I remember the first time I used this video meditation as a catalyst for prayer with a group of students, because I did not know what to expect. I was really pleased that they responded to it. I hope that you have found this film meditation evocative. I am also very curious about your experience this week with considering a specific pre-printed curriculum: how does the curriculum engage learning? in what ways does it work through all of the five elements of curriculum Maria Harris has invited us to think about?

I posted this two days ago and am not seeing it with the other groups’ posts, so I am (attempting to) post again. Sorry if it shows up multiple times!

Each person in our group chose a different focus situation with which to engage the assessment questions. We looked at the different sessions in the curriculum study guide.

We found the following principles in these situations:

Needs assessment principle came up for all three of us. Participants needed to reflect on their thoughts and knowledge about immigration and how they could look from a different perspective to appreciate someone else’s point of view.

Safety also was mentioned by everyone as the issue of immigration is a tough, controversial, and emotional discussion to have. Everyone must feel safe in exploring and expressing their thoughts and feelings, especially in the midst of (sometimes heated) disagreement. Mutual respect is crucial.

Sound relationship- In order to have authentic dialogue, people need to feel as though they are peers, no one is above anyone else or in a position to tell them what is right or how to think or feel.

Action with reflection was mentioned as the participants looked at the life of Jesus to help them make decisions about how to act in their circumstances. They also watched videos and reflect with others on what they saw.

Learning with ideas, feelings and actions was present in that the participants were dealing with complex and emotional concepts. They explore facts and evaluate where they stand on the issues and what action can be taken. They also deal with how to act on this in everyday life.

Immediacy- the issue of justice and immigration is a top concern for most people – on both sides of the issue. The immigrant population continues to grow within the US and throughout the world. A compassionate and just response is immediately needed. Immigration is a bigger issue than most would think; it affects rural areas as well as urban areas.

Engagement was present in that participants engaged in discussions, videos, and other aspects of the learning process.

Verbs we chose:

think, struggle, explore, mention, read, share, react, call, allow, draw on, act, reflect, meditate, look, get to know, listen, walk, revisit, affirm, manipulate, write, attend, retell, observe, reason, analyze, evaluate, discuss, respond, dialogue, question, clarify, study, compare, contrast, paraphrase, express, relate, discover, select, identify, list, name, examine, review, debate, support, choose, notice

A learning challenge is that it is an emotional situation and a politically charged one. People come to the table with agendas and very set in what they believe.

Vella’s list of principles and Bloom’s list of verbs helped identify strengths in the focus situations. The design of the lessons and the materials (video and handouts) used created an effective learning experience for participants to understand the complex issues of justice and immigration.

In the video the migrant farm workers are the teachers and the learners are those watching the video.  The teacher could also become the one utilizing the video for learning.  The explicit learning is that the migrant farm workers work in the fields, share meals with family, go grocery shopping, share ice cream with friends, make tortillas, live in the U.S. (as evidenced by the flag), and have communion outdoors.  The implicit learning is that the work of a migrant farm worker is very hard, they live in poverty, and yet they are very similar to other Americans and other Christians- they enjoy spending time with friends and family and they worship the same God.  One person suggested that implicit learning could also include that the migrant workers have a deeper sense of family and faith than people in easier circumstances.  The null or unintentional learning is harder to identify but we could learn from the video that the migrant farm workers do not interact much with other Americans since they are not shown doing this.  We also are not shown how/why they arrived at the life of a migrant farm worker.  We could assume that they chose this life and that they enjoy it when that may not actually be the case.

In regard to the “Who is my Neighbor” curriculum, the teacher is the Colorado Council of Churches and/or the person or people leading the studies/utilizing the curriculum.  The learners are those participating in the studies.  The explicit learning in general is that God/Jesus calls us to be hospitable to and to love our neighbor.  Explicit learning is also found in the various statistics and charts showing facts about immigrants and immigration.  The implicit learning is that we should allow immigrants into the U.S. because it is the morally right thing to do and also based on the information provided in the statistics which show benefits of immigrants/immigration.  The null or unintentional learning could be that Jesus wants us to be hospitable and to love our neighbor even at the expense of our own welfare.

Regarding the coherence of explicit, implicit, and null criteria, there is a contrast drawn with the culture of the migrant worker among the dominant American culture.  God is seen for this family in many ways familiar to other Christians: embodied, participating, and at work in the circumstances, daily lives, rituals, and well-being of the people, and worthy of praise for God’s faithfulness.  And yet there is also dissonance in viewing this video: wanting to commend a life of simplicity that is clearly integrated with faith amid struggle, and a simultaneous desire to lessen the struggle that family experiences.

Ages/Stages of faith formation applicable to this learning environment:

1) Within the film: Sr. Medrano’s film portrays two older adults and three younger people, all in the same household.  Guessing age is always a challenge, but the two older adults, if over 50, would be in the “new senior” age, and the three younger people appear to be either all “young adults” (20’s) or perhaps a mix of “young adults” and “ages 16 to 18″.  It is interesting to try to put the Augsburg resource within this film — the Nurturing Faith booklet draws common experience from the dominant culture in America (ethnic/class), so many of the stereotypical particulars given for age group may not apply.

Those that do appear to apply include:

- 16-18: engaging in making plans for the future, finding mentoring relationships, concerned about physical appearance (on Sabato, especially), can have their own money and transportation (one of the young men — not the driver — refers to the color he wants to paint his truck).

- young adult: forming dreams, finding mentoring relationships, learning job skills.  One of the young men is shown symbolically watching the road behind as they drive to town… while his speaking parts focus on his individual and material concerns, he also shows no outward youthful angst against the older adults, and participates seemingly very willingly in their daily life of intermingled work and faith.

- new seniors (with or without the tilde): both the director of the film and the oldest adult characters show elements of “taking inventory and making judgments,” and also “desir[ing] to leave something behind after death that will benefit others.” [As a related aside, the Augsburg publication seemed awkwardly afraid to connect people in each of the age categories to *their own* other-generational family members (i.e., as mother/father, son/daughter, etc.).  For the sake of the film, it is fair to assume the "others" being benefitted also include their own children.]  For example, the film itself is being left behind as a meditative learning offering; the father(?) and mother(?) in the film exercise spiritual leadership through teaching moments of worship “when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you rise” (Deut 6:7), recognizing the connectedness of God, the people, and the land, leading by example in prayer and in communion; living life as prayer, seeing and giving glory to God for God’s significant participation in the daily and mundane, whether that is giving life to the land, or shaping that life into tortillas that sustain them.  The mother(?) shows us some of her “conjunctive faith” as we see her reflect momentarily on the disjunctive tension between her Hispanic-American identity together with their modest income, and the Americanized (pre-packaged, processed) Italian pizza box that she rejects in favor of mixing flour and water into tortillas herself at home.

2) For those to whom the film and the packaged curriculum on immigration form the learning environment: all ranges of adult learners (plus ages 13-15 and 16-18, if not younger) might be anticipated for this learning.  The two offerings (Sr. Medrano’s film and the CO Council of Churches curriculum) form a sharp contrast.  The film by Sr. Medrano offers a meditative opportunity for open-ended possibilities of transformation of the viewing community into new thinking, relationships, and living.  The Colorado curriculum instead works from the convictions of its preparers to direct learning along a specific course toward a pre-determined outcome of preferred action (using techniques such as selection of scripture, use of the word “fear” to minimize opposing viewpoints, and a pre-selected list of people who are acceptable to “know” in the immigration debate.  Our group of four seemed to be together in harmony with the Biblical challenge presented in the curriculum (toward loving/inviting/embracing the neighbor, in the midst of the defined “illegality” of many immigrants), but the contrast between presentation/teaching styles was nevertheless marked.  This contrast also mirrors a central point of Eunjoo Mary Kim’s book, “Preaching the Presence of God,” which highlights similar differences between traditional Western and Asian approaches to preaching and teaching.  To directly address the Augsburg booklet, congregational learning communities would presumably also include “middle adults” and “older adults”, each with their own generationally-gifted locations and contributions to bring to the circle.

This week was focused on the Biblical text and how it conveys social justice.

 The “Yo Trabajo” video was beautiful in its illustration of both gift and tending of the earth, as well as the condition of immigrant farmers with reference to oppression.  The earthly pictures gave a sense of God’s creation still among us.  Each scene detailed the work of the farmer, as God intimately worked the earth in the second creation story. 

The farmers eating together reference many stories of the disciples eating together in the New Testament.  It was also wonderful to see the communion given to each member of the immigrant family.  The Table is meant for all.

Music played during the “la Tierra” was much like the Psalms of the Old Testament.  We could also hear the cord of God’s presence with the Israelites, as well as the presence with the immigrant farmers.

            The use Mark 12:30, 31 in reference to many social problems and specific biblical doctrines of God that humanity wants to reject or disregard because it doesn’t fit contemporary ideology.  Adan Medrano’s video places both a face and a Christian belief on the illegal immigrant’s situation in America; therefore if this biblical passage in Mark 12 is taken seriously, than as Christians we must not do wrong or oppress a stranger because we love God and want to obey Him. Many Christian people love God, but when it comes to giving others the same privileges and rights that they possess. This is a problematic area we did not want to give away some of our prosperity, in order that others might have a good life.  This found to be very convicting.

            The study on immigration by the Colorado Council of Churches was full of Biblical reference to immigration and social justice.  The four sessions includes these Biblical texts:

   In “Session 1 – We Are All Strangers in the Land of Egypt”, explores immigration from our historical and spiritual identity, the Biblical text focus is on Exodus 23:9 – “You shall not oppress a stranger, for you know the feelings of the stranger, having yourselves been strangers in the land of Egypt” and Leviticus 19: 33-34 “When a stranger resides with you in your land, you shall not wrong him. The stranger who resides with you shall be to you as one of your citizens; you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I the LORD am your God.”
“Session Two: What Does the Lord Require of You?” focused on exploring the faith concept of justice in relation to past and current immigration laws and movements. Biblical texts supporting this session are Micah 6:8 (NRSV) – “He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do Justice, and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” be offspring blessed by the LORD— and their descendants as well.”
“Session Three: Perfect Love Casts Out Fear” focuses on exploring immigration through the biblical teachings of love. Supporting Biblical texts included: 1 John 4:7; 16b-21 (NRSV) – “Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them. Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness on the Day of Judgment, because as God is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear; for fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not reached perfection in love. We love because God first loved us. Those who say, “I love God,” and hate their brothers or sisters, are liars, for those who do

Our group discussed the number of rituals that went along with this week’s video and study guide.  Here are the rituals we identified in the video:

1. Opening Prayer

2.The ritual sharpening of the blade

3. The ritual nature of clearing the fields

4. The communal meal

5. Washing the hands

6. The ritual of adornment, (big in Hindu mysticism)

7. Having ice cream

8. Shopping as a family

9. Making Tortillas in the old style (connection to the old ways)

10. The song (is that the same tune as before?)

11.The ritual of communion

And the final minute ties all of these rituals together in a montage, ending with his fadeout arms high in praise, while the crops remain.

1 and 11 are the explicitly Christian rituals.

3,8,9,10 are all ritual reminders of the old ways and of heritage.

1,2,4,5,6 are all rituals that may remind the family of an even further off heritage, connecting them to the peoples of the Hebrew Bible.

7 is a ritual that connects them to American Culture.

Okay, then the in the Faith Conversation on Immigration:

1. The ritual of prayer

2. The ritual of scripture reading and application of verses

3. The legeslative ritual

4. Some formational rituals including-discussion

5.-reflection (particularly on videos)

6.-perspective questioning

7.-and identification of personal feelings and their roots.

4-7 are rituals that show up often in other facets of life, often in psychology.

1-2 are religious.

3 is a civil ritual, but also a religious one.

We went on to talk a little about how ritual exists with meaning insofar as it is unpacked.  Several group members mentioned that without the meaning behind a ritual uncovered, it is not worth much.  Within the context of immigration it was mentioned that various rituals (done by both the immigrant and the so called “native”) serve to remind us of our unique heritage, remind us of our common heritage, and open up a space that god can fill in our lives no matter who we are. Suzanne quoted Practicing Our Faith : “To welcome the stranger is to acknowledge him as a human being made in God’s image; it is to treat her as one of equal worth with ourselves – indeed, as one who may teach us something out of the richness of experiences different from our own.”

The other main theme that we discussed is that of the independent, often contrary, and pervasive rituals of consumerism that we encounter in modern culture.  Particularly in the context of the immigration debate, I think we all agreed that it is important to look at the way our rituals of consumption were perpetuated, and what they were, in end effect, resulting in. Victor Lebow famously said, “Our enormously productive economy…demands that we make consumption our way of life that we convert the buying and selling of goods into rituals.”  Our group all felt that it was time to question these rituals, to make sure that they weren’t causing harm to the ourselves, to the stranger abroad, and the stranger in our midst.

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.