Creating a Space where the Truth can be Practiced
“To teach is to create a space where the truth can be practiced.” – Parker Palmer
Right now in Iraq, Baghdad University is learning the importance of teachers creating special spaces for their students. Right now only 30% of BU’s students show up for classes and many who show up for class are so afraid that little learning can actually take place. Teachers are being threatened not to show up to teach, and many have abandoned their posts. Anyone involved in professional development must lie about their business in Baghdad in order to sneak through patrolled road blockades.
Teachers’ main job according to Palmer is to create a special kind of space. A space where the truth can be practiced. This space has been threatened in Iraq, and now the country faces a world without professionals or educated leaders. But what does a space “where the TRUTH can be PRACTICED” actually look like?
This is the kind of space that I am looking for. As a man who desires more than anything else to see people formed in the image of Christ our Lord, I am thinking hard about this definition as a platform for understanding how discipleship happens.
Churches for years have done a great job with getting people to a point where they make a decision for Jesus – raising their hand at the end of a sermon, praying a “sinner’s prayer” or even coming forward to repent and be baptized. All of those things are merely stones on the path toward full maturity in Christ – something we’ll never fully see in anyone this side of heaven.
We all need to be given space to grow into that form that Christ has shown us. Yeast grows to fit the container it is placed in. Could it be that our huge church facilities are still too constricting? Are they keeping Christ-followers from reaching their God-shaped potential?
I think that in the context of discipleship and “mission” work, The definition looks more like this:
“To invite others to Christ’s abundant life is to create a space within hearts, marriages, and spiritual communities where the Truth can be practiced.”
We need time each day to practice the Truth, (Jesus is the Way, Truth and Life). In our own personal way, we need to know how we connect with the Lord and discover how he is shaping us. This does not mean we have a “quiet time” every day with our devo-Bible dusted and ready to go. It might mean biking in the woods, getting ice cream with God, reciting Scripture as you wash the dishes, a vow of silence, reading poetry, or whatever your heart cries out for.
Our marriages need space to practice the truth. Katrina and I wrote a simple statement that has been a guiding voice in our marriage since the beginning. “To live a life of God’s JOY with each other by building an environment that will spur the other on toward a more spiritually-formed life influencing others to grow in the love of Christ.” Maybe it sounds cheesy to you, but we’ve made it a point in every place we’ve lived to create a spiritual space where we can be formed by the Spirit in personalized ways that bring us great joy. It has been amazing!
Our churches and spiritual communities need space within relationships to invite people to practice this truth. I’m not talking about physical space necessarily, but space within the hearts and wills of the people to practice what they know to be true. Feeding the homeless together, visiting the elderly, adopting an unwanted child, cleaning up a city park, praying the Lord’s prayer together each week…
Imagine what our world — YOUR world — would be like if you lived knowing that your heart was GOOD and that the things that brought you great joy actually brought God great joy and that he is interested in sharing in that joy with you? It all starts with a little yeast.
