By Kevin Kim
Spiritual Disciplines is a senior Bible class centered on spiritual formation that is unique to each student’s spirit. Because seniors tend to be busy, this Bible class provides an environment to cultivate one’s spiritual formation using a variety of methods listed by Mrs. Allen.
On the 15th of August, Mrs. Allen announced her lesson plans for the class, but her plans caught many seniors by surprise and gave them weird looks on their faces, as they questioned the purpose of the activity: being silent for an entire block.
“To be honest, it was a first time for me to put that much time into spending it with God in silence. I was excited that I had a chance to deepen my relationship with Him,” David Unruh (12) commented about his first impression of the activity presented by Mrs. Allen.
Silence was necessary for this activity because it prevented students from getting distracted from things, such as games, TV shows, social media, etc. For that entire week, seniors met with Mrs. Allen on Lower Campus and were given the choice to either walk around in silence or sit somewhere else and contemplate in silence.
After Mrs. Allen finished a short prayer to God, the class set off to their own ways. Out in the distance, Sam Huang (12) sat by the cluster of jagged rocks, facing towards the horizon of the endless sea while waves clashed against the rocks below him. Some students rummaged through the sand, looking for a shell that appeared unique with delicate patterns, while others walked barefooted on the sand, listening to the waves swishing back and forth.
“During the entire block, I felt very relaxed to take some time out of my busy day and be quiet by settling down, [while] trying to have a nice silent conversation with God,” remarked Jonathan Lafferty (12) when asked about how he felt about the silence activity.
After the three days of silence for the entire B-Block Bible class, Mrs. Allen got the entire class into a discussion and had the students reflect about any change that took place as a result of staying silent and thinking by oneself in nature.
“Throughout the three days of the silent activity, I was able to appreciate nature and God’s creations more by taking photographs; I began to notice the little things I usually don’t notice,” also stated Jerome Ramirez (12).
Spiritual Disciplines is an interesting class where students will be given many unique ways, other than just reading through the Bible, to learn about God. As this Bible class emphasizes on students trying to find a form or character for the human spirit, it certainly has many different approaches to seeking after God; however, only one of the different methods to form a strong bond with God has been uncovered. Who knows what’s more to come other than staying silent?
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