Finding Abundance in Our Own Minds
“I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to god, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God – what is good and acceptable and perfect.”
Romans 12:1-2 NRSV
I spent an hour of Monday evening at my daughter’s middle school learning about Frisco ISD’s grading system. That’s not normally somewhere I would gain inspiration for my weekly Deep Thought’s article, but I was confronted by my own thoughts when someone else echoed them out loud…
“That’s not how we did it.”
“That’s not what worked before.”
Frisco ISD (where my kids go to school) switched from a classic grading model to a system called “Standard Space Grading” which seeks to emphasize mastery of concepts instead of completion of work. Traditionally, the teacher emphasized teaching the material that the students were supposed to memorize, retain, and master from the teacher’s instruction, but the innovation of Standard Space Grading came about when it was recognized that not all students master a concept on the first try with just one lesson, or even special tutelage.
So, the emphasis in Standard Space Grading is on the students’ learning, not just the teacher’s teaching.
Progress reports are done in between assessments, and the progress reports aren’t graded so that teachers can know how to adapt in order for the students to be at the point they need to be at when the graded assessments come around. Conversely, if the progress reports are all glowing, then the teacher can move faster or add more content. Students also have the ability to re-test (once) if their initial grade was less than stellar, and occasionally there is a test that “waterfalls” the previous grades associated with that skill/concept – because the understanding is that they may not have mastered the concept before, but they have now.
Again, the focus is on learning, growth, and mastery. Not on completion or punishment.
When I first started at Creekwood and found out that Lovejoy allowed students to re-take tests I was flabbergasted. “That’s not how the real world works!” “That’s not how we did it!” But listening to this presentation, I began to appreciate the reshaped focus, the joy of learning for learning’s sake, and helping students reach their full potential as opposed to grading them where they are.
In other words, my mind expanded a bit.
I had the rare thought: “Maybe this IS better?”
Romans 12 is the pivot point in Paul’s letter to the Romans. Prior, in chapters 1-11, Paul discusses almost exclusively matters of theology, but in chapter 12 he turns to how that theology ought to drive our behavior. His words at the start of this section are, “so that you may discern what is the will of God – what is good and acceptable and perfect.”
In other words: use your brain. God gave it to you for a reason.
There is a stigma associated with people of faith that we turn off our brains when we walk into church. This stigma only gets worse when we say the words, “That’s not how we used to do it?” or “That’s not what worked before,” without having any reason for discrediting a new idea other than, “That’s not what I’m familiar with.” Jesus is famous for telling the crowds, “You’ve heard this…but I tell you…” as he gives the Jewish people of his day a new understanding of what God has been trying to say all along. As he says, “I want you to focus on mastering the concepts…not just doing them.”
Paul’s audience in Rome seems to be struggling with leaving their old Roman ways behind and they need to use their brains to expand what is possible and appropriate because of who Christ is.
Conversely, Paul confronts Peter in Galatians 2 because Peter isn’t using his new learning and is falling back into old religious habits that aren’t as helpful as the new ones.
I believe Paul wants the Romans to think abundantly, because our brains are capable of innovation and exploration. I think he wants us all to have open minds to what might be more true, better, more perfect, and even most practical (see some of Paul’s practical theology about government in Romans 13 and work in Thessalonians 3). It’s true that I got a great education in the old way of learning, but maybe there is a better way? The goal is still the same, but maybe this method gets us there more effectively.
I pray that we never get so used to saying:
“No”
“Not that way”
“Not how it’s always been”
“Not how I did it”
That we miss the abundance of ways we can reach more people with Christ’s love and make things more like God’s Kingdom and less like our own.
Peace,
David Lessner
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