Schools at the Well

But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. John 4:23

Most Christians seem familiar with Jesus’s (John 4) encounter with the woman at the Samaritan well. It’s one of the handful of His one-on-one interactions recorded by the gospel writers.

As I often do with familiar passages of scripture, I tend to read right past certain aspects of the stories. Because of this, I miss the opportunity to meditate on these conversations’ implications on my life. I imagine that we could find numerous applications from this particular conversation to our lives as educators, but I’m particularly interested in drawing attention to Jesus’s description of how His people are to worship.

Who knows how many times I’ve heard sermons or similar reflections based on this text, calling us to worship in “spirit and truth,” as Jesus says to the woman in v. 24. But I need to be reminded of these words daily, and I’m convinced that the same is true for our schools.

I was raised in a reformed Presbyterian church, have been on Presbyterian church staff, and my wife and I are currently members at a Presbyterian church. Growing up, it was expected of me that I learned my catechism; I learned my theology. A whole system of theology. Typically, Presbyterians know their theology pretty well. Unfortunately, many of us are rather proud of that fact (sadly, I have been guilty of that). Still, I’m thankful for this rich, theological heritage. What I’m not so proud of is that, our worship can lean “stale.” Lots of truth, but It lacks vibrancy. They don’t call us the frozen chosen for nothing.

I have many friends of far different church traditions. When I’ve visited their church services, I’ve been a bit uncomfortable with the lack of formal liturgy and theological readings. I don’t know what to do! But, at the same time, I’m impressed by the passion of their worship service. People seem really excited. It creates a bit of jealousy for me, as it seems so clear that the Spirit is present there. Yet, many of my friends in these traditions lament that they don’t have the same opportunities for theological growth as what we have in my church.

But, Jesus says that our worship is supposed to be characterized by both Spirit and Truth, and our emphasis on one shouldn’t be to the detriment of the other.

Schools aren’t all that different from churches in this regard. I see some schools with rich traditions of academic and theological excellence. They have thought through the nuances of applying a Christian perspective to their academic studies. Truth is held highly. Students are challenged; they know a lot of good things. But many of these schools struggle with the what it looks like to be spiritual, and I’m not just talking about having vibrant Chapel services. I’m talking about a willingness to be more in-tune with the realities of the Spiritual world: that our faith commitments may call us to something that looks different than the rest of the world, that the school feels more like a living community than an institution, or that imagination, wonder, and mystery are central to the life of the school. And, yes, chapels should be more vibrant too! More of an emphasis on Truth than Spirit.

I’ve seen other schools that have really invested in developing cultures that truly look like they’ve prioritized nurturing a community of faith. You can feel it. They’re o.k. with the realities that they don’t look like other schools. They have different priorities. They spend tons of time focussing on discipleship, worship, learning more about the Bible and putting it into practice. In my experience, many of these schools look more like a youth group within a school setting than a school with a Christian foundation. They don’t have robust faculty development programs, a high view of the intellect or academic rigor, nor a well-developed view of truth wherever it’s seen (tending to emphasize Christian works alone in their curricula). More of an emphasis on Spirit than Truth.

I realize that I’m painting with broad brush strokes here, and that the schools I see are somewhere along the spectrum when it comes to embracing both Spirit and Truth. There are really extreme versions of this separation in some Christian schools and some schools are navigating it in remarkable ways.

When I first started to write this, I suggested that another way to think about it is that some Christian schools emphasize the “School” aspect too highly and others emphasis the “Christian” aspect too highly … or some variation of that phrasing. The general idea works, but it starts to break down when we consider when we actually think about what being a Christian means and what school is fundamentally supposed to be about.

Dorothy Sayers says that Christianity is “supposed to be an interpretation of the universe.” It never was supposed to be about the spiritual realm alone. Jesus always talked about very physical things - the sorts of things that make up daily life, and the Apostle Paul was very adamant that Christianity has something to say about everything. “For from Him, and through Him, and to Him are all things…”

Also, schools were never supposed to focus on the intellect alone. Socrates (the architect of idea of a school) believed that fundamental purpose of a school was to help students to become virtuous people. He wasn’t interested only in what ideas were learned; he was interested in the sorts of people his students would become. It’s a whole person endeavor: the mind, the will, the body, the affections, the heart, the spirit. And, Jesus affirms what the Old Testament writers said – the greatest of all commandments doesn’t just call us to love God with our hearts (spirits), but our bodies and our minds.

So, by very nature of the terms, a Christian school doesn’t have to choose between the Spirit and Truth. Rather, being a Christian school by the very definition of the two terms should mean that these are never in conflict.

But the challenge isn’t that we just need to try harder. Yes, some of us need to consider how we can do a better job at elevating truth in our schools. And some of us need to consider the same about the Spirit. But that’s not where we need to start. When Jesus tells the Samaritan woman that we should worship in Spirit and Truth, he doesn’t follow it up by saying, “and that’s what you need to do. Work harder at that.” Actually what He says is “what you need is Me.” He directs the woman to Himself, the Living Water.

And that’s what our schools need above all other, we need to radically pursue Jesus, realizing that this doesn’t mean that we sacrifice either Spirit or Truth, but that Jesus quenches our thirst for both the Spirit and for truth. We need to embrace that pursuing Jesus actually does mean thirsting for truth and praying for and longing for the fullness of His spirit. Yes, let’s get better. More truth. More Spirit. But above all else, may we drink more deeply of Him at the well.