A Lifelong Lifestyle of Learning
“Keep doing the things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, and the God of peace will be with you.” Philippians 4:9, NRSV
As August dawns and families like mine are beginning preparations for another soon-to-begin school year, I recall the time in my life when I thought I knew pretty much everything I needed to learn. Parents, what did they know! Those of different opinions, ignorant! Perhaps you can recall a similar period of time in your life too.
What I didn’t realize at the time was how much more there is to learn outside of the academic bubble, learning through new experiences in life related to changing social dynamics, moving to a new community, meeting new people, new cultures, emerging academic research, and more. I remember leaving the hospital after welcoming our first-born, looking at him in the car seat, and thinking, “I’m not sure I can do this! I don’t know what I’m doing!” Turns out, those parents of mine who didn’t know anything, knew a lot more than I thought.
Early Christians were learning too, as they explored what it meant to be a Jesus follower in their day and age. The world was a complex place then, just as it is now, and discovering how to live, work, worship, and play faithfully was a real challenge. Believers struggled to learn what worked and what didn’t when it came to worship life, hospitality, the sometimes-blurred lines between civic duty and faithful living. Some thought they should continue with old patterns of worship and rigid pious lives separated from the mainstream, while others advocated for throwing the old ways right out the window and implementing current reforms that made a life of faith more accessible. The apostle Paul in his letter to the Christians in Philippi commended the community in their learning and encouraged them to apply it.
We are called to a lifelong lifestyle of learning as Jesus followers too, to keep from falling into the old trap of believing we’ve learned everything there is to learn. This doesn’t mean you have to go to Seminary, enroll in a 20-week Bible study, or schedule sessions with the pastor (which your pastor would love to do by the way!) Much of what we have to learn is all around us every day, and we have opportunities at Hope to engage learning through Circle Bible Studies, Adult Education, and amidst all aspects of our life
together. Below are four tips on how to more
intentionally prepare our minds and our hearts to learn more about our faith and this life we’ve been given in a dynamic and ever-changing world.
1. Prepare to listen to, read, and contemplate opinions counter to your own, with openness. This doesn’t mean you have to agree but commit to an honest attempt to consider something new.
2. Evaluate new ideas, concepts, and learning against tradition - or what you already believe to be right/true. This could include looking to scripture, visiting with a pastor, or talking with the community about it.
3. Consider your source(s). With so much information available to us today, it can be hard to know what is dependable, true, or has passed rigor. Source information from various places, knowing the gifts and dangers of digital information. Google can find the Lutheran Confessions, look up bible verses by theme, and find summaries of the church’s best Theologians. Google can also find the musings of hate-driven white-supremacists dressed up to sound like Biblical doctrine.
4. Be curious about the world and people around you. Wonder about the natural world, ask more questions than asserting your own answers, and spend time pondering what you’ve experienced.
Pastor Matt