Lenten Pedagogy -- part 2

Having authority carries with it its own spiritual dangers. Leading carries the temptation to forget our dependence on others. As a teacher, one can easily become accustomed to students doing what you say or agreeing with you because you control the grade.

We need a practice of self-confrontation. We need to confess our sins, remember who we are, and most importantly renew our dependence on the larger work of the kingdom of God. The classic disciplines of the Church—fasting, prayer, study, corporate worship, silence, service, and so on--when we engage in them, we do so not to punish ourselves in unhealthy ways, but so that we might better conform to the person of Jesus. Such practices are a call to holy exercise. As Paul says, “I discipline my body like an athlete, training it to do what it should. Otherwise, I fear that after preaching to others I myself might be disqualified.” There are, of course, good ways and bad ways to exercise.

Richard Swinburne has noted that in the Christian faith a Lenten principle is deeply pervasive. Human beings have trouble rightly ordering their desires; we take things that are good and turn them into idols. We hold on to what is simply ours to steward. We take too much of what should be shared. We hoard when only a little is needed. This is why scripture teaches that Christians must fast, give to those in need, and learn to suffer the little irritants of life. This is also why we at times may be called to endure the death of some of our most cherished dreams and desires. We must at times intentionally frustrate those desires because they influence us more than they should.

Even those things that are otherwise good can not always be indulged. We must enter the desert of the spirit so that we may receive the wellsprings of life. This is certainly true of the kind of discipline and decision-making that are necessary for effective study and scholarship. We limit part of ourselves, that is we consecrate ourselves in order to be changed by God, so that we may truly partake of all that is his.