Holden part 2 - learning

Part of being at Holden Village was taking advantage of educational opportunities. This was very much part of the rhythm I spoke of in part one. Becky and I listened to a pastor reflect on our relationship with God and our neighbors (people). This pastor then challenged us to consider the story of Cain and Abel, where Cain kills his brother Abel and asks God "Am I my brother's keeper?"

One day Cain suggested to his brother, “Let’s go out into the fields.” And while they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother, Abel, and killed him.
Afterward the Lord asked Cain, “Where is your brother? Where is Abel?”
“I don’t know,” Cain responded. “Am I my brother’s guardian?”
But the Lord said, “What have you done? Listen! Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground! - Genesis 4:8-10

His premise is that we are raising up Cain rather than honoring Abel. Cain gave into his anger to kill his brother and did not see that he truly was his brother's keeper. As a country, we tend to lift up the Cain's of this world rather than the Abel's. For his part all we know about Abel was that he gave the Lord a pleasing sacrifice to God, the best of what he was blessed. That premise is worth listening and even reading more into. That challenging interpretation was not as challenging as the next. 

We then looked at the parable of the Talents found in Matthew 25:14-30. The usual stewardship sermon goes on to invite us not to be the one servant who did nothing with the talents (money) he was given. We uplift the other two servants who made their master money. This pastor challenged us to think differently about this parable. (Jesus gives no instruction on how to interpret this teaching.) What if Jesus is lifting up the servant who buried the money in the ground as a way of not participating in the system of slavery of his master? I love that he offered it to us as a 'What if" question. That is a challenge to how I have preached this passage before and how I have heard it taught.

On our final full day in the village we heard from a different teacher who offered us the idea of being learners/disrupters as followers of Jesus. He did so by reading the Gospel of Thomas and the Gospel of Luke next to each other. The Gospel of Thomas is outside the Canon readings of Scripture and only recently found (1948).

Learning at Holden isn't just in the classroom, it found in the pottery and craft barn, it is found in the hiking of the surrounding nature, in the gardens, in the service to the community with odd jobs, it is found in the conversations around tables and Adirondack chairs, in the choir practices, and in worship.  Learning is a community value and was lived out by learning as a community.  Holden uplifts the practice of life long learning each day.