December 16, 2013 Winter Wonderland

A teacher shared that a student came into the school and exclaimed, “I wish it was only one second until recess.”  Why the excitement for recess?  It is the snow.  The sun is ablaze and the ground alight from the freshly fallen snow. The world outside is whiter and brighter than it has been all year.  Students dig, tunnel, laugh and play in this new world.  It would be safe to say, for the most part, that there is great joy from such a transformation.  Just as the snow reflects the light of the Sun, we too are tasked to reflect the light of God’s Son as image bearers.  As we look outside on a morning like this it is easy to make connections to the Christmas story.  We see before us things anew.  The generous cover of snow reminds us that through Christ we can be washed clean, whiter than snow.  As we are made new we have new life in Christ and, through the power of the Holy Spirit, we can be transformed.  Glimpsing out the window once more I am again humbled by the beauty of it all and how God, over and over, meets us where we are.  God is good; all the time.  I am so very thankful that God chose to meet us here, through the person of Jesus Christ and for what that means at Providence.  We have the opportunity, through education, to know Christ’s love, to grow in and through His grace, and to demonstrate that love to others. 

December 9, 2013 Focus

Focus. We use the word in many different contexts. “Focus on your work.”  “The focus of this lesson will be mapping terms.” “The picture is out of focus.”  “I would like to focus on this particular part.” Or “My focus is all crocus.”  Even though the context varies, there are normative truths revealed in the mechanics of focussing. 

So what are the key elements of focus.  Well, in regards to taking photographs, it is dependent on the convergence of a number of different elements to bring the objects into proper focus.  The more I got to thinking about this the more I believe this falls in line with what we are trying to do as a school.  If we focus on the wrong things then we lose the ability to see what is important.  Further to that, if our focal point shifts we, literally, lose sight of what should be driving our aims and objectives.  The focus at the school is dependent on a number of different pieces that must converge to bring everything into focus.    There are a number of different spokes to the wheel of Christian education but the hub, the center, is the mission of the school.  It should all work together to focus on the fulfillment of what we believe we are called to do at Providence Christian School.

I was intrigued by this idea of centrality as the staff contemplates our focus in regards to our professional practice and learning. Using our school mission as the tool we use to focus our efforts we can see the central element needs to focus on a quality, Christ-centered education so that we may develop the gifts of God’s children and prepare them for a life of Christian service.  Adjusting the focal length to bring objects into focus in a photograph can be likened to adjusting the length or our educational gaze to take the long view of what it takes to live out the mission of the school.  It does help put things into the proper perspective and focus.  We may take time to examine the different spokes of the wheel but our focus will always be the mission and vision that is borne out of the constitution of our school.

December 2, 2013 Under Construction: Kingdom Building

The Kingdom of God.  My mind has been swirling with what this means.  The Kingdom of God.  I pray for it.  I long for it. I pray for it to come for the kingdom that is here now and yet to be.  I am humbled by the opportunities to work and serve, as I have said on more than one occasion, in this small corner of God’s Big Kingdom.  It provides purpose and context to what we do each and every school day. What better reason is there to get out of bed and do what we do than to say we are faithful servants in God’s kingdom? 

We see other kingdoms around us. In the time of Jesus it was the Empire, the Kingdom of Rome:  Strong and powerful, full of pride and honour, with its defences and an all-encompassing way of life.  It was in this setting that Jesus introduced a very controversial and contrary way of kingdom building.  Today there are other empires with just as much bluster.  In the west we have the countries of NATO.  More specifically to us, we have Canada and the United States.  The pervasive, ladder climbing notion of kingdom building remains but Jesus has shown us a different path.   

But then we don’t think of that each and every day.  We cling to our own devices.  We are kingdom builders who constantly engage in advancing one kingdom over another and we don’t always get it right.  We contribute,  probably all too often,  to our own kingdoms with selfish kingdom efforts.  We place ourselves on the throne and subjugate the things that are around us.  We employ defences to ensure we keep our kingdoms the way they are. 

Our priorities can get out of whack.  I have done some recent readings that focus on the following theme.  The path of descent is the path of transformation.  The parables, when read back to back to back explicitly state “The kingdom of heaven is like….”  These illustrations often flip our idea of kingdom completely upside down.  We need to pay attention to these images for they do show that we must decrease and He must increase. It starts with a humble and contrite heart and progresses (down) from there.  Let us then be intentional about our kingdom efforts and  direct our efforts towards building a community of grace where we celebrate and live out the Good Gift of God’s grace in community.  “But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”