Math. I hated it. In fact, when I graduated, I thought I would put mathematics behind me once and for all. I recall, with joy, my final sessions of algebra, geometry and all their inbred cousins. I slowly raised my body from the 'once size fits all' metal desk, adopted an arrogant 'I am finished with you' smirk, strolled past my teacher, through the doorway, into the hallway to my long anticipated math free adult life. Yes I had found it: FREEDOM.
My smirk said it all - 'no more math for me!'
Now, over 20 years later I have come to realize something: I was wrong! There is no such thing as a math free life. Math always seems to find you. He haunts you like a bad habit you believed to be broken or a horrible memory you had hoped was shaken. Just when you thought you were free you find that daily living requires mathematics.
Yes. Daily life requires math. There are the basics of adding and subtracting: 'where did all my money go?' There are the basics of computing and percentages: 'how much should I tip?' And then there is, of course, parenting math: 'dad, there are only two waffles left. How do we split them between the three of us.' To which I reply, 'child, you don't - I get them all.' Parenting math, however, goes beyond stealing waffles or anything else my prophetic teachers could have seen those long years ago. Parenting math means you have to live through mathematics purgatory (a state of existence in which no amount of prayers provide deliverance) all over again through the homework your children are given to complete. It is best if you learn it the first time, because by the time you are my age learning it comes with no small amount of the sacrificial 'blood, sweat and tears' offering - not to mention bartering and trading with the mathematics gatekeepers in the hopes that s/he will show mercy.
Yes in my home we often lament the far too familiar: hi - ho, hi -ho, it's off the math cliff we go . . . .
Funny thing. When I assist my children in scaling this math cliff I find that I get most of the answer right. You would think that is enough! But noooo, you not only have to get the correct answer, you have to show how you got your answer. Further the process (pathway to your answer) MUST be the process they (the mathematics gatekeepers) have taught - it must be their way. The final wrinkle in this convoluted mess is this: there is no partial credit. One would think that, in a discipline as specific and value free as mathematics, partial credit would be in high demand. Not the case. As we have found in our home time and time again, on more than one returned homework assignment: Partially Correct is Completely Wrong (usually accompanied by some silly smiley face - not sure when teachers decided that if you put a goofy smiley face next to your comments you can write anything you want to write).
And, though I remain frustrated with math, I have come to value the truth it teaches. There is indeed a way to get something partly right and to be wholly wrong at the same time. In today's expression of Christianity we live and breath in the world of 'partial credit,' failing to realize that we are wholly wrong.
Take for example our modern 'privatization of the faith.' I call it the 'just Jesus and me' Idol (yes, it's idolatry). Ask any Christian today about their faith and they will speak in wholly personal terms. One of the truths I have come to learn in my desire to be formed into the image of Christ and to bear witness to His rule in our world is this: Spiritual formation, though personal, is never private (in contrast with the pervasive and fatally flawed American Christian Mantra: "It's just Jesus and me"). Don't hear what I am not saying . . . God is wholly concerned about the person. After all, He created us as persons. However, in any expression of religious growth, particularly Christian, you cannot find an emphasis on the person above the community. In fact, as one reads the Scriptures, you find that the person grows in AND ONLY in community. The pronouns utilized are rarely, if ever, singular - they are always plural and considered within the context of a local and vibrant community of faith.
So, yes, we get it partially right: God cares about the individual. And, we get it entirely wrong because God is opposed to individualism. In all likely hood our break from a community of faith or our lack of commitment to one is a reflection on our own idolatry rather than our own freedom. No, we are not being more Christian we we exclaim, 'it's just Jesus and me' - rather, we are simply being more American. To become more Christian requires active and sacrificial participation in a local community of believers that gathers weekly to worship God and bear witness to His rule in this world.
I have included a link to an article that highlights the hope of our own spiritual growth and grants further insight into the church's role in that growth. I encourage you to take a few minutes and read it . . . : http://www.reformedworship.org/article/march-2012/sanctification-ordinary-life
the shape of desire!
Biz
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