Walking Straight at Our Christian School

Last weekend I listened to a humorous podcast about a series of experiments conducted in 1920’s and 1930’s on the ability of humans to walk straight without the benefit of sight. While blindfolded, and in several different locations, repeated attempts were made to have someone move straight from fixed point to fixed point without curving off to the side. Most test subjects were able to start off very accurately but, without a visual reference point, would veer off and eventually find themselves close to where they started. Results were much better when there was someone else speaking to them to give them an auditory reference point to gauge their progress. 

What a great illustration for living together and having a place to belong as a part of learning. We need each other! Without the gift of others, we can easily veer off and find ourselves off track, or even worse, not make any progress. God’s gift of community is a blessing to us when we feel the nudge of the Holy Spirit though the words of others and feel comforted or inspired by their actions. We come to realize that we need one another more than we might have known, and are surprised by joy and the coming kingdom when we feel God working in us through others.   

May our children learn to walk well as they listen to voices around them at LCES. 

SJ

Speaking Up at Our Christian School

Twenty-three times per year our student body gathers together in the gym for chapel. Today, the students were the leaders up front.

The unique chapel was led by our LIT (Leaders in Training) team and marked the start of Bullying Awareness Week. Our fourteen member team prepared for chapel by creating a video with scenarios to illustrate what bullying looks like, how not to deal with it, and how one should deal with it. We were directed to the instruction in Proverbs 31 to “speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves” and to “speak up for justice”.

Our school theme (Psalm 24:1) also declares that all people belong to God. Wanting our school playground to also be a place where all students feel like they belong, our LIT team have organized a buddy bench outside on the playground for the week. The LIT team will ensure that if any student needs help or wants a friend, they can have a seat and one of the LIT team members will support them. Later this week, they will be working on an all -school art project that will be placed in the front garden next spring. It will visually point out that each and every student belongs at our school.

It is very exciting to see our students taking charge of important matters here at our school! I’m thankful for the space for our students to practice leadership here, to equip them to be leaders everywhere.

 SJ

The Pain in Remembering and Hope of Advent

It was wet and cold this morning as grade seven and eight stood outside for an hour. Grade seven marked Remembrance Day at the downtown cenotaph, while grade eight stood outside at the Royal Canadian Regiment Museum. The wintry mix of sleet was a fitting backdrop for the Remembrance Day proceedings. Gratitude for service and the high cost of freedom were certainly foremost in our minds as wore our poppies and bowed our heads. The tears, barren tree branches, and a brisk wind remind us of the raw reality of what we are also recalling; wars and fighting remain, guns have not been silenced, hatred still motivates harm, and people. We lament that conflict abounds nearby and far away from our home and native land.

The grade two/three class led the service in in our school gym. Spoken words, songs, and visuals during the student-led chapel affirmed that we need to “let the peace of Christ rule in [our] hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace.” Colossians 3:15

That peace seems very elusive. Human suffering continues in the hands of tyrants, and so many wait for the kind of justice and peace that Christ commanded. Is there hope?

 Yes! That peace of Christ comes to us as we pattern our lives after his gospel. I’m so thankful that the “message of Christ” is part of life here at LCES in the devotional and learning parts of every day. The coming kingdom of God with justice and peace for all is what we work for every day in each lesson and conversation, each challenge and success. May our students grow in wisdom that propagates peace and returns our world back to way God originally created it – beautiful, perfect, and filled with peace.

The hope of advent is just around the corner.

SJ