This cluster of questions focuses on ways to engage ritual practices in learning.

We always learn in at least three modes – through our ideas, through our feelings, and through our actions. Educators tend to speak about this as the “cognitive, the affective, and the psychomotor” elements of learning. Religious community is generally particularly rich in weaving these elements together through our ritual practices. Liturgy is one very specific form of ritual, but there are many other rituals – large and small – to be found in religious community. Think about the ways in which people gather for coffee after liturgy, or the specific pews they tend to sit in.

One of the key teaching challenges religious educators often face is that of preparing people for initiation into specific rituals of the community. In the Lutheran context, churches often prepare children for first communion, which is a sacrament, and for confirmation, which is not (in the Lutheran tradition). In the Catholic context there is specific sacramental instruction for reconciliation, for marriage, and so on. In this class – and for this cluster of questions – I want you to be aware of both the “big” rituals of sacramental life (communion, for instance) as well as the “little” rituals such as preparing to begin a Sunday School class, or gathering for coffee.

We learn best when our “ideas, feelings and action” are all engaged congruently, in a coherent fashion. That is, when we do what we believe, when we say what we do, when we feel within that action, and so on. This cluster of questions about ritual invites you to observe the rituals that are present in the focus situation, and to consider how learning is happening within them, and whether are other, additional pieces you would bring to the task.

1. Start with simply listing all of the ritual behaviors you can observe in this week’s focus situation. Pay attention to all of them, big and small, and make as long a list as you can.
2. Next, sort through that list and identify those rituals that seem most explicitly Christian to you. Perhaps there’s an obvious ritual -- like communion – being portrayed. Or perhaps someone offers a prayer in the situation.
3. Once your group has brainstormed these two lists (all of the rituals, and then those that are more explicitly Christian), start to think about what the people in the focus situation might be learning about God through those rituals. Please note: just because a specific ritual is explicitly Christian does not mean that the people in the midst of it are learning something useful or credible about it. Some of the focus situations I’ll use in this class are actually examples of problematic examples of Christian ritual. Given what they’re learning, do you want to reinforce the ritual? Or are there contrasting messages or ideas you’d like to present?
4. What does your small group think is the most important learning goal an educational leader would focus on in relation to this week's situation?
5. Finally, compose a summary of your deliberation and post it to the course blog for this week’s focus.
6. For extra credit, if you like, search out a few additional resources that offer useful materials that relate in some way to the ritual learning challenge(s) you identified. You can find such materials in the assigned books for this class. You can look for additional resources online. You can ask your trusted colleagues and church mentors for ideas. You can go to a resource center for ideas. The point is to find and share with your colleagues additional resources that would assist in leading learning around this focus situation.

Possible sites for finding resources include: Practicingourfaith.org / different versions of the Lord’s prayer / FeAutor.org / great children’s books from your local library