The Resurrection, Rembrandt van Rijn, 1635

On this beautiful day when Christians celebrate the resurrection of their Savior, I’d like to recommend you take a moment and enjoy the wonderful works of art that have been created commemorating this event.

I recently heard a woman on the radio chastising Christian apologist Ravi Zacharias for believing in something like the resurrection when the four gospel accounts were so contradictory. The apologist amply answered her protest.

For those who have similar concerns about the validity of the resurrection accounts as recorded in the four Gospels, I encourage you to read this harmony of the resurrection accounts.

First, I think Republican hubris played a huge role in the Democrat (and Obama’s) rise to power. Beginning in 2006 with losses in both the House and the Senate, the Republicans began their steady downward spiral to where they are today. They squandered their opportunity when they were in the same position that the Dems will be in after January. They, ironically, conducted themselves as traditional Democrats and increased the size of government, violating that and other core conservative values. They appeared to believe themselves untouchable. Sadly, they found out they weren’t.

George Bush, in his last four years in office, also squandered much (though hampered in the last two years with an oppositional House and Senate). He simply didn’t do much to further conservative thought and remained, in my mind, aloof as the figurehead of the Republican party. The public’s view of him as everything wrong with our country (not a fair estimate, but understandable) hurt any chance for a Republican to take office. (Ironically, we’ll see how the Dems spin the fact that they have control of both Houses and the Presidency but ALSO have such low approval ratings—even lower than Bush’s.)

Second, and most importantly, I believe the election of Barack Obama had much to do with the failure of the Church to effectively communicate its message to it’s own people. Yes, I didn’t say communicate its message to the World, but to its OWN people—both black and white. While I recently heard that polls indicate that the African-American vote helped Obama, it didn’t put him over the top. There wasn’t a significant increase, overall, in the number of black voters (with the increase coming from in younger voters). Rather, it was white independents and moderates who elected Barack Obama. Nevertheless, I find two points interesting.

First, the African-American community as a whole votes very traditionally on issues such as family and abortion. Ironically, they selected a candidate who is anything but traditional. Did the A-A community know Obama’s stances and voting history on these core moral issues? Or, was it more that they chose to overlook it—much like most of America—in favor of economy and the prize of having a black President? My own experience in urban education leads me to believe that they abdicated their role as salt and light to the World in favor of race. That’s a harsh statement, but, as I indicated, it holds true to what I hear consistently in my all-minority school.

As I indicated previously, polls show that moderates and independents won this election for Obama. Most of those were white. The present state of the mainline Protestant and Catholic churches also shows a clear willingness to PUT ASIDE mandates about life and the family in favor of progressive politics. After all, in their view, times change and the Word of God is a book written by men that must be revisited as society evolves.

I wonder what would happen if evangelical churches made their focus—over the next four years—one of educating their congregations about the core values of the Christian church. Because the Church has a different vocabulary—a different way of looking at the World—our account of life and meaning is vastly different. I have to agree with Robert Lewis Wilken:

Nothing is more needful today than the survival of Christian culture, because in recent generations this culture has become dangerously thin. At this moment in the Church’s history in this country (and in the West more generally) it is less urgent to convince the alternative culture in which we live of the truth of Christ than it is for the Church to tell itself its own story and to nurture its own life, the culture of the city of God, the Christian republic.

I can’t help but wonder what would happen in the 2010 and 2012 elections if the Church was grounded in this way.

Regardless which group, though, the reality is all of my kids have wildly misplaced perspectives on art education. As I’ve stated in another post, they expect my class to be fun, a time for them to make a little craft and socialize with their friends. Anything difficult or challenging isn’t well received. Much of what brought this on is the fact that I have begun art appreciation/criticism and will soon start art history. The introduction of these topics has brought with it reading and writing assignments, a break from hands-on work.

Don’t get me wrong. I don’t regret my curricular direction. I’m in alignment with what I’m to teach according to my State; however, I’m disappointed with how I’ve reacted in-class emotionally with my students. I’ve allowed their toxicity and negativity to poison me. That was an important statement for me to make—to someone else and myself. My school, while free of violence (minus the occasional fight), has real problems with discipline. The students have dictated their own course for enough years that it has made taking the school back—for lack of a better way of putting it—a challenging proposition. Consistency among the teaching staff hasn’t helped those efforts, though positive steps have been made and things are better than last year. Still much work remains and the students resent the educational and disciplinary imposition. I am one of a few teachers that is pushing back hard on the students with regards to the disciplinary code. It hasn’t won me any kudos from them and some of that negativity has crept into my class.

Long-story-short, the problem for me is with myself. That’s why I’m writing the post. These kids are a product of their environment. They don’t care about art because it’s not been a part of their life outside of pop culture. How can I expect them to behave differently. I don’t have control over their reactions, but I do have control over mine. I have noticed an increase in yelling, responding quickly and harshly to students and delivering my lessons flatly. While I don’t make excuses that my class is hard, I don’t need to compound their experience with a harder and edgier me. That’s a change I plan on amending now that I’ve recognized the degree to which this has occurred.

I know I’m not alone in having these feelings and experience. What I’m looking for are strategies and recommendations on making a change. As a Christian, I know what my responsibilities are before the Lord regarding my vocation. He is ultimately the author of true heart change and I believe that he’s lead me to this point. I’m thankful for that. He also works through people. Your experience in the classroom and life can be an additional means of grace to me. So, talk to me. I want to hear from you about this.