Dear Graduates June 19, 2012

Dear Graduates,

Much of last night focused on you and for good reason. It was a night that we celebrated together.  You made it.  You are here after many years and you are about to graduate and step out into a different context.  As you go I would just like to focus on your text for graduation this year.   “For it is by grace you have been saved and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God, not by works so that no one can boast.  For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works which  God prepared in advance for us to do.”  Eph. 2:8-10 The verse you chose, intentionally, speaks of grace.  You chose it for this reason.  It is fitting as we celebrate 50 years of God’s faithfulness and grace to DCCS. 

We are asking for God’s grace to go with you now into the future as you have goals and dreams that you hope to attain.  We pray for you for God’s continued blessings as you continue on this path and working towards those goals.  You are a part of a media generation, a generation that has told everyone can be a movie star, a rock star, and you are entitled to be the center of your own universe. This is fed so easily by sites like Facebook, MySpace, and other social media sites where you are the controller of the content, you are center stage, you are it.  I am not condemning these sites but I do want you to be aware that as you grow older you will find out that it is not true. Not everyone is going to be a celebrity or the top dog.   It is impossible for everyone to be the center.  You may even come to realize you are being lied to and you may become increasingly ticked off about the fact you’ve been fed lies about a lifestyle and a dream that may taste sweet for a season but will reap a harvest of loneliness.   Identity rooted in success is a fragile thing. 

There is a real danger if you tie your identity to your success.  If your identity and value is wrapped up in a title or what you accomplish, if you put your hope in your own strength and talents then you set yourself up for disappointment.  When we replace the true center of the universe with ourselves we repeat the rebellion in the Garden of Eden.  Be conscientious of turning this world, your life, upside down: serving God first, then others and then yourself. 

Your identity belongs and should be rooted in the fact that you are made in the image of God.  Our identity belongs rooted in Christ as it states in your text; we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus. 

Grace is not performance based.  Right before your grad text it speaks of being dead in our transgressions.  We are alive, yet we are dead in sin. You see, it is aparadox; the living dead.  The dead can do nothing for themselves.  Now, as your text highlights, you are dead to sin and alive in Christ.  It is God, through Christ Jesus, that you experience life.  It defines life.  It defines who you are.  We are defined by the act of Grace through Christ.  Life is not defined by your achievements, your grades, your awards.  You are freed from this.  It is a life giving message and freeing to know your identity is rooted in him

We do celebrate tonight the gifts God has given you.  As part of our mission statement we want those gifts to be developed.  We do take the time to celebrate those mountain top experiences but we develop them for a purpose.  We develop them so you will be continually prepared for a life of Christian Service.  When living a life of service your identity is firmly rooted in serving their Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, our example

Now with our identity firmly set let’s take a little closer look at grace. 

Grace has consequences. We are called to do good works, to transform lives.  This is the heart of a life of Christian Service; we respond to the life giving message of God’s grace.  You are starting to live that out already.  Your trips to the Good Shepherd have the fingerprints of grace all over it.  God has made each one of us and we are called to extend that to others so that they may experience the grace of God through our lives. 

I encourage you, graduates, to be available with your gifts to be moved by the Spirit to do amazing things in God’s Kingdom and show His grace in this world.   

Thank You June 18, 2012

I want to take the opportunity to thank the DCCS community for a fantastic first year. I have felt more than welcomed with kind words and acts of support for myself and my family as we have been transitioning to a new community.  You have been a source of great encouragement as we work and live in this community.  So thank you so much for a wonderful year.  I look forward to more years of serving God in this community.   It is great to take the time to look back over the year and plan the next steps for the year to come.   

I want to congratulate our graduates for their accomplishments.  We will celebrate with them tonight as we gather for graduation.  We send them off with the hope that their gifts have been developed so they are ready to learn more about God, His creation, and His created order in the years to come.  We celebrate the giver of the gifts whose grace and faithfulness we rely upon.  We not only rely upon it but we are also called to respond.  It is our prayer that the students will come to use these gifts for God’s glory and in His service, existing as Living Stones in His temple. 

Also, I want to ask for God’s richest blessings on all of our students for the summer months.  I pray that it is a wonderful time of rest and relaxation, character building, family bonding and exploration of God’s world.  Wherever you find yourself may you remember that God is good; all the time.  It brings us back to Psalm 100:5, our theme verse for the year “For the Lord is good and His love endures forever; His faithfulness continues through all generations.”  May you experience His faithfulness through his goodness and His love this summer. 

Be well and thank you for an excellent year.

Walking with us June 11, 2012

The school remains a flurry of activity this week. In meeting with the staff this Monday morning we looked at the week ahead and listed 15 different items scheduled for the week. Class trips, meetings, fire drill, golf tournament and a few other items punctuate the busyness of the week. We meet on Monday mornings to start the week off in devotion to our God. We place all these activities in His hands and we uphold each other and our students and parents in prayer. As we carry out our calling through the week we can be mindful of God’s faithfulness as we approach each activity. At the end of the week the staff meets again to recap the week and to offer our thanks to God for keeping His promise to walk with us. No matter the frantic pace of the week, the numerous events that need to take place and the various circumstances in each of our lives it is a promise we can cling to and cherish. God will walk with us. May you sense his Spirit working in and through you as we complete our last full week this year and take comfort in the knowledge that God walks with you. Blessings.

Avoiding Stagnation June 4th, 2012

At Dundas Calvin Christian School we hold various conversations with our students and aim to shape their character.  We try to work with our students and parents in community so we can have conversations about their behavior and efforts in the classroom.  We want to avoid, if at all possible, stagnation and complacency at a young age.  In John Ortberg’s book If You Want to Walk on Water, You’ve Got to Get out of the Boat he discusses stagnation in what Gregg Levoy calls “the common cold of the soul.”  Levoy says stagnation leads:

To sinful patterns of behavior that never get confronted and changed,

Abilities and gifts that never get cultivated and deployed—

Until weeks become months

And months turn into years,

And one day you’re looking back on a life of

Deep intimate gut-wrenchingly honest conversations you never had;

Great bold prayers you never prayed,

Exhilarating risks you never took,

Sacrificial gifts you never offered,

Lives you never touched,

And you’re sitting in a recliner with a shrivelled soul,

And forgotten dreams,

And you realize there was a world of desperate need,

And a great God calling you to be part of something bigger than yourself—

You see the person you could have become but did not;

You never followed your calling.

You never got out of the boat

We want to prepare our students to get out of the boat.  We want to have those conversations and pray those bold prayers so they can take appropriate risks and follow their calling.  We pray for our students and their families in the staffroom each week and we long to remain a positive impact on the lives of our students.  Thank you for partnering with us as we aim to promote the character of Christ to our children.