Hope and our Christian School

Did you know that two billion of the eight billion people on this planet don't have access to reliable electricity? Fuels for light are expensive, so darkness is part of their life in a different way than ours. It seems their reality is perhaps closer to the world of the people of Israel as prophecies of Isiah mentioned "for those who live in a land of deep darkness, a light will shine." (Isaiah 9)

Hope is the first bold candle of advent that many church traditions will light to pierce the darkness this Sunday.

A biblically grounded concept of hope runs deeper than a strong wish. The Bible assures us that our hope is a sure thing. Jesus has already won, and we are renewed creations! This world belongs to God, in its entirety and we are assured that there is nothing we can do and nowhere we can go that we can escape the Love of God. (Romans 8) What else do we need to know?

Christian schools, like ours, are places where that kind of hope is the anchor. Our Christian school teachers don’t see a group of students to manage for the day or even year, they also see future mechanics, engineers, mothers/fathers, social workers, electricians, politicians, web designers and accountants. They see them all with a grand vision implanted of hope for a world that is entangled with sin, but redeemed by Christ. Woven into the fabric of how the board and administration sustains this school is confident hope that God will provide for our parents, and as result bless our school with all its needs. Our children are free to embrace a certain hope in learning in these things: that this is God’s world, that Christ is enough, that they belong, and that they have a purpose in God’s kingdom.

We know the future will be great, because Christ is already there! That is what we celebrate this Christmas.

SJ