resting'. Making a decision about something and then resting in that decision. Not wriggling it around in my head, thinking should I have done this, or should I have done that, but resting with the decision made. What is this decision I hear you ask?

The context involves classroom discipline. One of my classes, lovely though they are, do require a little bit more control when it comes to the classroom. I've been rocking my brain thinking how to do this as past attempts have proven futile.

Over the weekend, it seemed I had created the ideal behaviour strategy and so there I was cometh the hour ready to implement my new found tactics. Things were going well, and the strategy not only seemed to be helping the students manage their behaviour, but also gave me clearer control in policing my classroom expectations. Until 15 minutes to the end that is. One student stepped over the mark and so I made the decision to implement the consequence of such an action. Thinking this fair and reasonable, it was very clear however that his response to my decision was emotional. As I explained post-lesson my reason for issuing him a warning, his tears made it quite evident that he felt hard done by. I then heard his side of the story and found myself beginning to question my decision. Yet, upon reflection, regardless of tears, regardless of my wavering popularity with this child, he must learn that he is responsible for his actions. Every choice brings with it a consequence.

Coincidently, I am currently watching the TV series Judge John Deed. I say coincidently because I really find it amazing how the High Court Judge finds rest in his decisions (far more weightier than mine). His reasoning is that there is a law to uphold, and he is just as subject to this law as anyone else. Perhaps in some ways there is a comparison to be found. In my classroom there is a law to uphold, expectations I have set on how the students must behave. I am just as subject to this as the students. More so, because when they fail and fall short of these expectations, I am the one who passes judgement. As soon as I allow my concern for self-preservation, popularity and desire to please direct these judgements, the whole process collapses. Fairness and consistency is key!

In light of my personality type (INFJ) such incidents of conflict in decision making is something that intuitively puts me at unease. However, I am thankful for opportunities to grow in this area, and learn how to above all be an instrument of change in the lives of my students. Yes, they may feel hard done by, yes, they may prefer to just have it there own way, but my prayer is that in the future they will thank me for staying the course, and holding the line. Time will only tell.

I am reminded of how in the gospel we see another courtroom at work. Our sin means that we do not and cannot follow the expectations God has laid before us in His Law. All of us fall short of God's standards, unable to fulfil the Law set before us. Thanks be to God that there is one who has obeyed the Law perfectly - Jesus Christ.   

And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by cancelling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.
                                                                                                        Colossians 2:13-14    

We were dead because of the record of debt that stood against us due to our failure to meet the expectations of God's Law. Jesus - not only met these expectations by living a perfect life, he took upon himself our record of debt, accepting the consequence we deserve - death. And now, the verdict is in - not guilty! Our debt has been paid, we are free!

In an article by Paul Blackham, he comments on the cross of Christ saying:

The Cross shows us how Divine sovereignty and human responsibility collide.  Whereas the human wicked intention was to destroy the Author of Life, yet our Gracious Father’s intention was to freely save humanity… even the very people who nailed Jesus to the Cross.

The sovereign power of God, then, did not over-rule the injustice of the Cross.  Rather, precisely through the injustice of the Cross, another work of injustice was accomplished… the salvation of people who deserve only Hell.

Hallelujah what a Saviour!

Nes... I mean yes...

After completing my weekly supermarket trip with a record breaking basket total of 20 euros, I decided that a short visit to Lykavittos was needed to again seek more peaceful surroundings. As you can seek from the picture above, it is an ideal location for the three R's of - reading, resting and relaxing. I was thankful for a much better end to the week, and had a particularly fun time with my final class on Friday. I have some delightful classes which thankfully make up for the more trickier ones. However, I remain determined as ever to persevere with the students. There have been notable improvements in some of the children I teach which is very encouraging.

Tonight, I again joined the Albanian fellowship for another service. Over the weeks I have enjoyed getting to know some of the people at the church, and although there are a few language difficulties, we seem to get by. I am thankful that my Greek is now at the level that I can at least attempt to engage in conversation. I found myself tonight learning a few Albanian words which I have now totally forgotten of course.

I have found that when you are learning another language, bits of other languages (and even your native language) gets squeezed out or jumbled up. On many occasions I find myself saying - "nes" - a combination of - yes and nai (Greek). The other day I tried to remember some of my GCSE French, completely failed - δεν πειράζει - I mean, never mind!

It has been very encouraging to visit and even participate in the services of the Albanian church. I am discovering the wonderful and glorious truth that Jesus is indeed Lord of all!




Music practice before the service

After service meal!

Crossing cultures - and roads...

As another week passes and a new one begins, I thought I'd write a blog-entry that best sums up the past 7 or so days. It has been a fairly 'normal' week although there have been one or two testing moments which as always, prove fertile ground in the field of every day life. It is of course what you sow in those moments that determines what you reap. In short, I appear to be moving in and out of one of the many phases of culture shock. This particular phase is not a good one, but it is an important one to go through in the movement towards accepting the surrounding culture (which probably never happens). At the moment I experience days when the prevailing culture around me grinds a little harder than it did when I first arrived in Greece. Since arriving in Athens, I've always noticed the differences between the British culture I so happened to be immersed in, and the Greek culture which is, well, to put it plainly, as un-British as you can get.

One of the many orange trees that line
the streets of Athens.

There are lots of things about the Greek culture that are worth celebrating, for instance the openness and expression of emotion that my stiff-upper lip finds a little unnerving from time to time. Although if I'm honest, my upper lip has never really been that stiff. On occasion, I've been rather concerned that an argument is about to break out only to discover that the couple in question are simply having a conversation. One of the most valuable things I am learning from all this can be summed up in four words - it's not about you.

In fact, these four words probably sum up what I've been learning these past six months and no doubt will continue to be the lesson God impresses upon my heart. I think that when you've become so used to a particular way of doing things, you begin to think that it is the only way to do it. An inevitable consequence of crossing cultures is coming face to face with the reality that this just isn't true. For instance, take crossing the road. Cars are meant to stop at zebra crossings right? Not in Greece. No, you have to wait for an opportune moment and then make a break for it.

And I'm sure someone said to me once "Wait for the little green man and then it's safe to cross" - not in Greece. OK these are trivial examples and partly in jest but you're beginning to see the picture. As my inherent British-ness is increasingly brought to the surface, I am gifted with an ideal opportunity to engage more intensely with the differing surrounding culture. I'm learning that I can respond to these moments in one of two ways - separation or embrace. The former is a much more natural response and one that I definitely sway towards when feeling culturally overloaded. Like a hermit crab, the only thing you feel like doing is retreating back into the shell of familiarity. Comfortable yes, but productive no. The other option is to embrace the culturally clashing moment and in doing so open up not only opportunities to learn from that moment, but opportunities to grow.   

To offer some kind of summary, the key I think that is needed if the culturally challenged person is to have any success in unlocking something positive from their experience, is the key of humility. I was reading this morning from Ephesians 5:1-2 when Paul writes a challenging exhortation to the Christians in Ephesus saying:

Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

Be imitators of God! You sometimes hear people say of a child 'He's just like his father' or words to that effect. As beloved children of God what a high calling it is to be like God. How can we do it?How does someone imitate God? They walk in love, and the model for such love is Christ himself. And so I was comforted this morning and reminded that when testing moments arise, which undoubtedly they will, by God's grace I can look to Christ. Who humbled himself becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross. Such self sacrificial love must be the seed sown if anything good is to be reaped. I heard it once put like this - my desire to love must outweigh my desire to be loved.

The giant jigsaw puzzle of life...

It has been an up and down week mostly due to tiredness, however in all of this there are, as always, many things to be thankful for. I enjoyed another joyful time with the Albanian fellowship last night. A group of about 20 or so meet every Saturday evening to worship God through prayer, song and the word. Last night, I felt quite at home behind the piano joining in with the Albanian style songs. It was great fun and there was a real sense of joy as we sang praise to God. The evening ended with a meal and I hope to be able to join them most Saturday's God-willing. I have found a picture which is not recent (early Feb) but will give you an idea of the fellowship and the place we meet.

Give thanks for how the Lord has brought this group of people together and pray for their pastor Artur as he teaches them and seeks to lead them in following Christ.

One of the most humbling things I am experiencing at the moment is the realisation that God's plans are vast and mighty. So often I become overly preoccupied with questioning God saying - what are you doing in my life? In this, I am forgetting that God is never working in just one person's life. Earlier today I listened to a sermon by Sinclair Ferguson on the subject of the providence of God. He mentions that more often than not, what God is doing in our life is far more significant for the lives of others.

He likens life to that of a giant jigsaw puzzle. We just cannot make sense of all the little pieces. How true it is that in the majority of our circumstances we simply do not know what God is doing. I don't do many jigsaw puzzles, but as Ferguson points out, a helpful starting point in an attempt to complete the puzzle is to put in place the corner pieces. So it is with the jigsaw of life. Although we cannot see the final picture, the corner pieces help to frame the picture God is piecing together in our lives.

The four corner pieces he mentions are:

1. God is constantly working together a variety of circumstances.

2. God is simultaneously working in a variety of people.

3. God is persistently working towards a variety of goals.

4. God is working unfailingly to bring glory to His Son.

Without hearing the sermon these four points may seem hard to apply so if you're interested in listening to it you can find it at - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1CcPc1Q0mYY 

Cats - reflections...

On Saturday, I enjoyed an evening at the theatre to watch the rather feline-tastic musical cats. It really was an amazing performance and as someone who loves musicals, I was left in awe at the genius of The Lord Lloyd-Webber. I much prefer the sound of the cats in this production to the ones that hang out around my apartment block! As we departed the theatre, I was in one of those reflective moods. I get these a lot. In fact, ever since that day when I was 5 and decided to bite into one of the hardback books in my school library losing a tooth in the process. Upon reflection, that wasn't such a good idea. Anyway, back to Cats.

I strongly believe that the gospel of Jesus Christ not only makes sense of life, but also deals with some of the deepest longings in the human experience. I don't know if it was Lloyd-Webber's intention, but some of the deep questions of life seemed to come out of the songs. I understand the lyrics were not his bag, but no doubt he would have wanted to convey some kind of message through his production, wouldn't he? Do correct me if I've read too much into this - as is often the case. 

Three things that so often mark our daily lives is the search for meaning, the search for hope and the search for identity. What am I here for? Where am I heading? Who am I? are all big questions that I think everyone asks at some stage of life. Here then is my thought, many of the cats seem to be filled with either a longing for what was, or a search for what could be. First, there is Gus the theatre cat. He is singing about the past and at the heart of his song, is that moment when he made history, or so he thought. The actor did an amazing job at showing his sadness as he clings to that nostalgic moment that seemed to make such sense of life. A moment he now replays in his mind over and over again. Are we not the same at times? Searching for meaning, hope and identity in times past.

Then there is Rum Tum Tugger. Probably one of my favourite songs in the musical. Yet this cats obvious dissatisfaction and me-at-the-centre of everything approach to life speaks volumes about our society today. Moving from one experience to another, constantly in two minds, never quite finding the satisfaction that is so craved. For him, the search for meaning, hope and identity is very much a search within. As the M-people once famously put it you've got to - search for the hero inside yourself, until you find the key to your life. However if we are honest, moving from one high to another only leaves us feeling empty and simply wanting more. Not only is this sad, but what a burden such a me-istic approach to life lays on our society. 

Finally, in probably the most memorable and famous song (pun intended) of the musical is 'memory' sung by Grizabella. I think it was one of the lines in this song that prompted me to want to write this blog. Actually, it was an entire verse, here it is:

 

Memory
All alone in the moonlight
I can smile at the old days
I was beautiful then
I remember the time I knew what happiness was
Let the memory live again 

Like Gus the theatre cat, she pines for what was. She clings to the memory of her former beauty, possibly the very source of her happiness. But more than that, this is her driving motivation in life. The hope that such a memory will live again. How sad. Perhaps as her body faded so did her very identity. Perhaps as the happiness departed so did her sense of meaning. Now, there is no hope, except that she may be chosen by the Jellicle cats leader and live again. I think the link that binds these three cats together, is the realisation that life is not only fleeting, but the very attempts in understanding such life has failed.                 

This is where the gospel of Jesus Christ so powerfully speaks. Jesus said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me" (John 14:6). Just reflect on the weight of this verse. You see, Gus, Rum Tum Tugger and Grizabella are left singing such tragic songs because they have been searching for life's meaning, hope and identity in all the wrong places. Don't we do the same? We conjure up in our minds tailor made lives that fit our agenda and at the centre aim to satisfy our needs and our longings. The perfect job, the successful career, the big bank balance, the ideal family and the list goes on. Please don't miss hear me, all these things are good in themselves, but they were never meant to be our life! 

The gospel tells us that there is a God who made us to know him. Wait, more than that, made us to have life in him alone. Yet we ignore him, reject his rule for our lives and choose to serve created things rather than serve the Creator. This is sin. But did you see - Jesus is our way back to the Father. Taking the punishment we deserve for our sin, at the cross Jesus opened up a way back to the Father. Then, rising from the dead to new life, we can be in no doubt that he is indeed the one. The search is over. No longer are we left in the dark, searching for meaning, hope and identity in the things around us. Meaning, hope and identity are not found in a place, they are found in a person - Jesus. 

I leave you with some extracts from the songs mentioned above and a recommendation to see Cats if you get the chance and like that kind of thing. It really was a fantastic production. I'm thankful for how it not only entertained me, but showed me once again the wonder and good news of the gospel. 
 

Gus - the theatre cat

And he says as he scratches himself with his claws
"Well, the theatre is certainly not what it was
These modern productions are all very well
But there's nothing to equal from what I hear tell
That moment of mystery when I made history
As Firefrorefiddle, the Fiend of the Fell"

"I once crossed the stage on a telegraph wire
To rescue a child when a house was on fire
And I think that I still can much better than most
Produce blood-curdling noises to bring on the ghost
And I once played Growltiger
Could do it again
Could do it again
Could do it again . . ."

Rum Tum Tugger

 

The Rum Tum Tugger is a curious cat

If you offer me pheasant I'd rather have grouse
If you put me in a house I would much prefer a flat
If you put me in a flat then I'd rather have a house
If you set me on a mouse then I only want a rat
If you set me on a rat then I'd rather chase a mouse

The Rum Tum Tugger is a curious cat
And there isn't any call for me to shout it
For he will do as he do do
And there's no doing anything about it!

 

 

Grizabella

 

Memory
All alone in the moonlight
I can smile at the old days
I was beautiful then
I remember the time I knew what happiness was
Let the memory live again