And the Hits Keep Coming: Explorations in Narrative Theology

By Christopher Poulsen

"The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field. Though it is the smallest of all seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds come and perch in its branches."- Matthew 13: 31-32

In this parable, Jesus talks about how the smallest seed can and does, grow into the largest plant. For religious educators, it is a reminder that no matter how small the thought, action, or word anything can have a lasting impact.

In And the Hits Keep Coming, Christopher Poulsen offers the reader a glimpse at many mustard seeds he has encountered in his life. He uses narrative theology, story, to relate his own lived experience to the biblical message of Christ by breaking open his own life. He shares some of the deepest, saddest, and joyous moments in his life and shows how they relate to Christ and religious education.

As a religious educator, Christopher understands the importance of story and how relating your own authenticity can help your students to learn and grow. This book serves two purposes:
1. It provides examples for the rest of us to use and
2. It shows us how is unique approach can help us all to be more effective educators.

- Thomas Watson, MRE

• Language: English
• Publisher: eVw Press
• Release date: Mar 9, 2019
• ISBN: 9781989159033

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E-ISBN: 978-1-989159-03-3

Cover illustration by Jasmine Staniforth

And the Hits Keep Coming

Christopher Poulsen, M.Ed

eVw Press

For Christine: Thank you for putting up with me

For Vito: Thank you for believing in what I do

For Charles W: Thank you for mentoring me

For Father Young: Thank you for shaping me

For Grandma and Grandpa: Thank you for watching over me

For Charles Poulsen: Thank you for being my reason for everything

Foreword

The first time I met Chris Poulsen, we were handing over our first year tuition to St. Paul University. Both of us casually passed each other in the halls while our accountants (which also had the alternate title of parents) acknowledged it was time to hand over our savings. We've been friends ever since.

Two things that are evident about Chris: he has an incredible amount of charisma and a matching level of intelligence. The combination of the two is a force to be reckoned with in this world and it's a rarity to see. Usually people in prominent positions only have one of the two.

I would be with Chris at social gatherings, where he would be the life of the party, then run into him at the school library the next morning. Bleary eyed, he would tell me he needed to finish a fifteen-page paper for his afternoon class. Then, he would sit down at a computer, write for three hours, hand it in and get an 'A.'

Beneath the veneer of his punk rock persona, with the coloured mohawk hair to boot, was a humble academic who we all envied.

Chris has taken his dual power and infused it with a passion for teaching Religion to young people. The stories you will find in this book are only a glimpse into the life of someone who shares so much of himself to what he loves. It is not merely an academic adventure, but a lived experience that invites you to consider your own life.

Here you will find out why #poulsennation is all over social media, why his classes are so successful when others would've given up and discover a step towards a future that fills a need for our world today.

Chris is someone I call when I need advice and there is no doubt his work will be a reference for years to come. It is an honour to be friends with him and this book shows many of the reasons why. We are blessed to have such a person in our midst.

Vito Michienzi

Introduction

I would like to start this book by saying that the stories are all true. Each one of these stories was something that happened in my life and has made me into the person, the husband, the father, the teacher, and the friend that I am. Some names have been changed out of respect for the individuals who appear in the stories. It is within these stories that the lessons I aim to teach my students come alive. It is in these stories that I believe I am able to illuminate curriculum and put a human face, a known face, and my face, onto the concepts that my students and listeners are trying to understand.

My pedagogical approach of narrative theology comes directly from a piece of scripture that I try to live by:

For I am longing to see you so that I may share with you some spiritual gift to strengthen you- or rather so that we may be mutually encouraged by each others faith, both yours and mine.

Romans 1:11-12

In sharing our stories we walk with one another on the path of life. We are able to learn from the characters, celebrate together during the joys, mourn together in sadness, and congratulate each other in our triumphs. I assure you that in these pages there are plenty of triumphs and just as many setbacks, upsets, blunders, and general foolishness that have taken place over my life. I intend to share it all just as I would to any class that I connect with – because that’s what it’s all about: connections.

There is a fear that comes along with opening ones self up. I think that for teachers this fear is amplified because when we share our stories we open our hearts to young people who are particularly good at pushing all the right buttons to make us angry or hurt. It is their super power! But this is precisely why we need to open up and share our stories, because in exposing our biggest vulnerability we are in fact connecting and becoming the kryptonite to anger,

apathy,

verbal violence,

sadness,

and to loneliness.

In becoming this secret weapon we start to build classrooms that are legitimate faith communities and people who have come together.

I must also note that I have been blessed in the connections that I have made as a young (approaching middle aged) teacher. From the very start of my career as a high school teacher I have had administrators who have supported me and pushed me to continue to use the approaches I have. They did this because even when they didn’t understand and maybe even disagreed with what I was doing: they saw the positive results. For this I am forever grateful.

The stories I present in these pages are only possible because of the people I have been able to meet in my life. The characters are the ones who give each story spice. We live in a world of teachers and all we have to do is realize something that I believe is completely true: every moment matters. As you read this book, I hope that you are able to start to identify the stories in your life that have shaped you, the lessons you have learned, and finally, that your story is worth telling.

For each story in this book I will aim to provide a brief scriptural connection and some background connections that will situate any key learning that I sought to connect with in terms of a classroom or group discussion situation. I will also provide discussion questions to accompany the story for personal reflection or group discussion.

The Mountain

As the snow began to melt in the first year that my wife and I lived in Alberta she began to ask the following question: When were we going to Jasper or Banff for camping? I had lost my love for camping as a youngster and was in absolutely no hurry to get back. I don’t really want to go camping, I don’t like it. This would be my typical answer to my wife whenever she brought it up.

I truly hated camping. When I was young, my mother, brother, and I used to spend whole summer at a campground near our home. It was great as kids. My brother and I used to run through the woods, climb trees, swim, sneak through an abandoned paint ball course, have bon fires, roast hot dogs, and generally get into all sorts of fun and mischief. Those were the great parts. However, in south eastern Ontario it can also rain a lot in the summer. The last summer we spent camping it seemed like I was never truly dry. I can remember laying in our old canvas tent as it rained and just being wet and miserable. I did not want to relive that.

Naturally, as we were in the car headed south to Jasper National Park to do some camping, I realized that my wife was an incredibly kind person – giving me the opportunity to say the correct answer when asked about camping. Each kilometer that we drove I was getting more and more miserable about the prospect of sleeping on the floor of a tent, sitting around in the wilderness, and of course the dreaded hiking. I really did not see the point of walking into the wilderness only to come back out. I was already out. I didn’t need to go in just to come out again. Ridiculous!

However, even thought I was visibly miserable on the 6+ hour drive, my wife was positive the whole way. When I would bring up something negative she would always turn it into a positive. I can’t wait to eat burned hot dogs every night, I would say. Just as quickly she would come back with I actually bought us really nice steaks and a camping grill to put over our fire. She didn’t let my negativity take away from what she believed was going to be an amazing vacation…no matter how hard I tried to ruin it.However,

There we were at Jasper National Park. The tent had been set up, the food had been stored properly and the fire was started. My wife Christine began cooking the meal for the night and something completely odd happened: I felt at peace. As a child I remembered camping as being something that was always damp, busy, and awful. But here I was in the forest with the woman I loved, sitting on a camping chair, just enjoying the tranquility. She was right. She’s always right.

That’s when she said it:

And tomorrow we are taking a gondola up a mountain and then hiking to the summit.

No, no, no, no,no…I will do a hike…but to a summit! Not happening.

The next day, on the gondola as we were ascending the mountain to prepare for our hike, I wondered how I had gotten myself stuck in the mess. There were two girls who had just completed their first year of university in our gondola along with a family from China with three small children who were vacationing in Canada. My confidence began to increase as I thought that if little kids and these two vacationing university kids could