One of my strongest memories of my early childhood education among others was going to school for the first time at Blessed Sacrament in Wichita Kansas and being commanded to stand in a line and march into our classroom in a single file straight line. While somewhat scary and regiment, this took only one day to learn as the nuns while kind and somewhat considerate, really meant business.  This was followed by learning how to raise my hand.  This meant a variety of things.  If you had a question, had an answer, or needed to go the bathroom; which also included using either one finger or two (you figure it out); you raised your hand.  This rule or conditioned response was to be followed with out exception. 

While there was some trial and error here, it only took a few reprimands to conquer this exercise that has followed me for a lifetime.  How about you?  If so, raise your hand!

It was satisfying to me at first.  I had completed an important part of my early education and what was being asked of me; especially if I sat up straight, used the teachers name correctly and every other manner that I had been taught thus far.  Coming from a very big family and being one of the youngest it was awesome to have someone calling on me when I had a question or allowing me to respond to a question for which I actually had an answer for! 

However, as I grew a bit older, my hand was up way too much for all of the questions I had, and no one seemed to have the answers that satisfied me...  I can’t remember anymore how many times I was sent to confession for raising my hand.

Considering that as well as my mischievous streak my mother made sure that I had my rosary with me at all times.  Let’s just say that my sister, Casey and I were relentless and had been labeled “Bonnie and Clyde” of the neighborhood.

The word education is derived from the Latin, “educare”, literally translated as “to bring out of” or “to lead forth”.  And as Scott Peck states in his book “The Road Less Traveled”;  “Therefore when we educate people, if we use the word seriously, we do not stuff something new into their minds; rather, we lead this something out of them; we bring it forth from the unconscious into their awareness.  They were the possessors of the knowledge all along”. 

This certainly makes sense to me as I am now sure that learning to raise my hand had always been a part of my unconscious and once I became aware of its power I have used it frequently. Yet I was told as a child, way to often.

I was raised in the Catholic Church and while many of the traditions were and still are meaningful to me; I didn’t fit the mold.  I needed something that felt more like home where no one is turned away and all are welcome.  As Jim Burklo writes in his book “Open Christianity”; “Home By Another Road”.  So, my journey lead me to the UCC like many of us who come from other religious affiliations or backgrounds and I have found a place that is home to me and where it is okay to raise my hand. 

When I worked at our UCC Camp, Pilgrim Pines; as the Director of Operations and Program; I became a certified facilitator of team building, staff development and low and high rope courses.  During my training with  other directors or different camps and organizations we had to go through all the different games, activities and experiences that we would eventually be putting staff, campers and groups through ourselves. 

One such activity was called the maze.  We were led in a caterpillar line, holding onto each other and blind folded.  It was a trust walk and I was excited that we were all in it together.  It seemed to me that during this training I could really excel in helping my group to succeed through team work. However, as we walked through the mountain area of unlevel ground it became clear that this could be a lot harder than it seemed.  At one point we halted and were told that we had come to the maze. We would be blindfolded for the experience and once inside the maze we could stay together or release ourselves from the rest of the group and go it alone.  Once we were brought into the maze, we were told that it was a silent exercise. 

The only way we were allowed to communicate was by raising our hand.  One, if we had a question; two, if we had found the way out or three, if we had just had enough.  We were also told to never let go of the rope that was to be our guide. 

We had to duck our heads to enter and everyone seemed to be holding on pretty tightly to each other.  After a few minutes of holding onto the rope and walking the maze while holding onto the person in front of me and someone holding onto me, I realized a few things, this was not going to be as easy as it sounded, trying to hold onto and being held onto was actually holding me back!  I also realized that we were going around in what seemed like a circle!  I wanted to call out, but I didn’t want to raise my hand.  For the first time in my life I resisted raising my hand, I felt like by doing so, it meant that I couldn’t figure it out.  So, instead I dropped my hand from the person in front of me and removed the hand of the person holding onto me.  I was sure that they were not far from me and that once I had figured the maze out, I would get them both before exiting.  Then I began to hear from the trainer that someone had succeeded in exiting the maze.  I was happy for them, but was anxious to be next.  I began to walk faster and it was quite clear to me that we were definitely going around the same place again and again. 

Then the trainer told us that several people had exited the maze successfully.  Now I was not only annoyed but clearly frustrated.  What was I missing? 

I began to move around the people in front of me, while still managing to hold onto the rope and thinking silently that maybe if I was in front of everyone that might be the secret, maybe there was a marker that I was missing by not being in front of the group.  And again, the voice of our trainer, letting the few of us that were left know that we had been in the maze 20 minutes and over 50% of the group and exited successfully.  Now I was not only frustrated, but actually angry.  I believed myself to be an intelligent person and I have graduated from college and worked through a lot of situations that I was sure were smarter than this!  I finally decided to speak out. I really didn’t want to ask a question, I just wanted to let them know that I knew we were going around in circles.  However, once I raised my hand, my blindfold was removed by the trainer and holding his finger to his mouth to continue my silence, he voiced to the last few in the maze that another person had exited successfully.  I protested.  I took him aside and whispered that I only wanted to say something…maybe it was a question, but I certainly wasn’t ready to give up!  He smiled, put his finger to his lips for me to be quiet and patted me on the shoulder. 

When the exercise was over he wanted to know how we all felt.  What do you think?  We went around and around in circles with no way out and it seemed to me that the whole thing was a set up. I was not alone.  Many of us had the same reaction.  He then explained that raising our hand WAS THE WAY TO EXIT SUCCESSFULLY!

Life is a full circle, and often we are blinded by what is clearly in front of us. We fail to raise our hand for a variety of reasons.  One of the most important lessons we need to learn is when to raise our hand.  If you have a question, if you know the way out of a situation or if you have just had enough. 

We all move through this life wanting to be able to figure out what we are expected of, accomplishing the task successfully and to prove to others and ourselves that we have learned our lessons, we know what we are doing, where we are going and we are capable.  Yet, in experiencing this exercise I realized that in life, we can learn a lot by just raising our hand.  We don’t have to go it alone but all too often we want more to prove what seems like adult behavior, or have all the answers.  We don’t listen to what others might know and that might have a better solution and we lose a bit of what we were taught as children.

In our scripture today from the book of Mark; it is clear that Jesus has been teaching and traveling along with his disciples and that during this time many adults and children were around. As with many gatherings when both are present; they are separate.  The adults are in one place and the children in another.  As the children gathered around him, the disciples are concerned that the children are bothering him. They even as it is noted in scripture, spoke sternly to them.  But Jesus was indignant.  “Let the little children come to me; do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs.  Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it.”  And he toke them up in his arms, laid his hands on them and blessed them.”

Many of the lessons Jesus taught us were done in parable and story.  You

really had to be paying attention closely to understand the meaning. So many of our greatest life lessons are taught through circumstance and experience, but if you are not paying attention, you might miss the lesson completely.  Many lessons are taught through story and metaphor if only as Jesus said, “we have the eyes to see and the ears to hear.” 

If we are to learn anything from Jesus’ teachings, it would be that being open to what is around us and as a child be willing to hear it with young ears, and see with young eyes, we too might be able to live differently and change the world. However for many of us, because we have been to school, dealt with the experiences of life, we are often unaware of how much more there is to learn.  Who wants to go back and be a child or child-like? 

Rodger Fulghum, author of “All I Ever Needed To Know, I Learned In Kindergarten” and countless other books, wrote this true story; it has always inspired me and taught me one of the greatest lessons I know.  

“A man named Christos Popoderos learned about the meaning of life early in his own life.  He is a doctor of philosophy, a teacher and a politician.  He is a resident of Athens, and was born of the island of Create.  During World War II, when Popoderos was quite young, Nazi paratroopers invaded Crete and they were attached by peasants wielding kitchen knives and other simple weapons.  The retribution by the Nazis was immediate and terrible.  The populations of whole villages were lined up and shot for assaulting Hitler’s finest troops.  On a hill overlooking the island, there is a cemetery with a single cross marking the mass grave of these unsophisticated warriors.  And across the bay, on yet another hill, is the regimented burial ground of the Nazi paratroopers.  The memorials are so placed that all might see and never forget. 

Now against this heavy curtain of history, in this place where the stone of hatred is hard and thick, Christos Popoderos has founded an Institute that is dedicated to peace.  The institute is a place that overlooks the very spot where hundreds were killed, and its programs are ones which bring together the spiritual descendents of both the Germans and the citizens of Crete.

The institute was created because, when the war was over, Popoderos came to believe that the Germans and the Cretans had much to give one another.  Much to learn from one another.  He came to believe that they had an example to set.  For if they could forgive each other, and construct a creative relationship, than any people could. 

One summer, during a conference held at the institute, Christos Popoderos was giving an impressive lecture on peace.  As he was winding down, Popoderos asked the students the same question that most leaders ask at the end of a presentation –“Are there any questions?”  One person in the back of the large lecture hall raised his hand, and asked, “What is the meaning of life?” The lecture hall was filled with chuckles, but Popoderos raised his hand for silence.  “I will answer that question,” he said.  And he proceeded to the nearby window, a window that overlooked the wartime battleground.  He took his wallet out of his hip pocket.  He fished into a leather fold and brought out a very small round mirror, about the size of a quarter, and then he told this story.

“When I was a child during the war we were very poor.  And we lived in a remote village.  One day on the road I found the broken pieces of a mirror.  A German motorcycle had been wrecked in that place.  I tried to find all the pieces and put them together, but it was not possible, so I kept only the largest piece.  This one.  And by scratching it on a stone, I made it round.  I began to play with it as a toy.  I became fascinated with the fact that I could reflect light into the dark places where the sun would never shine; into the deep holes and crevices and closets.  It became a game for me to get light into the most inaccessible places I could find.  And so I kept the little mirror.  And as I went about my growing up I would take it out in idle moments and continue the challenge of the game.  As I became a man, I grew to understand that this was not just a child’s game, but a metaphor for what I might do with my life.  I came to understand that I am not the light or the source of light.  But light, meaning truth, understanding, knowledge, is there and it will only shine in many dark places if I reflect it.  I know now that I am a fragment of a mirror whose whole design and shape I do not know.

 Nevertheless, with what I have I can reflect light into the dark places of this world, and change some people.  And perhaps others may see and do like wise.  That is the meaning of my life.” And with that he left the room and the students to figure it out.

“The Lord sets the prisoners free; the Lord opens the eyes of the blind.  The Lord lifts up those who are bowed down; The Lord loves the righteous.  The Lord watches over the stranger. God upholds.”  In the Psalm 146 there is praise for God and an affirmation that there is always help from God.  However, God works through US.  WE have to do the work.  Be there for the stranger, the hungry those who are oppressed and bowed down.  We are the branches and God is the vine.  Through each and every one of us the power of God’s love is branching out to help if only we would raise our hand, take a stand and make it possible. The psalmist writes “I will sing praises to God all my life long.”  And God will continue to look to us to save ourselves and others all of our life long too.  There is hope in the Lord, but only if we are willing to act. 

The words of “Progressive Christians Uniting” are “see, pray, act.”  Here at IUCC we work to make this statement a reality.  We often raise our hands as we work through the questions and encourage others to do the same.  We provide an environment where all are welcome. We have tapped into our own unconscious and have brought what we have always known to be true and right to the forefront; whether it be for equal rights for those who oppressed, are gay, lesbian or transgender, giving shelter and voice to the immigrants who have rights that are often violated, walking and standing up for peace through prayer vigils, raising money and food donations for many different organizations that take care of those in need and continuing to stand for justice peacefully.  We individually and collectively work to shine light into the darkest places. 

Today is Christian Education Sunday, it is a day to celebrate and honor those who have and are working with children and adults to continue their journey and to help lead them forth and to bring out truth, understanding and knowledge.  Perhaps all of us as students have been the possessors of it all along.  However, I have a feeling that it is a never ending road for which the journey is much more important than the destination. It is about helping each other continue to understand the power and beauty of God’s love and Jesus’ teachings.  It is about continuing to explore what is right there in front of us.

Today is about living by example.  It is about living as an adult who hasn’t forgotten the ideals of our childhood. It’s about being a child wanting to explore what is offered.  It is about continuing to live the questions, and raise our hand when we know we have a question about what is happening to our community or our world.

It about raising our hand when we have an answer,  a solution and listening to others young or older who might have one too and working together to make a difference.  It is about raising our hand when we have just had enough with the untruths and injustice and are willing to do something about it.  It is about teaching our children and those which are around to do the same as well as the adults; for we are ALL children of God. It’s about light. Margaret Mead once said “It is only through small communities that we can make a difference in the world; it has always been so.” 

And if you agree, please signify by raising your hand and be willing to see, pray and act.  AMEN.