History

Stories of main characters:

Reverend William Youngdahl moved from an integrated Lutheran church in New Jersey to an all-white congregation, Augstana, in Omaha, Nebraska. He is more progressive than his congregation and wants to try a very limited attempt at social integration of blacks from the black Hope Lutheran Church in the same city. After being their pastor only a year, he is trying to lead his congregation more quickly than he has prepared them or heard them out. One group member stated–what was frustrating to watch was how “his great idea” was handed down in a Palmer-Model-1 way (subject to expert to amateurs) to the council, rather than watching the ground for the seeds that had germinated and allowing the people of the congregation to own it, or better yet, demand it.

Ernie Chambers, is a black nationalist barber on the black side of town who interacts with the white Christians and challenges their motives for integration as white condescension. He is very good at dialoguing and challenging assumptions.

Church council member Ray Christiansen experiences conversion from his separatist attitude and fear of dividing the congregation and becomes an advocate for civil rights. He sees the urgent need for racial integration and tries to move the other council members toward social justice.

The stories are of white Americans who are not comfortable with black Americans because of the history that they grew up with- thinking that black Americans are different or inferior. We also have black Americans who have bad feelings toward white Americans due to a history of slavery, inequality, and poor treatment. We have white and black church leaders who want to see past the history that is influencing these groups and look toward the future focusing on the gospel of Jesus and the command to love our neighbors. The history within individual persons, families, the church as a whole, and the history of the country and it’s political and moral issues are all connected to this context. The stories do conflict, in fact that is what the video is largely about.

Learning that emerges from the history could be negative if we continued to allow the history to teach inequality and racism. The educational leader would want to challenge the learning based on this history as the religious leaders in the film are trying to do.

This video struck one group member with the tension between Pastor Bill’s understanding of his prophetic role and his place as one among a larger community in which God is also moving. This is a gathered people of God, no less than their counterparts at Calvin Presbyterian, despite their dehumanizing characterization at one point as being certain “types of people.” Perhaps Augustana Lutheran needed the crisis to move forward, or perhaps there may have been alternate approaches to leadership.

This video could help teachers to reveal Jesus Christ’s teaching to love our neighbors as ourselves. It could intend to foster conversion in the hearts of those who are racist or prejudice. Religious experience is shown as being understood as something that is exclusive and unaccepting of differences. The goal of this curriculum could be to show a group or individual it’s incorrect or negative ways. This video is educating toward a view of society as equal and integrated.

Most important learning goals- love your neighbor as yourself…all are our neighbors…be hospitable and welcoming to all. one of the most important things that we should be doing as leaders of the Church is to try to bridge gaps, bridge hurts and discriminations.

Our group discussed the statement of Christ’s about removing the logs from our own eyes before removing everyone elses. Christianity has many logs. The first is against one another. Where in the film we witnessed racial discriminations, typical of the time period, within the church we also noticed that today we are dealing with denominational discriminations. This denominal discriminations causes such a disconnect for people that Christianity comes off as hypocritcal. We need to remember that we are all Christians and that as Christians we are called by Christ to love one another. History has already taught us that discrimination, hate, and distance only harms us. We need to learn from history or we are doomed to repeat it.

Group 1: History – Our Daily Bread
Our group was particularly intrigued by the history of the family in the video meditation. Since dialogue was sparse throughout the film, we as audience members had to infer much about their history in terms of traditions, background, heritage, and current history. The skill and ease with which they navigated the farmland showed us that they have farmed for a while, and we assumed that it was generational occupation since the work was tended by everyone from the young teenager to the graying matriarch.
While the first portion of the film was narrated by Spanish, when the young teenagers cleaned up and went into town for ice cream, they spoke English. Kari noted that the trip to town for ice cream on Saturday may be a new ritual they have picked up since moving to Michigan. We wondered as a group how the family’s narrative was affected by their relocating to Michigan. What does their current story/present history look like? How does it differ with what they experienced before the relocation?
Stephanie directed our conversation to the role of churches in established communities in connecting with people and groups from other cultures. Stephanie wrote, “The church is to welcome all people with open arms and show Christ’s love to all. Does the church really do this?”

We discussed how difficult it can be, especially for established rural communities in the Midwest, to open themselves to immigrant populations. It’s difficult for more traditional churches to face change, and it’s difficult for smaller ethnic groups to know how to integrate themselves into such established communities. Kevin noted how the video meditation helped him see how hard migrant workers are really working to integrate, which dispels the myth that they’re not trying to integrate.
Kari noted that integration might not be as difficult a task as we think. She noted that there are strong parallels between our own Norwegian (and Swedish) American Lutheran roots and Mexican culture. For example, as Maryanne noted, food and family are very important in the Latino community – along with singing and dancing. God is the center of this family’s work and life. The same can be said of Scandinavian Lutheran culture in the Midwest. Kari wrote, “I think there is far more that unites than divides us. I suspect sharing our histories with one another may be a key to overcoming some of the difficulties we have in integrating rural communities.”
Similarly, Rebecca noted that the Colorado piece was especially helpful in navigating the roadblocks to listening to the history of someone else’s culture and heritage. She wrote, “One way we can overcome our fear is to learn and get to know someone else’s culture. I think this is what Mary Boy means between knowing and doing. The goal of “Who is my Neighbor?” piece is to assess what is one’s prior knowledge or assumption of what immigration is and looks like.
Our cultures, language, and heritage may diverse and very different, but we also have a common culture, heritage and possible language as children of God. Maryanne noted that it’s important to recognize that God is a part of our daily lives, whoever we are or wherever we may be.

What are the stories of the individuals involved? What are the stories of the church or churches?
We noted that the teacher has prior experience with the children in the class. She seems to know them and what to expect from them. She is grieving a loss or losses in her life and transfers this to the lesson, wanting to help the children let go of things in their lives as well. The author mentions a long dark winter of illness, death, and grief. The church seems to be a refuge and a place to rest during difficult times. The lesson’s theme is “letting go” and involves people pouring their hearts out to God.

What learning emerges from this history? Is it helpful for religious identity, or are there some elements of that learning that an educational leader would want to challenge and shape in a different direction?
The Wailing Wall is part of our faith history, connecting us to our past. People have prayed to God since the beginning. The theme of letting go might be too abstract and beyond the understanding of 3-6 year olds; however, even if it doesn’t exactly click, they could recall this lesson in later years. She does mention that they may not get it and that seeds are planted. This is our hope for people of any age.

What learning emerges?
The teacher believes that children learn best when they are relaxed, knowing they are loved, and hear a great story. She connected the story of the Wailing Wall with the stories of King David and King Solomon. The children look at pictures of children sticking prayers in the cracks of the Wailing Wall and later create their own Wailing Wall and stick their own prayers on it. They learn to let go and depend on Jesus.

Take Mary Boys’ grid and see if you can figure out some basic answers to her questions, using the focus situation as the raw data.
Revelation: I think helps the learners engage with Jesus Christ, especially at their young age, in tangible ways. The ideas are quite abstract, but are presented somewhat concretely. Even if they do not grasp it now, they may recall it in later years.
Conversion: The activity has more to do with a deepening of the spiritual practice of prayer rather than fostering directly to a conversion. There is a deep spiritual need for prayer in our lives especially our students’ life.
Faith and belief: They are taught that they are “loved and chosen.” Each person is individually validated. The assertion that God hears our prayers is made.
Knowledge: They listen, speak, and move/do. Multiple intelligences are addressed in the lesson. Through story, activity, discussion, hands-on learning, the kids are being engaged in a variety of ways.
How is God Revealed? How is Jesus Christ revealed?  God is revealed as the source of comfort in time of distress.  The children learn that God loves them and has chosen them as God’s own.  Jesus Christ is revealed through the demonstration of letting go.  The child discovers that in letting go of sorrow, hurt and anger, that they can be fulfilled and their thirst quenched through Jesus Christ.
What does the curriculum look like?  The lesson engaged students at a variety of levels.  The teacher provided support to engage different learning types through the auditory (storytelling), visual (pictures), and kinesthetic (building the Wailing Wall) activities.  The lesson was grounded in the biblical story and revealed both God’s love and Jesus’ grace.  The lesson built a bridge from the ancient story to the individual child today thereby making the lesson relevant and meaningful. 
Theology- The activity points to the understanding that God wants to be in relationship with us and is here with us in our struggle of pain and suffering.  The activity can help us connect with the idea of God being open to our communication with him through prayer.
 
Most important learning goal: to know that God is in a loving relationship with them at all times, and to know that God walks with them no matter what the circumstances and regardless of what they do. to focus on what the understanding of our relationship with God is like.  Also, the holding on to too much and what it means to be able to let go of the other things in our life.  Although for kids as small as this, it may be a hard concept to understand, the example of the markers and wanting a drink was great.  So, to show how we can connect with God through prayer and not just when we need help but also when things are going well. God is never absent and always listens to our prayers, no matter how big or small.

It’s helpful to write your blog posting “off line” — that is, in a text editor of some sort, NOT in the web browser, just because that way you can edit it without worrying about losing it along the way.

You can always insert links later, when you are cutting and pasting the text into the blogging software. I might link this example post, for instance, to the main course website.