God as Teacher

I began reading an article in a business online resource that surprising took me to the title, God as teacher.  It will not be obvious when I begin sharing some things from this article that we will ultimately come to a discussion about God, but hang in there with me.  I was intrigued by the article since it focused on the Rubik Cube.  Now I don’t know anything about the Cube, except that it looks difficult.

The article by Alison Beard began by talking about Erno Rubik, who you rightly might guess, invented the Cube and gave his name to it.  As I read more about him, I realized having the thing named after Rubik probably did not matter to him.  What mattered to me was learning about his story and how it can inform our own story.  And then, I linked it to God, which is not at all obvious.

Rubik grew up in Hungary, when it was still part of the larger Communist block of countries in eastern Europe.  His dad was creative, but from hearing him tell his story, his boyhood was more typical than special.  He certainly was curious, but most kids are.  He was interested in what people did and was drawn to find out more about them.  I liked his line when he acknowledges, “I’m impressed not by people but by what they’ve done or what they are doing.”  This is refreshing, because I think many folks in this country adore and adulate people like sports figures and entertainers.  They seem to have replaced genuine heroes.  I think that is too bad.

I am not against amazing sports’ people like LeBron James and all the others who fill our tv channels with their exploits.  Too often they are young people whose knowledge and experience are limited.  And when their ability to run fast or throw a ball far fades with some age, they fail to make any difference in anyone’s life.  Entertainers can be fun or funny.  Granted some are doing some serious art, but again I am not drawn to their stories.

Rubik is an architect.  So he is an artist of sorts.  He is pulled in by this work mainly because it is creative.  He wants to work in the area of problem solving and finding new things that could make a difference in our world.  Ultimately, this led him to begin fiddling with what would become the Cube.  It was designed to help people develop the kinds of skills our world sorely needs---particularly in kids.

He told the interviewer about the Cube started in 1974 and was first made in Hungary in 1977.  But it was not simple.  He confesses, “When you make something, you need to prove to others that it has a value.  Finding people who agree with you takes time and luck.”  The story continued when we learn it became “globally available in 1980.”  Of course today it is famous; I see people on campus playing around with one and guess they are in the class that the Physics professor teaches.  However, in the beginning Rubik said he was not sure what he had.  He found a small Hungarian maker who crafted a few of these and they sold---but nothing special.  His goal was not to get rich.

Eventually, an American toy company got into the act and mass produced it.  To date some 350 million have been sold.  But listen to what Rubik says: “The Cube created the strongest connection with people---which is harder than being popular---maybe because it taught them that they could solve difficult problems and rely on no one but themselves to succeed.  It has meaning, and that’s enough for me.”  Perhaps the best line in the interview was when Rubik said, “Probably the most important thing I do, though, is that I love what I do.  That’s a key element to achieving your goals.”

The last piece I want to quote tells us what Rubik thinks about learning.  He quips, “Learning is not the accumulation of knowledge.  It is building a capacity to find new possibilities in novel circumstances.”  It is this declaration that made me think about God.  As I pondered it, I realized God may be a little like Rubik.  God’s creation of our universe is analogous to Rubik creating the Cube.  It is as if God could not do otherwise.  I imagine God to be incredibly curious.  God wanted someone to love---and we are it!

Once we were in it with God, we became like students.  In fact some early Christian theologians described the world as a schoolhouse.  Our job as students is to learn.  I like that Rubik says the goal of learning is not accumulation of knowledge.  It is to build a capacity.  That is what God is doing with us---building capacity.  God wants us to be creative and innovative.  Our world needs us to do some new---maybe radical---things.  Among other things, our climate issue is troubling; we need to do something.

I believe God wants us to help figure it out.  In Rubik’s words, we need to find some new possibilities.  The same goes with building love in our communities and world.  We need folks to learn love and become lovers instead of fighters.  There is so much to do.  Jesus models this.  That is why Jesus embodies God and is God’s love for us.  God is a teacher, but we need to be good students.  Let’s not get behind!