The School Trip

The teachers at our Primary School asked me to accompany 2 classes on a school trip to Lyon for 2 days. My own daughter wasn't in the group, so I saw this as a God-directed invitation. The teachers know and trust me to be a 'good accompany-er' inspite of any worries they might have about me being a practising Christian. I really like one of the teachers in particular but she is openly anti-Christian - the militantly secular type. So was this my chance to pursue the subject ?

Picture the scene. We are at the Gallo-Roman Museum in Lyon. The kids are gathered around the guide who is explaining the concept of 50 BC, talking about the Roman arenas, Christian martyrs (there were quite a few in First Century Lyon). "Jesus-Christ is an historical figure you know", she assures the children. "What is a martyr?"

"JC - Jean-Claude pour les intimes." mutters the teacher under her breath looking at me in a provocative way. She explained outside that when she has to mention Jesus Christ in her classes in an historical or artistic context, she jokes about the initials of his name being Jean-Claude for those who are close to him. "We are in a secular school - we don't promote religion here," she continues.

"So, you don't think Jesus Christ is an historical figure ?" I ask, taking the bait."Did you know that the existance of Jesus Christ is one of the most attested historical facts from that period?"

"I'll admit he existed during Roman times and he was considered a threat to the Roman Empire because he refused to worship their gods. But I won't go any further!"

"That was the reason the first Christian martyrs were killed," I replied," Jesus was crucified because he was a threat to the Jewish leaders of the time." She looked at me quizzically as if to say "well, we all know that you are going to defend him because of your views, but you aren't going to convince me that easily!"

Our conversation ended there as we moved onto the next exhibit, counted children and made sure nothing was left behind.

She's not going to get away with it!!! It was a good-humoured teasing, and I know she is respectful, but as soon as I'm no longer a parent in the school, she's going to receive "More than a Carpenter" by Josh and Sean McDowell or "This Jesus I never knew" by Philip Yancey.