Thursday, December 12, 2013

The Spirituality of Advent, Day 5, Week 2

Today, I will write about preparation for teaching and how that relates to spirituality.  To prepare to teach I have to do a number of things: master the subject I am teaching, know something about the students I am teaching, and determine the best way to reach the students.

To master the subject I am teaching is really subjective.  Some things that I teach, I have truly mastered.  Others, I know just a bit more than my students.  Regardless, I have to know something.  And in a spirituality sense, this is like making sure that I understand even what it is that I am searching for when it comes to spirituality.  What is spirituality?  Why do I care?  I have to be in touch with myself enough to know when I know enough to feel comfortable.  For spirituality, I have to know when I can look deep enough for it to matter.

Second, I must understand something about those whom I teach.  This means understanding their interest.  Understanding their motivation.  Understanding what they know.  Even understanding how they learn.  Understanding what I can learn from them.  Do they ask questions?  Do they just sit and listen?  Do they benefit from movement?  Do they benefit from competition?  In the sense of spirituality this means being in touch with the other side.  What am I reaching for?  What might I gain from others?  What do I want to share with others?  What do others want to share with me?  What does being part of a spiritual community mean?

Third, I must plan.  Different activities.  Different communication.  Different questions.  Different discussions.  Different prompts.  Different expressions.  Here the connection to spirituality is actually quite simple.  All of these matter.  I need to do different things to experience spirituality.  It only involves going to church sometimes.  I am as likely to experience spirituality on the NCR trail or running around the lake at Druid Hill Park at sunrise.  I like to write.  I play music, sometimes.  Sometimes I write prose.  Sometimes I write poetry.  Sometimes I just ponder.  Sometimes I pray.  I ask myself and the members of my spiritual community different questions.   I have needs for different discussions at different times.

And all of this can be in preparation for spiritual experiences in general.

And all of this helps to prepare me for the spiritual celebration of the coming of Jesus.

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