Our Hope Filled Christian School

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

“I hope you remember to wear your snow pants.”

“I hope we have pizza for supper.”

“I hope that treatment will work for her.”

“I hope tomorrow will be a snow day.”

“I hope that the groceries last to the end of the month.”

It seems when we use that word, it shares a desired outcome or wish but doesn’t communicate confidence in a certain outcome at the same time.  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!

SJ

Teachable Moments At Our Christian School

Teachers, like parents of young students, listen to a tidal wave of questions and observations. Some of them amuse us, some challenge us, and sometimes the frequency of them can overwhelm our patience. Some perplex and surprise us, and some even sadden us as we realize that our students are meeting the reality of a fallen world in a new way. Other times we realize that we are challenged to reshape our own thoughts by the jubilant and faith-filled way our children respond to God's call. All of them are worth responding to; these are young minds looking for ways to unravel the truth found in God's world.

“But did it have to be like that? Couldn't God have made it work differently?” Why did God have to leave the possibility open for Adam and Eve to fall into sin? This was the classroom topic that I was privileged to hear concluding moments of. I'm convinced that many students left the class thinking differently after the teacher made the wise choice to pursue this “teachable moment” that arose spontaneously from the day's lesson.

There is so much more than skill development and content delivery going on in your child's classroom! Woven through the sum total of up to ten years of LCES education from K-8 are teachable moments that shape a child's worldview in ways that have implications through to eternity. I'm grateful that our qualified, Christian teachers seek out these opportune moments to help our students develop a discerning mind, a compassionate heart, and a willing spirit for service. Pray often for your child's teacher in this vital role they play in “equipping them for a life of faithful, Christian discipleship.” LCES Vision Statement

SJ

Guiding our Children: Remembrance at Our Christian School

 

Sometimes an unexpected moment gives you a visual that will last you a lifetime.

While leading a grade eight class through the Ottawa area, a scene captured my full attention. In his youthful exuberance and innocent lack of awareness of its significance, a kindergarten-aged child was taking great delight in jumping and climbing all over the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in its prominent spot near parliament hill. My first response was one of shock at the seemingly brazen disrespect of the sanctity of the place. But how could he possibly understand where he was and what as beneath him? I could not see a parent in sight as I watched this young child trace the edges of the bronze helmet and sword atop the thick slab of cold granite. His eyes wandered up to the group of war-weary soldiers watching from high above on the monument. His boisterous activity immediately stopped as he stared intently at the figures. It was plainly clear that he was trying to figure out what this was all about.

The act of remembrance, deliberately choosing to tell the stories of sacrifice and the often hard-won gift of peace, is so very important. We do so to recognize, honour, and thank those who have given of themselves in the past. We do so in order to remind ourselves of what we personally don’t experience daily. We do so because the next generation, like the young boy at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, won’t “just know” on their own what this is all about and why it matters.  

With help from their teachers, our students will be offered the chance this week to step out of regular routines and the familiarity of their predictable, safe lives. When we pause during Remembrance Day for a moment of silence we meet the devastating extent of sin, the world’s need of a Saviour, and the hope of renewed creation where all wars will cease. I’m thankful our students were given this opportunity to say “I choose to remember.”

SJ

A Place At The Table: Hospitality At Our Christian School

I have a childhood memory of Sunday visits between two church services. For about half the day between and morning and afternoon worship services on a Sunday, I would have the chance to “swap families” and be a guest in different home. I recall that as being a time that I was not only visiting with a friend, but actually being welcomed as a guest of the entire family since it involved two car rides, a meal or two, and being included in the family’s devotion patterns. It was a chance to be a guest of honor.

Later in life I was also invited into homes as a university student as part of a travelling choir. Usually for a late evening snack after a concert, an overnight sleep, and then a morning breakfast routine – I was invited with no context, no previous relationship, and no understanding on either side of what the experience might feel like to be guest and host. They were almost always very warm and memorable times of being welcomed as strangers, and then leaving as someone known and loved. (Except for the time someone’s basement flooded, but that is a story for another time.)

Teachers will be participating this Thursday in a Edvance Christian School convention for educators. We will focus on hospitality in communities. I’ll share two sentences here the presenter gave us in advance:

Start from the image of God as banquet host, of Jesus as the one declaring the arrival of God’s hospitality, God’s welcome. How might this shape the way you imagine what makes your school or your classroom or your curriculum Christian (Christ-following)?

I’m looking forward to a reflective time of encouragement with the LCES team as we link in virtually to this event. I’m thankful for the chance for our teachers to continue to grow in their beautiful craft of Christian Teaching for two days. Pray we are blessed as we gather.

SJ

Multi-Grade Learing At Our Christian School

“Happiness is not found within us, but rather between us.” 

The last time that an in-person educator convention was held (October 2019) in Ancaster, nearly 1000 Christian educators explored this concept from a British researcher, Rob Loe. (Hard to imagine 1000 maskless people in one auditorium today!) 

Depending only on self-help books, mindfulness to find your inner “you”, and other such activities is not the route to happiness, he proposed. His interesting research of measuring relationships in organizations indicate that people flourish when strong connecting relationships exist. The most vulnerable are taken care of best in communities were connecting relationships are strongest. He presented some “threats” to relationship health in our culture and context. Bees in a bee hive with unique but connected roles was offered as a visual to ponder. The hive thrives when relationships between the bees is healthy. 

At LCES, we believe relationship is the foundation of learning. Jesus showed us this in the way in which he announced a new covenant and the coming kingdom. He lived and taught in an intensely relational setting with his disciples. Can you imagine the talking on long walks, mealtime conversations, and lingering campfire debates?

This is why students and teachers at LCES begin the day with deliberate greetings, listen to each other about silly things and serious things, and spend time restoring relationships when they are struggling. This is why we have reading buddies, bus buddies, and STEM friends (grade 7&8 and kindergarten). We strive to have students who are seen, known, and loved every day they come to school learn of God’s truth.

 It’s great to be in the hive at LCES every day. 

SJ

Technology in a Christian School: One Tool of Many

 

“Technology is only very good if it can help us become the persons we were mean to be.” Andy Crouch

I remember the day a Commodore 64 was wheeled into my grade five classroom for the first time, the start of when computer tech was a new ingredient in my education. The teacher didn’t really know what to do with it and it didn’t really become much more than an indoor recess occupier of students for many years. As I watched another filing cabinet leave LCES for good last month, I though about how technology has changed the way we learn.

We know that all of God’s world belongs to him, and all of it can be used in faithfulness or disobedience. Technology doesn’t live outside that truth. Our task is sorting out the difference and being intentional about choosing wisely. It also seems true that technology is challenging us and our children and we don’t have a long history to guide as we wrestle with what a faithful response looks like. The pace of new developments is faster than our understanding of how it is shaping us in many cases. (eg. watch “The Social Dilemma”)

I heard an excellent podcast last week that proposed technology is a possible accelerator of good teaching and learning, but not the author of it. I like that idea. Technology of any kind will never replace the value of excellent teaching and leading by parent or teacher. The presence or absence of technology alone in a classroom or home doesn’t indicate students will learn any better, or becomes wiser as they grow up. The value of a skilled and committed teacher who can match learning methods well with student’s abilities, interests, and development is key here. LCES is very blessed with such exemplary educators.  I’ve often thought that when technology enables us to do something we couldn’t otherwise do, then we’re accessing more of its God-created potential for our benefit.

SJ

Peculiar Peacemakers At Our Christian School

(picture pre-COVID)

“Blessed are the peacemakers… for they will be called children of God.” Matthew 5:9 

I’ve heard someone summarize Christian Education as an unending effort to raise peculiar people. Not peculiar in the sense of being odd, standing out for reasons that are ego-building, or people who “find their own groove” in ways that fill up social media accounts. Instead, peculiar describing people so motivated by their love of God and desire for the Kingdom that they are compelled to serve and love without ceasing. It is their unending commitment to love in determined ways that gives way to the descriptor of “peculiar.” 

Peculiar people build the God’s Kingdom every day: 

When peace and reconciliation overcome conflict, the Kingdom is built. 

When grief and sadness are chased away by faith-nourished hope, the Kingdom is built. 

When loneliness and desperation are washed away by communal joy, the Kingdom is built. 

When apathy and disillusionment are replaced with passionate purpose, the Kingdom is built. 

When division and hatred are replaced by justice and righteousness, the Kingdom is built. 

The world cries out for those who are peculiar. 

SJ