The Teacher and Table Fellowship

  

Learning may occur in a variety of settings.  While classrooms appear to be the conventional locale, many great teachers rarely if ever stood behind a lectern or upon the platform of an auditorium. 

As I read through the Gospel accounts, especially Luke, I'm struck by the number of times that Jesus teaches while reclining at table with his disciples.  One might even conclude that he preferred setting for instruction and thoughtful conversation about truth was indeed during a shared meal.

Students and teachers eating together, not so much in formal arrangements but in more casual settings, provides excellent opportunities for the engagement of ideas through more relaxed dialogue.  It is not surprising then to find other teachers through the ages who have also taken the opportunity for table fellowship as a wonderful venue for enriching the learning experiences of their students.

Martin Luther's kitchen table

Among my model teachers, Luther stands out as one, who through the gracious hospitality of his wife Katharina, regularly extended invitations to his students for discussions around his kitchen table. I've said on more than one occasion that when my students start bringing note pads to discussions we have during meals I will then regard myself as teacher worthy of being heard.

Having the opportunity to share a meal with my students and the good conversation that surrounds the table are clearly some of the most delightful blessings of teaching at a residential university.  In fact, I'm beginning to realize how very important such times of relaxed conversation are for my students.  They need to see and hear me in the totality of life -- not just in the formal setting of a lecture hall.

Paul followed Jesus example in this regard.  He could write to those he had taught, "What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me -- practice these things, and the God of peace with be with you." (Philippians 4:9).  Students rarely "see" in the classroom what their teachers are saying.  Rather, it is when students encounter their teacher in the fullness of life's experiences that they have the opportunity to see if what their teacher has taught is in fact practiced in his life.

I hope that my students here at Handong will be able to see whether that is true for me.  One of my favorite things is to invite several students out for a meal off campus. The student cafeteria at the university is called "Twelve Baskets" and I've been told that's because there are always at least twelve baskets of leftovers after every meal.  So, as you might expect, I don't have any problem gathering a crew to enjoy a Sunday lunch at "Mr. Big" -- the newest place to taste a hamburger in Pohang.

Each shared meal -- whether with many or just one or two -- provides a wonderful occasion for students and teacher to get to know one another better and talk more freely about those persistent questions of life.  Maybe one day, a careful listener within our happy fellowship will publish the Handong edition of "Table Talk."

Playing the Fool

I'm always trying to engage my students through new approaches that I hope will prompt them to examine different perspectives on the persistent questions of life.

So, this past Friday I thought I might take a slightly different approach to April Fool's Day.  I came to class dressed in a brown Franciscan-like habit and without my glasses or shoes (and sockless, too!).

To say my students were taken aback would be putting it somewhat mildly.  Now, you have to understand that in Asian culture in general (and Korean culture in particular), students are taught to accept what their teachers present to them.  That being said, many were still trying hard to suppress their laughter.  Has professor gone completely crazy?  Has separation from his wife and family driven him mad?  Does he really think that he has become a monk?

None of those questions were expressly stated, but you can be sure most of them were puzzling more than one student's mind.  So what was the point of this first of April performance?  I wanted to do for my new students at Handong what I had first done for students at Missouri Baptist University seven years ago on another April Fool's Day.  In the attire of a follower of Francis of Assisi, I told them his story and how he came to be known as Francis the Fool.

I had been assigned the responsibility of giving the message for the student chapel service at MBU on the first of April.  Earlier that year, I had read G.K. Chesterton's Life of St. Francis.  Chesterton's portrayal of Francis challenged me to think more deeply about what it means to follow Jesus fully.  Francis sought to live as Jesus lived and to love as Jesus loved.  He reached out and touched the leper just as Christ had done.  He left behind the wealth and security offered him by his family in order to find the fullness of life as he took seriously Christ's teaching to consider the birds of the air and the flowers of the field.

Having been so challenged by Francis' life, it was quite obvious to me that I was meant to tell his story in that chapel service on the first of April seven years ago.  I thought it would make a more memorable impression if I told the story as Francis himself.  So, now here at Handong, I wanted to continue the tradition and pass along the lessons from the life of the one who was called "Francis the Fool" -- a name that I'm sure he did not resent since he was seeking to follow the one who many had regarded as "God's own Fool."

Evidently that chapel message seven years ago was memorable.  When one of my Handong student's posted the picture above to facebook during our Friday morning class, one of my former students from MBU, who was on-line at the time, commented within minutes: "I remember that robe!"  I guess, playing the fool can sometimes be an effective means of teaching.