Psalms and “the strap” on the first day of school
I have much that I could write about today. When I wrote my last post I had only spent a few days with this year’s group of students. Now we have finished 2.5 weeks together and we are starting to settle into a groove. I am a very lucky man. I have an amazing wife, an adorable baby son and, so far, a very easy group of students to work with. I don’t want to jynx it, but this is the easiest group that I have had yet. And they are “high” too. That is a teacher term which means academically strong. When teachers talk to each other about a student who struggles academically, they use the word “low” to describe them. Every generation has their own terminology. As soon as one term gets known widely enough that people start using the word as an insult, the professionals switch to a different term. The word idiot used to be an official, and quite acceptable term to describe people of certain conditions. Then people started calling each other idiots, and the psychologists came up with new terms. I don’t like calling kids high or low. It is just as demeaning as calling someone an idiot. Anyway, my students this year are high, for lack of a better word. That means that my days have been easier than they were last year, and the year before that, and the year before that. Thank God. My wife thinks that it is because I am no longer dealing with kids who were affected by the COVID disruptions. Who knows. Maybe God just gave me a break this year so that I will have more energy and patience for my wife and child.
But I’m not going to write about my class, or the first 2.5 weeks of school. I am going to write about one of my uncles who finished school 60 years ago, give or take a year. My dad’s family emigrated from the Netherlands when he was 2 years old. At the time, he had 2 older brothers and an older sister. His parents ended up having 9 kids altogether, four born in the Netherlands and five born in Canada. My dad spoke Dutch in the house as a kid. He learned English in grade one. He was and is a smart guy, and he wasn’t the only European immigrant in the class, so he did fine and learned English quickly. My dad enjoyed school, overall. He graduated from high school (not everyone did back then) and then did a three year university degree.
Not everyone in my dad’s family liked school. One of my uncles got “the strap” on his very first day of school. He still talks about that almost 70 years later. He still cannot believe that he got the strap on the first day of school. He says that it soured him for the rest of his school years. He always resented teachers from that day on.
You might be thinking to yourself, “Maybe he deserved it.” But think about it: Unless he was assaulting another student or destroying property, how could he deserve punishment on his first day of school? (He wasn’t hurting anyone, BTW). When I was being interviewed for my permanent contract (an interview I aced, so I was told afterwards) I said that one of my guiding principles is that you cannot get a kid in trouble for doing something that you haven’t told them not to do. Considering that my uncle didn’t even understand the language, how could he have known what to do and not do on the first day of school? How could an adult expect him to have known the rules well enough to warrant being punished for breaking them? A person needs to be able to understand their actions in order for punishment to be effective. And punishment needs to be effective in order for it to be justifiable.
O.k. I am going to switch gears for a second. Hold on.
This past Friday a couple of teachers and I gathered 45 minutes before the start of the school day for a little prayer liturgy. It was my idea. I proposed that we try praying the Liturgy of the Hours together. (google it if you are curious). I prayed it with the Friars every day for three years, so I kind of miss it. Only 2 of my colleagues came (this time) but it was a nice experience, and we are going to make it a semi regular thing.
In the Liturgy of the hours, one reads Psalms and other prayers out loud. Religious communities do this altogether, and in chorus. When reading a psalm, the people on one half of the room read 4 verses, then the other side of the room does the next 4, and they alternate. When I was in Ireland, we often sang them, which made it feel even more special.
When I first joined the Friars and started doing this every day with them, I thought it was silly. It didn’t feel like real prayer. (Which I thought of being silent and personal) And the psalms felt so archaic. Some of them mentioned bullocks, sheep, cedars of Lebanon, and other stuff which seemed to have nothing to do with anything. I thought we should be doing something more personal, and expressive. But over time I realized that the psalms are extremely personal. They speak of the deepest truths of human existence. They cut to the core. They talk about the hard times, the struggles, the personal disappointments, the hopelessness, and how God is with us through it all, doing his saving work. He feeds us and guides us, chastising us at times, but always carrying us through. One psalm speaks of the way that evil doers appear to prosper, but they are eventually cut down. Their evil deeds catch up to them. The righteous, however, will flourish.
The whole text is here: Psalm 92 (NSRV)
It is good to give thanks to the Lord, to sing praises to your name, O Most High,
to declare your steadfast love in the morning and your faithfulness by night,
to the music of the lute and the harp, to the melody of the lyre.
For you, O Lord, have made me glad by your work; at the works of your hands I sing for joy. How great are your works, O Lord! Your thoughts are very deep!
The dullard cannot know; the stupid cannot understand this:
though the wicked sprout like grass and all evildoers flourish,
they are doomed to destruction forever, but you, O Lord, are on high forever.
For your enemies, O Lord, for your enemies shall perish;
all evildoers shall be scattered.
But you have exalted my horn like that of the wild ox; you have anointed me with fresh oil.
My eyes have seen the downfall of my enemies; my ears have heard the doom of my evil assailants.
The righteous flourish like the palm tree and grow like a cedar in Lebanon.
They are planted in the house of the Lord; they flourish in the courts of our God.
In old age they still produce fruit; they are always green and full of sap,
showing that the Lord is upright; he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him.
This isn’t fluffy stuff. And it isn’t vague worship. There is a trend in new hymns to say very generic, almost pagan stuff about God. Here is an example of some lyrics that drive me nuts:
“Our God is greater, our God is stronger
God, You are higher than any other
Our God is healer, awesome in power
Our God, our God…”
Greater than who? Are you suggesting that there are other Gods? Stuff like this is so shallow. The Psalms cut to the core: Yes, God is great. The psalms praise him in wonderful ways. But they go further than that by also talking about the way God works. Everything is his doing. He is behind everything. It is NOT all sunshine and lollipops in the moment because we have real limitations, real frailties, and real challenges. But God is with us through all of it, and it all works out.
I have an easy class this year, thank God, but there have been years where I have struggled. I have needed God’s help on a daily basis. I didn’t drive to work saying “Our God is greater, our God is higher”. To me, those words imply that there is an “Us vs them”. Like Christians competing against Hindus and or Muslims or any other religion. It isn’t about one religion vs another. And it isn’t about me vs my students. It is about my personal spiritual journey. It is about all of our journeys.
Somehow, 3000 years ago or so, the authors of the psalms understood what was most important in life, and it holds true today: We are walking with God on a spiritual journey, whether we realize it or not. The psalms remind us of that. They help us stay on track. They remind us of everything that God has done for us. And they reassure us that God will always be with us. We should not be tempted to be selfish and try to advance ourselves. They key is to have absolute faith in God.
When we forget that God is always with us, and we don’t truly believe that everything is in his hands, we start trying to control the world around us. And, since the world is very large and complex, we get overwhelmed and start picking battles that aren’t worth fighting. We give 5-year old ESL students the strap. And we sing songs about how our God is better than other Gods, forgetting that there is only one God.
The problem is that many people just plain don’t like true faith because there is no room for self-aggrandizement. You don’t get to be the hero. When you realize that everything good in your life has come by the grace and mercy of God, you have nothing to be proud of. BUT, you have everything to be grateful for. Speaking of which, my wife has been doing most of the baby work today. I am going to go and see if she needs a hand. If not, I’ll just lie down with them and marvel at all of God’s blessings in my life.