The Rhythm of the school year...

OR  "It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas..."

We are winding up, or gearing down around Covenant, depending on who you talk to.  As I walked through the school this morning as classes were gathering for devotions, there was a lot of chatter around sharing for prayer.  Stories of Christmas traditions were excitedly shared: what had happened at church on Sunday, whose house they had had dinner at, and what they were looking forward to doing as the week progresses toward and into Christmas break.

This time of year and the anticipation of some time off is reminiscent of the creation story where God stopped and rested after declaring his creation 'very good'.  In the advent season we work slowly toward the culmination of our time of preparation for Christmas - another 'creation' story.  Just as in the creation story, where the world is spoken into being (Psalm 33:6), we are met with his rescue of His creation:  the Word became flesh. (John 1:1)    It is not a rest where we kick off and just stop because we feel we deserve it....  it is a pause to re-focus and intentionally gather ourselves in the realization that we have been saved from sin and find rest in God's grace.

For God so loved the world...... may you find rest in those words, and as you depart from regular routines to celebrate our Saviour, ponder the words of St. Augustine: "Thou hast made us for thyself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it finds its rest in thee."

In habit, word, and deed...

This morning we ran through one of our final full school rehearsals for our Christmas program later this week.  Students worked through their lines, their spoken word recitation of scripture, sang their songs both as class groups and as a full school, and our tech crew and directors attempted to keep everything focussed and audible.

A few months ago, Dr. James K.A. Smith spoke to Canadian Christian education leaders about the importance of school as a re-habit-uation, re-form-ation project. Telling the story, and living it out in habit speaks to our minds and bodies in ways other methods cannot.  No one can drive a nail successfully the first time they pick up a hammer... it takes practice and habit - in fact hundreds, if not thousands of nails need to be placed and hit before driving a spike becomes second nature.  But, once it becomes second nature, it becomes near impossible to shake or unlearn.  The habit forms ability.

The expression of our faith in the songs of Christmas have been practiced hundreds of times at school to a point where they are becoming a part of each student participating.  I hear it in classrooms, hallways, school yard, staff room, and yes, even in the washrooms.   It is our prayer that as our habits in words and melodies have become a part of us, that you will leave our Christmas celebrations humming or singing along with the reminder of "the Word became flesh...."; that:

Love came down at Christmas,  Love all lovely, Love divine;

Love was born at Christmas;  star and angels gave the sign.

Advent... We Wait

We've entered Advent, a time of waiting. What a counter-cultural message Advent is. In a time when waiting is shunned, doing with less or slowing down are frowned upon, it can be difficult to wait!  I remember as a child watching each of the candles of Advent being lit, week after week.... the waiting was almost painful. As almost anyone can tell you, though, the waiting can make the actual event that much more poignant. 

Waiting allows reflection, anticipation, and hope. In the classic series by C.S. Lewis, the Land of Narnia in which it is "...always winter but never Christmas"  is transformed when a prophecy about two daughters of Eve and two sons of Adam appearing comes true and when the King, the Mighty Aslan returns. Spring, a warming up of the land, returns to Narnia.

In our knowledge of the prophesy, we are blessed by hope, fed by joy as we know of Christ's coming. That knowledge is a blessing to pass along so that others may join us in hope.  At CCS, we cultivate that hope by teaching our children that the King has come and is coming again, by sharing that hope through Christmas programs and parade floats, and by reflecting and waiting once again. Christ will come to redeem his creation.

Blessings to you this Advent season as you reflect, share, and hope in the gospel.