FISH OF THE LIVING

Agape:  of the mouth,
wide open, especially with surprise or wonder

Aguppie:  the name of a
mechanical fish

Agape: Christianity: selfless love

Day One: Quickly I
ask fourth period, “What would you like to have here in the classroom that
would make you feel as if the classroom was really yours?”

A fish!

Day 2: Research
was done; perhaps room 3, with it’s high volume of noise and blasting of arctic
air, might not be the best environment for a Beta.  But a mechanical fish? 
Hmmnnn… Dani volunteered to get one.

Day 3: When
hearing of this, Jen R. (who happened to be in observing ) offered her
mechanical fish so Dani would not need to order one from Amazon.

Day 4: Removing
the fishbowl lid, mechanical innards sprang out, including 4 very fuzzy and
corroded batteries.  The mechanical
fish was DOA.  4^th
period named it Aguppie after our study of Agape.  A prayer post-it was added to our prayer altar:  “RIP Aguppie.  You will be missed.” 

Later in the period while discussing St. Paul I hear, “Aguppie
is floating on the top of the water, Ms. Carey.”  The level of delight in a ‘dead’ mechanical fish left me
wide-mouthed.  What was going on
here? Yes, it was humorous, but these girls were REALLY into it. 

At their break I quickly Googled ‘fish songs’.  Finding Randy Travis’ ‘Pray for the Fish’*, and just as our classroom break ended, I played it for them
as they returned from the bathroom, complete with the lyrics projected onto the
screen.  Several sang along, many
joined the chorus.  They were 

 delighted.  What was going on?

Day 5:  Cassidy knocks on the classroom door at
7:12 am.  “I made something for us
– “ and hands me an exquisitely hand-fashioned cardboard coffin for Aguppie.

At 4^th, after snitching the coffin, just as the
bell rang, several girls process in to room 3 with the coffin and sing, “In the
arms of the angel fly away from here”, placing the coffin at our prayer altar.  A moving eulogy was shared ( “Swim
away, little buddy…”);   after the ritual it took about 15
minutes for the hilarity to die down.

I am left wondering once again about narrative, it’s power,
how narrative both reflects identity as well as forms identity – be it an
individual or a class.   

What is going on in my fourth period student’s lives for
which this Aguppie story provides a bit of structure and levity and medium for
growth  – and how can I help keep
the story developing as we wind our way through the curriculum for Church
History.  I will be thinking…

I could go into much detail here about fish symbolism in the
Gospels and before, but this picture of a stone monument comes to mind, and is,
I think, the perfect ending to this tale: 
Fish of the Living