by Jason Byassee, May 28, 2014
Jason Byassee
May is Teacher Appreciation month. It is a good time to reach back out to teachers who influenced and blessed and loved us well. It is also a good time for our church to think about the God-given goodness of the vocation of teaching. Each week in May we’ll interview one of our teachers about their work and the ways they find God in it. I hope we’ll all learn more about the richness of the body of Christ of which we are all a part.
Anna Mills Welsh
What got you into teaching?
I have always loved children. When I was in high school, I babysat for a family with four children all under the age of five. It was a joy to watch them grow and learn each day. I learned quickly that teaching would be a fun and rewarding profession
Tell me about a teacher you admire.
We moved eight times growing up. Entering a new school at times could be a challenge. But I was blessed with wonderful teachers that helped me with my adjustment. When I moved from California to Minnesota it was difficult, but my 1st grade teacher, Mrs. Hawkins, wrote me letters every few months to check in on me. I was always thrilled to see a letter in the mail from her. She went above and beyond to show me love and encouragement. I will never forget her.
How does your faith weigh into your work as a teacher?
I used to teach preschool at a church in Asheville. One of my favorite songs that we taught the children was “Fruits of the Spirit” (“Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control”). I try to remember that song as I teach my students. These are all important qualities to have throughout life. Each morning as I prepare for school I try to remember to love the students as a Christian would love them.
Some days are difficult, I confess, but I try to exhibit a positive attitude for the students. I try to encourage and love the students. Each student has baggage that she or he carries into the classroom each morning. It may be that the parents argued the night before, lack of food at the house, a fight with a sibling, a sick family member . . . all these weigh on the children as much as they do on the adults.
I want to remember that when I hug or encourage, it may be the only positive action of love that they get that day. I give out silly cheers (roller coaster cheer, firecracker, superstar) when I see positive behaviors. The look on the child’s face is so priceless as they beam with pride. That is the greatest reward of teaching!
Tell me about a time when God surprised you with the goodness of your vocation.
I was a first grade teacher in a school in Atlanta that was 99% African American. I was the minority in the school. It was at that school that I learned a lot about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. What an amazing example of how a Christian should act and treat others.
My students taught me to look at the content of character and not the color of skin. I would often get pictures that the children had drawn of me. I would have brown skin and black hair. Well, I have light skin, freckles, and red hair. The students saw me as one of their own. We were a family. I know that God placed me in that setting to learn about looking at people from the inside. I now teach children from all different backgrounds. Some are affluent, some are living in poverty, some have special needs, some don’t speak English. But I try to teach them that we are all equal and can become a family that cares for one another.
Anna Mills Welsh has been a teacher for 16 years and is now a kindergarten teacher at Hardin Park School.
by Jason Byassee, May 22, 2014
Jason Byassee
May is Teacher Appreciation month. It is a good time to reach back out to teachers who influenced and blessed and loved us well. It is also a good time for our church to think about the God-given goodness of the vocation of teaching. Each week in May we’ll interview one of our teachers about their work and the ways they find God in it. I hope we’ll all learn more about the richness of the body of Christ of which we are all a part.
Nora Shoemake
What got you into teaching?
Like much in life, teaching was an unexpected path I tumbled on to. My family had recently moved to a new area and there were no available preschool openings for our then four year old daughter. Except, that is, for teachers’ kids. The preschool had a very last minute job opening and they were in desperate need of a teacher and I desperately wanted my daughter to have a preschool experience before kindergarten. We were a perfect match. That first job challenged and surprised me.
I reflect back on that new teacher and simultaneously envy her energy and cringe at her inexperience and naivety.
Tell me about a teacher you admired.
I admire teachers in general, but especially those who are unafraid to look silly, those who are constantly educating themselves, those who are willing to take risks, those who are curious, those who can admit and learn from mistakes, those who are passionate, and those who respect the dignity of their students.
How does your faith weigh into your work as a teacher?
With Colossians 3:23 as a guide (“Whatever your task, put yourselves into it, as done for the Lord and not for other people”) I rely on grace to work at teaching with my whole heart as unto the Lord. As a teacher in a Christian preschool, I have the privilege to pray with and for my students and to share and teach from the bible. Mostly, though, my faith opens my eyes to learn compassion, acceptance, love, forgiveness and joy from a group of four year olds.
Tell me about a time when God surprised you with the goodness of your vocation.
Not to sound trite, but I am reminded daily of the power of child-like faith. I have been humbled by the prayers of preschoolers, delighted to see God’s creation through their eyes, and saddened by the ways adults lose sight of what is truly important.
Nora Shoemake graduated from ASU with a degree in elementary education and currently teaches at Boone United Methodist Preschool. She and her husband, Ben, live in Boone with their three children.
by Jason Byassee, April 15, 2014
Jason Byassee
Failure is an odd topic for Easter. But it is not unfamiliar to any of us. Most of us could probably imagine a scenario by which we would fail–in family, at work, in play, with friendships, in life. Many of us are motivated partly by fear of failure. I know I am.
Yet there is something freeing about failure. Think of the sports team that knows it is out of the playoffs that suddenly plays loose, together, like they have nothing to lose. Is it any surprise they’re suddenly good? Something happens when we loosen our white-knuckle grip on the thing we care about too much, with which we’re trying to prove ourselves. Lose it, and suddenly you can be yourself, exhale, relax, live. Personally I’ve noticed some of my best moments have come after failure. Then you can be magnanimous in defeat, congratulate the victor, learn from missteps, and step into a broader life.
There are worse things than failure. Much, much worse.
The bible has a lot to say about failure. In holy week we see portraits of two cataclysmic failures. Peter betrays his Lord. This after Jesus had predicted it in remarkable detail. Peter swore it would never happen and then it did, precisely as Jesus had said (with a bit of confusion over whether the cock would crow once or twice, but never mind). Judas, so trusted once the disciples asked him to guard the group’s (paltry) money supply, sought to add to his personal wealth by turning the Lord over to the authorities. Theories abound as to why he did this–was he trying to force Jesus into a confrontation with Rome that would end with Jesus as victorious king? Was he just greedy, an agent of evil? The bible doesn’t say. It just says he committed a monstrous misdeed for which he could not forgive himself. He committed suicide.
Here is what scripture is saying with these two portraits of failure: the difference between Peter and Judas is simply whether they were willing to receive forgiveness. Peter is restored to Jesus’ trust by being asked three times, “Do you love me?” Peter says he does. “Feed my lambs,” Jesus instructs. And Peter does, becoming the most important leader among the Twelve after Jesus’ resurrection. Judas did not linger for any such restoration. His turning in of the Lord was crucial–Jesus going to his death means life for the world. Surely there would have been restoration for him too, as with Peter. But he could not stand his failure, did not seek the chance for restoration. In the 10-part miniseries called The Bible from last year (the Jesus portion of which became the movie Son of God this spring), Judas receives the Last Supper from Jesus’ hand. When he goes out to betray Jesus, he chokes on the wafer. He couldn’t get that broken body of forgiveness into his system.
Peter and Judas are not the only failures in Holy Week. Jesus dies for all our sins. All institutions–religious, civil, military, social–team up and crucify Jesus. We all shout our demand for his death. We roll a stone in front of his tomb so he won’t come back and bother us again.
Then he’s back. Stone rolled away. His body restored, made new, as fresh as Adam in Eden, as fresh as your newborn, as scarred as anyone, but made new. Our failure led to his resurrection. And now he is offering us forgiveness, restoration, the charge to feed his lambs.
The worst failure ever has already happened in our successful execution of Jesus. Now no failure can come close to that one. And that failure meant life for the world.
What fruit can this resurrection, new-making God bear through our failures? Come worship with us all Holy Week and then on Easter morn and let’s find out together.
