On Saturday, Ingvar Kamprad, the founder of IKEA died. He became one of the richest persons in the world by selling cheap stuff–lots of it. According to my American colleague, the IKEA marketing also fostered a throw away culture in Sweden. Recently I posted about a solid oak shelf that my colleague rescued from the dumpster and now stands in my office. Recently, I went dumpster diving when I brought my trash to our apartment complex garbage collection room. I discovered that someone moving out had dumped their whole kitchen and more. I found some things to salvage. The kitchen wares are on a nice yoga mat. I finally have a larger bowl that fits in the microwave!
Life has been busy with grading. Only one course left to grade, which I’m hoping to finish tonight. Still, the teaching continues. I taught a inductive Bible study method on asking questions. I preface it with a conversation about the pre-understandings we bring to the text. We all have contextual glasses that influence what we see in the text or how we view it. So, we need to intentionally develop our understanding of the original context and try to view through their eyes a bit more. So, here’s my fun experience to illustrate this–the red lens decoder glasses to represent a cultural view. When they are on, the red dots covering the light blue text disappear to reveal a message on the PowerPoint slide. Such simple technology (not even 3-D) is quite cool for those who haven’t experienced it before.
I heard from a student who isn’t in this class that the students appreciated Monday’s lessons on Hebrew poetry and the lament Psalms. Beyond the illustrations from Pink Floyd (a lyric with assonance), a video clip with Bono from U2 talking about how the Psalms allow us to be honest with God, and a music video from the Hasidic hip hop artist, Matisyahu, with his interpretation of the lament in Psalm 137–I ended the academic portion of class and had 10 minutes for reflection in order to have a conversation that can integrate the day’s themes into life, faith, and ministry. We discussed how to nurture a safe place for lament in ministry, in the midst of a dominant reserved and stoic culture. Good stuff–better than what you can buy at IKEA.
With blessings,
Beth