Ideologies separate us. Dreams and anguish bring us together. ~Eugene Ionesco
The dreaded Group Project.
You know what will happen. The classmate who is supposed to supply plastic dinosaurs for the diorama won’t show. Or you’ll be stuck in front of the class with visual aids for a presentation no one’s written.
Group projects are never fair, but teachers love them. The weak, the strong, the forgetful and overachiever eye each other across the room–we are in this together. We sink or swim in the same grading pool.
Why can’t we avoid these assignments? Recently, my daughter shared with me the answer:
Because life is a group project.
God Invented The Group Project
Reading through the Old Testament, my eyes glaze over when I come to lists of laws. But when read in the context of other ancient codes, God’s commands leave me stunned.
Mesopotamian kings crafted their lists as a kind of political piety–See how competent I am to rule? The laws, like the famous Code of Hammurabi, reflect a viewpoint not uncommon today: Human life is cheap, protection of property is the highest value.
We turn to Exodus and Leviticus and a different perspective emerges: Human life is sacred, property rights always come second to human dignity and well-being.
Biblical law leans away from self-interest, away from the obvious and easy. And commands us to remember.
- Remember what it was like to be powerless and mistreated.
- Remember how I showed you mercy.
- Remember how I rescued and cared for you.
Now do the same for others.
By default, humans choose the way of Hammurabi over the way of God. Things over people, me over us, us over them.
But every once in a while, you find a place where ears are tuned to God’s voice, where a group project is beautifully assembled.
In Chicago, a little church with a big heart houses a warming center for homeless men and gathers as a community for homemade meals, prepared in honor of their vagrant guests. Last week I sat in the cozy church basement enjoying a tamales dinner my kids helped prepare.
These mainly young adults have grasped that life is a group project, that they are to imitate God, who created us to need one another, and to thrive when we choose to put people first.
Here’s my question for you: In life’s great group project, what were you assigned to bring?
Your part matters, so don’t forget to show up.
5 replies on “Life Is A Group Project”
Oh Janet, what a beautiful reminder of the tapestry that God has woven us in to. Below are the knots in chaotic clamor, but above is the incredible story that unfolds in the beauty of what has been revealed through the design of the Creator. LIfe IS a group project! Thank you for this message today, your words resonate an amazing truth!
A great image, Judi! Thank you.
Janet – I’m finally getting time to go back and read many of your amazing blog posts from the past month, and this one really connected for me. As a teacher, I use group projects, too. And yes, my students hate them. But I do love them – for the exact reason that your daughter gave you.
I especially like to use them in my Organizational Communication class – where we learn that working as a team is critical to anyone’s success, both in the classroom, in the workplace, in the church, and in life. Helping students learn how to adapt their communication to the needs of others in their group is a key learning experience. I teach them that it’s not all about getting A’s. It’s about serving one another, allowing my rough edges to be rubbed off, growing in community, bringing out the best in one another, and doing better work together than any one of us could do alone.
These are truly biblical principles, and they are truly difficult!
Thanks for continuing to write these thought-provoking posts. 🙂
Linda, your students are fortunate to be learning from you, though they may still dread group projects! Thanks, my friend.
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