How Do I Get My Student to Study Scripture and Practice Spiritual Disciplines? An Example Exercise

I started teaching a new class this year. I originally designed it for 7th graders, but I ended up needing to make it work for a combined class of 11th and 12th graders as well. Like almost all new courses, there are things that are going really well, and things that will need tweaking, or scrapping altogether.

One of the assignments I've been happiest with in theory, but which has proved a challenge to get students complete with consistency, is the weekly "theological meditations and digests." The idea is to have students begin forming regular habits of reading their Bible, using spiritual authorities to help them understand and gain insights from the passage, and practice a spiritual discipline. The students have a journal in which they copy the Scripture and a brief comment from two Church Fathers or theologians. In class we'll recite our daily prayers, I'll read the passage and comments, and then they'll spend a few minutes completing the "digest," which is their participation in, or a reflection upon their participation in, the spiritual discipline for the week. Part of the difficulty is that each class only meets twice a week, so consistency in practice is hard to achieve. Here's an example of the meditation and digest:

Week 8 Meditations

The Epistle of James

Days Fifteen and Sixteen

James 3:13-18 – Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show by good conduct that his works are done in the meekness of wisdom. 14 But if you have bitter envy and self-seeking in your hearts, do not boast and lie against the truth. 15 This wisdom does not descend from above, but is earthly, sensual, demonic. 16 For where envy and self- seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there. 17 But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy. 18 Now the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.

Chrysostom comments:
Let us cleanse the eyes of our souls of all filth. For just as filth and mud blind the eyes of the flesh, so too worldly concerns and discussions about moneymaking can dull the hearing of our minds more effectively than any filth, and not only corrupt them but do wicked things as well. (Catena)

Desiderius Erasmus comments:
Human-made philosophy produces professors who are captious, obstinate, and ferocious. But the more sincere, the more effective evangelical philosophy becomes, the less it is marked by arrogance. Its special force is located not in syllogistic subtleties or rhetorical trappings, but in sincerity of life and gentleness of character, which gives way to the contentious, attracts the docile, and has no other object than the salvation of its hearers. It is a heavenly wisdom. (Paraphrase on James 3:13-18)

Digest: The Discipline of Gratitude
Reflect on the areas of your life where you complain the most. How can you be thankful for these circumstances rather than complaining? Ask God to help you discover gratitude in these areas where you tend to complain.

I've had a few diligent students in the 7th grade who've kept up with their journals each week, but a number of them aren't careful enough to remember to take their journal home consistently and complete the copy work required. Part of the problem there, I suspect, is that some parents expect their student to be an independent worker, but haven't anticipated (or prepared their child for) the necessities of that responsibility. In my own home, I have a 7th grader, and while we've preached organization and discipline, he still forgets and is controlled more by his immediate appetites than the impetus of responsibilities. However, knowing this, I've made it a point to provide a routine he must follow so that he doesn't have the option to forget (as long as he doesn't leave his journal in his locker!). The older students have proven much more consistent in their diligence, but I haven't discovered whether the assignment is bearing the kind of fruit I'm hoping for--am I adding on to Bible reading/study that they already do? Do they recognize the value of consistently being in God's Word and in spiritual disciplines, or is it just busy work to their thinking?

One thing I can say, in preparing the weekly meditations and digests I've had to complete them myself, which has been good for me. In order to gather comments I've been using the Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture and the Reformation Commentary on Scripture, which has been really enlightening, both in terms of illuminating the Scriptures and illuminating the sometimes similar, sometimes different concerns of the Church Fathers and Reformation theologians.

If any of you out there who happen to read this use something similar, or adopt what I've done and have your own reflections to offer, please share them in the comments.

An Example of a Deliberative Exercise

-->

The Assignment:

It is the Fourth Age of Men and King Eldarion, heir of Aragorn and bearer of Andúril, has been dead for many years, and, having left no heir, his sword was placed in a holy shrine dedicated to Eru Ilúvatar in the citadel of the kings located in the city of Gondor. A sacred law was established saying that none could take and wield the sword until he showed great valor in saving the city. During the Great Battle of the 4^th age, orcs of Mardurgil attacked Gondor, breeching its walls and raiding its citadel. As the raid was taking place, Barahir, the grandson of Faramir, sought to defend the citadel. During his defense his sword was broken and he fled into the shrine where Andúril was kept. He took the sword and rallied the men, slaying Mardurgil and pushing the orcs out of the city. Once peace was secured the elders called Barahir before the council to decide whether he should keep the sword because he used it to save the city, or whether he is unworthy to keep the sword because he took it before achieving any great valor.

Instructions: Write an essay in favor of or against the claim of Barahir to the sword Andúril using the six-part essay format (introduction, statement of facts, division, confirmation, refutation, conclusion) and any available strategies from Hermogenes. Your statement of facts should arrange the details of the event so as to highlight your definition (Barahir’s actions meet the standard of “great valor”) or counter-definition (Barahir’s actions do not meet the standard of “great valor”). Feel free to ask questions.

The Example:

You wisest men of Gondor, best fathers of us all, I bid you welcome to this assembly. Before you stands Barahir, our timely hero, whose deeds of late are well known to you. I need not remind you how he singlehandedly delivered our city from destruction. You, yourselves know of his desperate charge from the citadel, with Andúril, Flame of the West held aloft in his bloody hand, calling down the fiery dawn’s first rays upon the foul orc horde. You have heard sung the testimony of his beloved soldiers, how he reigned down Eru Illuvatar’s sacred fire upon Mardurgil’s helm, cleaving it asunder as he cut a path down through the city to her gates, rallying our men and casting out every last remnant of defiling orc scum. I would that such words today commemorated the high honors already bestowed upon Barahir by this great council. Instead, I am compelled to defend his honor, besmirched by jealous accusers. Men who, instead of showering just honors upon Barahir, have called him sacrilegious blasphemer, warmonger, and vainglorious usurper. I come to answer these charges on behalf of Barahir and to prove not only that he is no usurper, no warmonger, no blasphemer; but also to show why he is worthy to possess Andúril and lead our city into its former glory as in the days of Aragorn himself.

You have heard the words of his accusers, to which I will turn to in a moment. But before I address their blasphemies, I wish to remind you of Barahir’s valorous blood; to bring before your eyes the image of Faramir, his grandfather, in the very man you see before you. I will then recount the deeds of Barahir in the battle for Gondor’s Citadel, resting place of our kings, who from their sepulchers witnessed valor not seen since the siege of Gondor at the end of the Third Age. I must then say a word about the sacred law concerning Andúril, and what its framers meant by enshrining it in sacred holiness. Then, if words remain necessary, I will turn at last to the accusers claims.

Nobility, like the finest vintage, does not emerge from tender shoots of newborn vines, but stretches forth from generations in which deep roots have delved into the earth, both to draw strength from the soil and to hold fast against the fiercest elements. My fathers, Barahir’s valor draws its strength from well-anchored roots as you well know. His blood flows from Boromir son of Denethor, his great uncle, whose valor no man questions. This alone should quell all doubts! Yet it is not Boromir’s blood that runs thickest through Barahir’s veins, but his grandfather Faramir’s! It was not Boromir who resisted the corruption of the Ring of Power, though he paid for his sin with a sacrifice of blood. It was Faramir whose quality shown the brightest when tempted by Sauron’s ring. Moreover, it was Faramir who counted not the scorn of his father so great as to prevent him defending the last stronghold protecting Gondor from Sauron’s army, led by the Witch King of Angmar! Steward of stewards, was this Faramir—greatest servant of Aragorn Elf-Stone—and it is his grandson Barahir who carries his noble blood into our presence today and stewards our people through his shining quality.

Did not Barahir lead our men in sorties against the hordes of Mardurgil when they besieged the city before breeching our walls? Who was it that led the defense of the gates until they broke before the enemy’s iron fist? Barahir bears the scars on his right arm from where the shards of that gate embedded in his flesh as he cast his last spear and swung his blade in mighty arcs when the battering ram shattered our doors to pieces. It was Barahir who rallied the men into ranks, some to defend the women and children and some to retreat with him to the Citadel, where a last defense would be made. No man slew more orcs in that endeavor than Barahir, though his arm gushed out his strength as a river. When his sword shattered from hewing so much orc armor, he found himself at the mouth of the sacred shrine of Eru Ilúvatar. Barahir, who had barely time to take breath under the onslaught, breathed a prayer to Eru as he sped into the shrine for Andúril. With a shout of defiance and hope he sprang from the sacred room with all the might of our fallen kings clenched in his bloody fist, and what a mighty blow did it wield, my fathers! I ask you, would such a sacred sword as Andúril sing so lustily and so clearly for a valorless man? Would not the sword have resisted under an unworthy hand? Could Eru Ilúvatar grant victory—not just victory but victory of such glory and splendor that songs of it will stretch into the Fifth age of men—would Eur give such to one whose valor and nobility was dubious?

Our forefathers who crafted the sacred law could not foresee the day or hour when Andúril would be needed again. Instead they entrusted it to Eru Himself, with the explicit acknowledgment that only the most valorous would be worth of Eru’s blessing to take the sword up for having delivered Gondor from peril. Had they but known that Gondor’s peril would be such as Barahir faced, they would have named him destined heir to Andúril in their law! As it was, by enshrining the sword under the sacred watch of the fallen Kings, before the face of Eru Ilúvatar, no mere man, and certainly no base one, would have been granted the victory that Barahir won by Andúril’s edge and Eru’s might. Did not the sword sense its rightful place in the hand of Barahir? When his bloody fist gripped its hilt, could not the sword feel the spirit of Faramir rushing into it from the pounding of Barahir’s heart, burning with the mighty zeal of that Steward of old?

And yet we hear base men of little worth and excelling ambition hurl slanders at our True and Faithful Steward. They say Barahir committed sacrilege and blasphemy by taking the sword from its shrine without the blessing of this council. I ask you now, my wise fathers, which of you, if you were standing with Barahir at the mouth of the shrine would not have bid him take up the sword? Which of you, having witnessed with your own eyes all that I have recounted, would not have thrown yourselves upon Barahir’s knees and begged him to take up the mantle of the Steward, fix Andúril in his fist, and mow down the enemies of Gondor like so much dry stubble? Do you deem him unworthy of the sword as he stands before you now, savior of the city? Then how could his acts of valor with Andúril disqualify him from possessing the instrument of our salvation?

These treacherous men say that Barahir is a warmonger and usurper of Gondor’s throne. They accuse him of inciting Mardurgil’s wrath so that he could steal Andúril and take the throne. What madness! No man, no council of men, could orchestrate so elaborate and spectacular a ruse. Barahir did not send the men of Gondor to the East to scout the whereabouts of Mardurgil’s horde. Barahir did not put into that black orc heart the lust for all mankind’s destruction. What fool could believe that a man so given over to selfish lust would abandon his body to the perils at the gate, as Barahir did? Who, but a self-righteous and envious dog could believe that any man would carve up his body on the blades of his enemies, break his own sword, and save but a remnant band of weary men to make a last charge against the wrath of evil orcs—even with such a blade as Andúril—by design to usurp the throne of a city already in flames?!

I will waste no more words; indeed one word at all is a waste for such slanders, yet in such dark times as these even basest slanders gain a hearing, seeing that our eyes lack the light of former glory. And yet, and yet, O my fathers, here before you stands a ray of that light from our glorious past shining anew! See him stand meek and strong to receive your judgment! He does not plead, or beg—his face is all of peace. For he knows that his cause is just, and that no city is worth his honor if it condemn the valor it has witnessed in him. Will you not honor him? Will you go against the will of Eru Ilúvatar Himself, who gave Barahir the victory and delivered Gondor from destruction? If you refuse him Andúril, you cannot rob him of the valor he has already achieved, but you can rob yourselves of the honor of your office. Add your voice to what the silent cries of our fallen kings shout from the Citadel—the Citadel that still stands because of Barahir—Andúril is yours, True Steward of Gondor! Andúril is yours, True Steward of Gondor! Andúril is yours, True Steward of Gondor!