避免浪费基督教育的十大提醒

陈彪

上个周末我和师母开车到Covenant College参加了女儿大学毕业典礼，心中十分的感恩和满足。作为毕业生，他们4年中得到许多整合的教育，自己也付出许多的辛劳，而快乐、友谊、失望等……都伴随着他们成长；做家长的我们，更多是透过祷告、金钱和引导来支持和帮助儿女们，走过他们人生的迈向成人的关键阶段。

在毕业的晚宴和早晨的典礼上，我们听到了许多美好的见证、劝勉和祷告。当我回到IIIM办公室与同事分享到晚宴时，Dr. Kapic精彩幽默的Top 10 ways you could squander your education的内容后，有人说你应该和大家分享一下。或许这个10大提醒对我们成人的基督徒人生，也是一个极好提醒。我没有像女儿那样记了完整的笔记，只有十大提醒的字眼。如果有什么杜撰和误解，全都是记忆失丧的错。有一点保证没有记错，他们2011届的毕业生的经文是“[上帝]所积蓄的一切智慧知识，都在他[基督]里面藏著。”（西2.3）。

10、幽默——如果你还不能自嘲的话，还把自己看的太重要的话，你一定会浪费了你的大学教育。

9、好奇——如果你放弃了你的好奇心，不再对人生、未知领域抱有一定的探险心态，变得没有进取心，你一定会浪费了你的大学教育。

8、饮酒——我用这个标题，在于提醒你基督徒的节制和自由，一切上帝赐予的都是好的，都该合宜的以感恩的心，凭着信心和祷告来领受。但是，做万事都要适当和负责。不然，你一定会浪费了你的大学教育。

7、教会——如果你总是批评耶稣基督的新妇，而并不是去造就她，自我清高不再参与教会的生活和事奉，你一定会浪费了你的大学教育。

6、同在——如果你只是活在Facebook里，没有活在完整的被造的物质世界里，一切都是虚拟的话，你一定会浪费了你的大学教育。

5、受苦——如果你忘记了活在末世，依靠圣灵接受苦难的磨炼，你不仅难以在成圣路上长进，你还失去了体会他复活生命在你软弱中的大能，你一定会浪费了你的大学教育。

4、工作——如果你毕业多时了，还藏在你父母的地下室里，不去工作，你不仅失去了一个常人的功能，你还忘记了你是上帝的形象赋予的使命，你一定会浪费了你的大学教育。

3、差异——如果你不能从与不同的人相处和学习，无论是基督徒、还是非基督徒，如果你不能与你观点不同的人和思想中，有所学习，你一定会浪费了你的大学教育。

2、奥秘——千万不要以为你已经透知了一切，不断学习向上帝开放，深知自己的有限、相对的活物，未知的总是大于已知的。你一定会浪费了你的大学教育。

1、恩典——一切都恩典，一切是上帝的怜悯。如果你忘了前面9点的任何一点，你仍然没有枉费你的大学教育。然而若是忘记了一切都是恩典，视人生的一切都是理所当然、应该享有的，上帝和人们都欠了你的，那么，你不仅浪费了你的大学教育，你更是浪费了你的人生。

或许，这是为什么在毕业典礼上，除了学生外，还有这么多带着耳朵的亲朋好友出席。我们都是容易忘记的人。

附上Dr. Kapic original notes, which slightly different from his speech

Ten ways to Squander your Covenant College Education

 

Dr. Kelly M. Kapic

 

 

10) Laugh: Please don’t start taking yourselves too seriously. Laugh at yourself, and invite others to as well.  This can save your friendships, your marriages, your lives.  Please don’t forget this in the future, for you are the same people that watched hours of Brian Regan and Nacho Libre, laughed at fart sounds, embarrassed yourself on that date, and some of you even secretly liked Justin Beiber.  Seriously, don’t underestimate the redemptive significance of laughter – listen for the laughter of heaven.  And please don’t take yourself too seriously, because if you do, you will misunderstand the kingdom and your place in it.

 

9) Curiosity: don’t stop questioning, reading, learning, growing, revising.  Discover the joy of reading what you want, not what you have to.  Read and think broadly.  Do not simply read people you already know agree with you – read those who will challenge your thinking. Ask the questions others won’t, but which need to be asked.  Be curious, not apart from God, but with him.  He is not afraid of your curiosity.  This is his world, his reality.  Over: Don’t think your education is over.

 

8) Drink: Drink bad beer, cheap wine, or flavored coffee.  Listen, contract is a good thing, but now it is over. Many of you will now occasionally drink.  So you need to learn to drink responsibly.  That means both, ‘don’t be stupid and drink and drive or drink too much.’  But it also means, if you are going to drink, don’t drink bad beer, cheap wine, or flavored coffee. 

 

7) Church: Critiquing it, but not loving it.  Root yourself in a local church, and draw deeply from its nourishment and protection.  I have found through the years, that for many graduates the first 6-12 months after leaving college are some of the hardest on their faith.  Struggles come; isolation can set in as you move to a new place.  The most important thing my wife and I recommend to graduates is to plug into a local church as soon as possible.  Don’t just critique the church, love it.  Similarly, don’t just hate Institutions: All institutions are broken, so don’t let that keep you from them. Be patient, invest, and take ownership, rather than simply staying on the outside critiquing. 

 

6) Presence: To reduce your relationship to mediated experiences (iPhone, etc.,) while neglecting the value of physical space, time, and presence with those God puts in your life.   Part of your education was that physicality matters; dont forget the importance of embodiement, and that includes valuing true presence.  It also means things like going not only to Google museums, but also to actual museums. 

 

5) Suffer: Treat people’s suffering as an idea to be pondered, or a philosophical question to be answered, but not something that you enter into, live with, and struggle through.  Analyze: To find yourself always analyzing, but never engaging. I been so impressed with so many of you who get this at such a young age.  Don’t let the worries of this world and the demands of your own life take that away from you.  You and people you love will suffer, andq they don’t simply need a theological axiom, they need a theological life.  Live your theology.

 

4) Job: if you don’t get a job, and live in your parents basement in five years, you are at great risk of squandering your Covenant College education.  Listen, your parents love you, and they love when you visit, but come on.  Getting paid is a good thing.

 

3) Difference: Always be ready to learn from everyone.  You squander your education if you fail to see how much you can learn from those who didn’t go to college, or if you fail to see how much you can learn from non-Christians and those who are different from you. Celebrate difference.  Cultivate friendships with people who are different than you.  Differences include socio-economic, ethnic, educational, political, theological traditions, etc.  Don’t politizize your friendships and find yourself only surrounded with people who echo your own thoughts.

 

2) Mystery: Never forget, mystery and ambiguity can be your friend, not always your enemy.  Embrace the tension.  You don’t know all the answers, and that is not Covenant’s fault.  Your finitude is not a sin.  Let the complexity, struggle, and mystery provoke worship of Christ, rather than drive you from him. 

 

1) Grace: to remain only receiving grace, but failing to be a conduit of grace to others.