Playing the Fool . . . and Teaching, too

I'm always trying to engage my students through new approaches that I hope will prompt them to examine different perspectives on the persistent questions of life.  So, this past Friday I thought I might take a slightly different approach to April Fool's Day.  I came to class dressed in a brown Franciscan-like habit and without my glasses or shoes (and sockless, too!).

To say my students were taken aback would be putting it somewhat mildly.  Now, you have to understand that in Asian culture in general (and Korean culture in particular), students are taught to accept what their teachers present to them.  That being said, many were still trying hard to suppress their laughter.  Has professor gone completely crazy?  Has separation from his wife and family driven him mad?  Does he really think that he has become a monk?

None of those questions were expressly stated, but you can be sure most of them were puzzling more than one student's mind.  So what was the point of this first of April performance?  I wanted to do for my new students at Handong what I had first done for students at Missouri Baptist University seven years ago on another April fool’s Day.  In the attire of a follower of Francis of Assisi, I told them his story and how he came to be known as Francis the Fool.

I had been assigned the responsibility of giving the message for the student chapel service at MBU on the first of April.  Earlier that year, I had read G.K. Chesterton's Life of St. Francis.  Chesterton's portrayal of Francis challenged me to think more deeply about what it means to follow Jesus fully.  Francis sought to live as Jesus lived and to love as Jesus loved.  He reached out and touched the leper just as Christ had done.  He left behind the wealth and security offered him by his family in order to find the fullness of life as he took seriously Christ's teaching to consider the birds of the air and the flowers of the field.

Having been so challenged by Francis' life, it was quite obvious to me that I was meant to tell his story in that chapel service on the first of April seven years ago.  I thought it would make a more memorable impression if I told the story as Francis himself.  So, now here at Handong, I wanted to continue the tradition and pass along the lessons from the life of the one who was called "Francis the Fool" -- a name that I'm sure he did not resent since he was seeking to follow the one who many had regarded as "God's own Fool."

Evidently that chapel message seven years ago was memorable.  When one of my Handong student's posted the picture above to facebook during our Friday morning class, one of my former students from MBU, who was on-line at the time, commented within minutes: "I remember that robe!"  I guess, playing the fool can sometimes be an effective means of teaching.