As a former English teacher, I love words. I especially love words that are new to me and that help me see life experiences in a richer, deeper light.
A new word for me this summer is "karass." This actually is a relatively new word for everyone. It was first coined in 1963 by Kurt Vonnegut in his book Cat's Cradle. He created this word to describe a fictional religion called Bokononism; however, I have found it applicable to Christianity, education, and the beginning of the school year.
Vonnegut's new word karass is a noun meaning, "a diverse group of people that, unknown to them, are somehow linked together by God, to fulfill His purpose."
This definition above (liberally constructed from various definitions), implies an active God who intentionally assembles groups of people for a higher purpose.
Isn't that a great description of the beginning of a school year, especially at a Christian school? What does your karass look like at your school or in your class?
When I get a chance for a reflective break at the beginning of the year, one of my favorite things is to take a balcony view of my staff and students and ask ...
- Why did God assemble this specific group of staff and students specifically at this time and in this place?
- I wonder what God is doing?
- What does He want us to learn from each other?
- How does He want us to use this combination of gifts to heal our wounded world?
These are all karass questions.
The beauty of a karass is two-fold.
First, a karass is a diverse group of people and that is beautiful. If everyone possessed the same worldview, background, experiences, and gifts, nobody would learn anything and nobody would solve problems. We need different perspectives, expertise, and talents to grow and to see obstacles from a different viewpoint. Diversity is the key to learning, growing, and advancing as an individual and a community, and it provides energy to our world. What a blessing diversity is, especially in education.
Second, a karass is unified to accomplish a higher goal and that is beautiful. While most schools and organizations have a mission statement that intends to unify their students and employees, the beauty in a unifying purpose comes from it being God-centric. Many schools and organizations champion a mission that is solely self-serving and egocentric ... that is not beautiful, and ultimately, that is not unifying as each individual strives for their own gain. The beauty comes from the unifying purpose being selfless, spiritual (even a little mysterious) and reformational.
Universities
Educational systems have been unifying diversity with a common mission for years, and they are called "universities." As the name implies, uni-versities take a diverse set of subject areas (versity) and unify them under a single mission (uni). Many universities began as a karass (a diverse group of people unified for a spiritual purpose). Unfortunately, the karass beauty is lost in most schools today because the unwritten (and sometimes written) mission of the school is egocentric and self-serving. A learning environment only becomes a karass if it has a purpose greater than the individual; thus, many schools are not beautiful karasses.
Body of Christ
Christians are familiar with the concept of a karass, as it is closely tied to the "body of Christ" metaphor (I Cor. 12). When the body of Christ imagery is used in the Bible, it refers to the twofold beauty of a karass. Each body part is diverse and specifically formed with a unique function, and all parts are unified to help the body accomplish an ultimate goal.
Your Classroom Karass!
Does God assemble a diverse group of people to fulfill His ultimate purpose? Absolutely and beautifully. The master weaver takes the amazing human diversity found in His creation and carefully places each individual in a group for a reason that only He knows. This happens each year when he places specific students into a classroom with a teacher.
As you start the year and see your students for the first time, look closely and ask ...
How can my classroom be a karass?
Why did God place these students together (with me) this year?
What is God doing?
What holy purpose does God want us to accomplish?
What does he want us all to learn from this diverse combination?
From this perspective, grow your classroom into a beautiful karass! Celebrate diversity and work to achieve God-centric objectives this year.
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