Children and the Body of Christ – Whole Centered Philosophy.
We are all a part of whole – the Body of Christ. When we act for our own good, at the expense of others, we are not focusing on the whole. We are acting as if there is a separation between us and others that makes us more important.
At Vanderkamp we strive to help each child see that she/he is part of the whole body of Christ, and while a distinct person, not separate from it. We cherish each child and also want each child to understand that she/ he is vital member of the community.
Philosophically speaking, when a person finds himself or herself to be the singularly most important person on earth, he or she can choose what seems momentarily advantageous for himself or herself over the good of the whole. This makes sense because as people we are located in our own bodies and are most influenced by our own thoughts and needs. But the Christian message challenges us to be more than this. It challenges us to be as accepting and loving of each member of the community as we are loving and accepting of ourselves.
At Vanderkamp we value each child no matter how challenging he or she may seem to others. In doing this we stress the importance of loving each person as a vital member of the body of Christ.
Parts of our human bodies may cause us great distress, but we never consider casting them aside completely. If I break my foot, I can’t ignore it, and I certainly won’t consider amputating that foot unless it threatens to harm my body further. No, instead I will do all that I can to nurse the foot back to health, for however inconvenient my life has become as result of my foot’s injury, I know that casting it aside would be far more damaging to me.
People who fail to live virtuously are the broken feet of the Body of Christ. We need to accept that these people are merely in need of care and compassion and not inherently useless or evil.
We have particularly deep compassion for those who do not care for their neighbors because we recognize that this behavior emerges from simple ignorance that they are part of the whole. Loving God is to love the whole. The more one loves God, the more one will turn away from the self-centered reality and, instead, care for one’s neighbor. We can help people forget this self-centered reality and then become God and neighbor-centered. If we view them as separate “others” and treat them with frustration, or attempt to threaten or shame them, we will typically only push them further into their self-centered delusions. It would be as logical as striking a broken foot with a hammer because one was frustrated it was broken.
At Vanderkamp, we are trying to live as though we are truly one body in Christ. We call honoring the whole “accepting the Peace of Christ in our hearts,” and believe that we are able to create a community where this Peace is demonstrated very consistently.
The requirements on how you treat people when you view them as mutual parts of a whole are quite serious. If you really, truly accept that you need to love your neighbor as yourself then every interaction needs to be approached intentionally. At Vanderkamp, we are calling for a radical rethinking of how children are treated. The kingdom of God belongs to them, and we intend to honor them and respect them as though we believe the gospel – not as though we are able to parrot its sayings. The only way to truly care for them is to realize they are a part of the body of Christ as surely as our feet are a part of our body.
In follow-up essays, we’ll deal with the specifics of how we attempt to consistently apply this love in every single one of our interactions with children. The first deals with help children be in the moment.
