1. Reflect on the following questions:
A. Develop a plan for communicating with families of students who do not speak English at home. What kinds of information would you need to communicate to them? What information could they provide that would help you teach their children? What form would the communications take?
B. Develop a position statement and action plan on culturally relevant teaching. How could you support your teachers in examining and improving their practices? What are your expectations? What resources would you provide?
The following examples are based on the book Reading Romans with Luther by R.J. Grunewald. Even though you may not be familiar with this book, you should be able to get a general idea of what is expected from each of our discussion board assignments based on these answers as they relate to the content of this book.
B. Module 3: Week 3
Thread: Questions About The Bible
Squares, Triangles, Circles, and Hearts
Squares:
1. Because of sin, our nature (human nature) is curved in upon itself. This is what is theologically known as original sin. The Old Testament prophet Jeremiah understood this and wrote, “The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is?” (Jeremiah 17:9).
2. The heart is so corrupted by sin that it will fear, love, and trust anything and anyone but God. Therefore, cultural ideas like “trust your heart” or “follow your heart” should not be heeded. This kind of advice will only lead away from God.
3. “God always meets us when rock meets bottom. He promises to meet us in the place of despair” (Grunewald, p.101). Thus, it is in places of lowliness, weakness, and brokenness that we are must likely to find God. It is in these places that we will find the presence of God and not the absence of God.
4. Christians love their neighbor not out of obligation but out of a heart overflowing with the love of Jesus. This is the heart of a servant. This is also the heart of Jesus who demonstrated through his actions what being a servant looked like.
Triangles:
1. Sin is ultimately the worship of self and therefore a worship problem.
2. According to Luther, one reason that people leave the church is because sin is downplayed and good works are promoted, making people think they are already good enough or righteous enough for God’s acceptance.
3. “Christian growth is not primarily about sinning less. Christian growth is a war within us that is won by the Spirit through the Gospel…As you grow you will realize more and more how big the problem of sin is…Growth isn’t about needing the cross less, it’s about the cross doing its work daily. As we become acutely aware of what needs to be put to death our daily lives transform” (Grunewald, p. 96).
Circles:
1. How else does Paul describe the difference between the carnal and the spiritual man in his other letters and does Luther’s understanding in Romans fit with these descriptions?
2. How does Luther’s understanding of the gifts listed in Romans (Prophecy, Service, Teaching, Exhortation, Generosity, Leadership, and Mercy) fit with the other places Paul talks about gifts in his letters?
Hearts:
1. “Grace is the pronouncement of your relationship to the Father, and it has nothing to do with whether you are a well-behaved child of the Father” (Grunewald, p. 39).