A Homily

My friend Kale sent this:

Prayer for the week
By Jennie Hogan

Lord Jesus, merciful and patient, grant us grace,
I beseech thee, ever to teach in a teachable spirit; learning along with those we teach, and learning from them whenever thou so pleasest; that we and they may all be taught of God.

Christina Rossetti

(1830-94) (shortened)

Jennie Hogan learns that a teacher has to let God work

After three years of intense theological training, I thought that I was ready for life as a curate. How wrong I was. Nothing can fully prepare one for the challenges of ordained life, and my learning has continued way beyond the hallowed walls of college.

If I have one regret about my time in theological college, it is that I was so busy poring over Anselm’s Prosologion that I gave little thought as to how I might best pass on the faith. I now see that teaching extends beyond the pulpit, to assemblies, discussion groups, classes, high streets, and dinner tables. Christina Rossetti’s prayer has a great deal to teach us, not only about the delicate art of teaching, but also about the nature and the will of God.

This gentle and mature prayer speaks of intimacy with God. Christina Rossetti was educated at home in London by her mother, and later the pair set up a day school. She even did a little work for SPCK, and valued promoting knowledge.

Christina Rossetti was a deeply religious woman, and her Victorian family was notoriously devout and artistic. She is best-known for her devotional writing, not least for penning the words to "In the bleak midwinter". The Church commemorates her on 27 April (Faith, 22 April 2005).

Jesus is called upon here as the model teacher; he is "merciful and patient" . Jesus spent most of his ministry teaching. He had much to say: about his identity, purpose, and future. This was not an easy subject. Yet Jesus taught with consummate dignity and finesse. He was an attractive, imaginative teacher, whose parables excited and bewildered large audiences. Christ who teaches as the foot-washing Lord should be the constant focus for all who teach. Jesus is explicit in both word and action: "For I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you" (John 13.15).

Unfortunately, many of us have had bad teachers: those whose stubbornness, pride, and self-loathing prevented them from doing their job. The "teachable spirit" Rossetti writes of is one that illuminates, and encourages growth; such teaching has no ego. To educate is to draw out. As the late Muriel Spark’s creation Miss Jean Brodie wisely put it: "Educate them not to fill them with knowledge, enliven what is already growing there."

Such a view recognises that nobody is a blank slate. In this respect, teaching is a reciprocal relationship, one that requires honesty and vulnerability on the part of both teacher and student. This can be difficult, and I know of some new curates who are treated as if they have little to offer because of their inexperience. The "Father knows best" approach can be damaging.

Perhaps Rossetti understands something of the potentially harmful nature of power. She knows that God is most present when power is absent. This prayer reminds us that the teacher has to let God do the work, and so become God’s co-worker. If teaching is done with patience, sensitivity, and humility, then it can be an activity of constant revelation — of the self, of the other, and of God.

The Revd Jennie Hogan is Assistant Curate at St Stephen’s, Rochester Row, Westminster, and Chaplain of Chelsea College of Art and Design.