Embracing the Hidden Curriculum of Faith

The hidden curriculum involves who sit next to who or who gets picked to be on a team and who sits out or who is included at lunchtime or who gets called on when they raise their hands. The formal curriculum is planned; the hidden curriculum happens spontaneously. The formal curriculum is about what we will know; the hidden curriculum is about who we will be. [00:02:02]

If in the formal curriculum we say every human being is made in the image of God, all men, all human beings are created equal, but if in the hidden curriculum of our daily lives, as we talk with people, connect with people, I get all excited and amped up and eager to please when I'm with somebody who is wealthy or important or attractive or highly educated... [00:02:42]

Churches have a formal curriculum, and one of the dangers for folks who do stuff like this stuff I've done most of my life is I get to think about what I will say in the formal curriculum and plan out what stories I will tell them, what language I will use and try to communicate the values that I most want to be associated with... [00:03:33]

It's in the moments of the hidden curriculum that what I really believe becomes apparent. The formal curriculum is where we declare what we profess to believe; the hidden curriculum reveals what we actually believe. And now Jesus was the master of the hidden curriculum. All good teachers understand this intuitively even if they don't know the language for it... [00:04:06]

He says to his disciples, what were you arguing about along the way? Because even though he's talked quite a lot about servanthood, when they're off stage, off the platform, what they're arguing about is who's the greatest. That's the hidden curriculum. Or he says to a group of self-righteous people, let the one who is without sin cast the first stone... [00:04:49]

Francis said, and then he goes through these other achievements wouldn't be a great ministry of healing, wouldn't be raising the dead, wouldn't be possessing all languages, all science, understanding all prophecy in scripture, even converting everybody. At this point, Brother Leo is amazed and he begs Francis to teach him where it is perfect joy... [00:06:47]

The reply is that if, when they come to their quarters, dirty, wet, exhausted from hunger, they are rejected repeatedly, rebuffed, and finally driven away by force, then if we accept such injustice, such cruelty, and such contempt with patience, without being ruffled and without murmuring, and if we bear all these injuries with patience and joy... [00:07:28]

The point of it is that when rejection does come, when suffering does come, when something difficult does come, that's the hidden curriculum that reveals to me the state of my own soul and the extent to which I really am ready to say to God, your will be done. I don't need to have my will done, to be able to let go of... [00:08:38]

In the hidden curriculum, in those moments, I find out the extent to which my will really is surrendered to God. Doesn't mean it's a weak will; it just means it's a surrendered will. So that's the thought for today: be aware of the hidden curriculum. It will come when you're not expecting it, when you get interrupted... [00:09:05]

When you are stuffing stuck in traffic, when somebody treats you in a way that you did not want to be treated, that's the hidden curriculum. And then Jesus is with us, and then Jesus is teaching, and we're teaching other people around us through the hidden curriculum all the time when all kinds of trials and temptations crowd into your lives... [00:09:28]

My brothers and sisters, don't resent them as intruders but welcome them as friends. They are the hidden curriculum. Jesus is the master of the hidden curriculum, so look for it today. [00:09:53]

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