I am taking a class right now on the life and work of Henri Nouwen and I am also teaching a class on spiritual formation. That is turning out to be an excellent combination, since Nouwen was a celebrated teacher of spirituality at both Yale and Harvard. In my readings, I ran across this qoute, which serves as inspiration in my own work as a teacher.
"We are not asked to teach a discipline like mathematics, physics, history or languages, but we are called to make our own faith available to others as the source of learning. To be a teacher means indeed to lay down your life for your friends, to become a 'martyr' in the original sense of witness. To be a teacher means to offer your own faith experience, your loneliness and intimacy, your doubts and hopes, your failures and successes to your students as a context in which they can struggle with their own quest for meaning. To be a teacher means to have the same boldness as Paul, who said to the Corinthians: 'Take me as a model as I take Christ' (1 Cor. 11:1). To be a teacher means to say as those who want to learn what Jesus said to his disciples: 'Come and see' (John 1:39)" - Henri J.M. Nouwen (cited in Wounded Prophet by Michael Ford, 106-107)
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