The celebration continues

We are breathing a sigh of relief around here after a busy, but WONDERFUL Christian Education Week.  What a blessing it was to share our school with so many visitors - pastors, grandparents, senior friends, and yes, parents!  It was not only a reminder of the treasure we have in this school, but to the very wide reach of support we enjoy.  

This week, we are paying special note to some of our partners in Christian Education.  This morning, we were encouraged by our literal neighbours at Smithville Christian High School as their principal, Ted Harris led our staff in devotions.  He shared words from 1 Corinthians 3: "It's not important who does the planting, or who does the watering. What's important is that God makes the seed grow.  The one who plants and the one who waters work together with the same purpose. And both will be rewarded for their own hard work.  For we are both God's workers. And you are God's field. You are God's building."  There were even elegant words of poetry as he expounded on our unique relationship!

This week we will also be spending some time with our sister school John Knox Christian School in Stoney Creek who are celebrating Christian Education week. On Wednesday, we will travel down with grades 1-8 to view their drama production "Not your average Joe."

Knowing that we are not chasing a vision of Christian Education on our own, but do so alongside other schools is a treasure.  Please pray this week for the great work that goes on across our region, our province, our country, and our world in service of planting seeds, watering them, and proclaiming the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Christian Education Week

Here we are!  This week we at Covenant are on display!

This is always a special week as we invite the 'pillars' of our community to come through and spend some time with us.  Our gallery of art and student work has been set up through the building.  Our spring musical production is running through final rehearsals. Our pastors are coming to visit on Wednesday the 20th, and our long time and faithful supporters (grandparents and senior friends) will spend the morning on Friday with us.

Finally, our parent open house is scheduled for 2:00-3:00 on Friday afternoon (the 22nd).  You have likely come by to see your kids in action before, but this is a time where we fling open the doors and welcome you in to seeing a classroom in action.  While this week is not a typical week, and there is a lot of extra hustle and bustle, the things we are doing are routine:

Living for Jesus, Learning for Life, Serving with Gladness.... this is commonplace at Covenant, and we are deliberate about each of them.  The character of our students and teachers character and how we live is important.  We seek Jesus faithfully day after day in even our simple interactions.  You will see life... real life throughout our hallways.  Students engaged not just in learning about the real world, but engaging in it.  Service learning comes alive in our chapel activities, but also internally as we serve one another, and as we reach out to the world.

In our final work of the week, you will see how a Christian school interprets a common folk tale, and how God speaks through simple actions of even a bickering community..... because at the end of the day, that is what we are:  Not a perfect Christian school community, but one that struggles with its own brokenness.  God reminds us who we are, how to relate, and that we are loved... and that He longs for us to seek him and live in unity:  "May they experience such perfect unity that the world will know that you sent me and that you love them as much as you love me."  John 17:23b  Now that is living as children of light!

Come see us this week, as we plug in to God's power.

A Cloud of Witnesses, a Community of Support

We were treated this past Saturday to an evening of 'Upstanding Comedy' with Timmy Boyle who provided the entertainment for the annual board fundraiser.  The evening was capped off with some very humourous antics involving our fearless Executive Director.  If you were not there, you'll have to ask around, but it involved a duet, long hair, a headband, and some creative harmony.  The rest may be floating around on the Internet for your enjoyment.

The evening was not only fun, but a reminder of the amazing support we have for Christian education.  Long time supporters, new to NACE friends, family connections who traveled in for the event, staff from both school sites, and of course our board of directors all spent a few hours celebrating the gift of community over great food and laughter.

Not forgetting that this event is a fundraiser, it's exciting to report that we were able to raise over $18,000.  It's wonderful to experience the ongoing excitement for what Christian Education has done and is doing in the lives of our students and families.  A big thank you to the board and their support network (spouses, friends and family members) for pulling together an evening of celebration.  To God be the glory!

Though your sins are as scarlet

Though your sins are like scarlet....

I'm not going to lie.  The snowfall last night and this morning were not my favourite thing ever.  I actually like winter, but sometimes in this part of the world it seems to take a while to go away....

Last night I was out on the highway after a family visit driving home.  The snowbanks underneath had all melted, and the fresh blanket of snow covered everything.  There was no grass showing, there was no pavement showing... even the edges of the road were covered by the blanket of white.  It was dangerous driving so we took it slow, but the extent to which everything was now covered over and made white struck me. 

God's resurrection power over sin and death didn't only cover over my little area of sin.  It covered everything.  There are many stories in the Bible and otherwise of people who think they are 'too far gone' to be loved by God.  Over and over again, Christ reminds us that his grace is sufficient.  We need to be reminded of just how all encompassing God's redemption and grace is.  As good as the creation was when God spoke it into being, as deep as we are affected by sinful decision, so deep and far and wide is the love of God that it blankets and covers over everything.  Just as the new snow shows no evidence of anything underneath, so all encompassing is the power of the cross.

In our staff devotions this morning, Mrs. DeHaan shared the song "Glorious Day" by Casting Crowns.  As I pondered the snow cover, the lyrics of the Easter Sacrifice in that song wonderfully encompassed this truth we live with:
One day they led Him up Calvary's mountain
One day they nailed Him to die on a tree
Suffering anguish, despised and rejected
Bearing our sins, my Redeemer is He
Hands that healed nations, stretched out on a tree
And took the nails for me...

Living, He loved me
Dying, He saved me
Buried, He carried my sins far away
Rising, He justified freely forever
One day He's coming
Oh glorious day, oh glorious day

Perhaps I'll continue to grumble about this late snowfall for the inconveniences it brings, but I will also give thanks for the picture of grace and purity with which it has blessed us!

Putting aside our differences

Over the next few weeks, students, volunteers, teachers, and a veritable community of people are pulling together our spring production of 'Stone Soup'.  Whenever an event like this comes together, it's a reminder once again that it takes many talents, many ideas, many gifts, and much patience to pull together something of such magnitude.  In a lot of ways, it is a micro-burst experience of what it is like to have a school society such as ours.

The story that unfolds in our spring production begins with three homeless soldiers looking for a meal, travelling with little to nothing to offer the village they stumble upon.  What they discover is a community steeped in rivalry, one where differences are so deeply rooted, they are passed along to the children, and lived out in frequent insults cast at one another....  (Thankfully, the playful antics of a dancing horse bring a bit of levity to the whole situation.)  As many of you know the story, the visitors rouse the curiosity of the children in the village by beginning to make 'stone soup'.  it just needs a little something else......  

As the story progresses, differences melt away in the preparation of a meal.  in the end.... well, in the end, you'll just have to come and see. "When you have friendly people and some good food to eat, you just naturally have...."

In an article written for the Christian Courier, Monica deRegt writes... "the story of Stone Soup is a refreshing perspective that sometimes all it takes is giving what I have, and allowing God to use the transforming power of community to turn it into something that will bless everyone. (1 Corinthians 12)" (Sept 28, 2015 issue, p 13)

I'm thankful this morning for a community of believers pulling together with what they have, allowing differences to melt away in the service of the nourishment that Christian Education provides for our children, and for our families!  Come join us on Friday, April 22 at 7:00 for our production of Stone Soup to celebrate the gifts with which God has blessed our student body!

Do not abandon yourselves to despair...

Do not abandon yourselves to despair....

A two week March Break is something very out of the ordinary for us, and it will be Easter Monday when we meet up again in a few weeks.  I thought a few words on the defining moment of Christendom might be fitting this week!

As I look back in time at the church, I'm both encouraged and discouraged.  Perhaps I'll start with the tough side.  Arguments, differences of opinion, heartache, and misunderstanding still seem to plague the church and body of Christ. The liberation that a direct relationship with our Lord and Saviour brings is coupled with the challenges that we won't always see things in the same way.  We will interpret scripture differently, and we will find items upon which we don't agree.  This is evidenced by the multitude of Christian church denominations all seeking to live faithfully.  This fragmentation can seem crippling at times.

Why am I encouraged in light of this?  I'm encouraged as I watch students grapple with issues of faith, and are able to end up in a position of respect for one another.  Even as early as 10 years of age, we see students arguing about the finer points of doctrine as they are learning at church.  The more we can teach them and model a position of community and respect for one another in our multi-denominational community as like-minded believers, the closer we approach the vision that Paul had for the church as he wrote to the Philippians (1:1-2):  "Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind."  I see this daily in our small, increasingly diverse community of believers at CCS:  a common desire to love and serve Christ because He died for us, freeing us to live in God's amazing world and to serve Him....

As we approach Easter, I invite you to ponder the words of a past church leader:  "Do not abandon yourselves to despair. We are the Easter people and Hallelujah! is our song."  Pray as families for continued understanding, respect, fellowship, and unity among followers of Christ, even in (and sometimes especially because of) our differences.  And sing where you worship, bringing back the richness of your denominational traditions, ready to safely explore our faith in community.

Christ has died, Christ has risen, Christ will come again.  Hallelujah!

The right question...

"The morning is as usual, kids getting ready for school, breakfast is getting started when across the room comes sound of a cereal box pouring over the table and spilling on to the floor. Every fibre of my being wants to ask "Why did you do that?!" "How could this happen?!" "Why.....?!" BUT, my brain stops a second and goes back to our seminar the night before, and I remember that there's another question in my toolbox.... Instead of 'Why', I ask "What happened?" What was about to be a defensive quarrel, possibly littered with yelling and tears, became a moment where I listened. We had a simple conversation about how the bag was ripped, and an accident happened. Our daughter had a chance to explain the facts, and we cleaned up the mess together."
This story was told to me following our WITH... not AGAINST seminar. A very good question from a parent that evening asked 'What's the difference between asking 'Why did you do that?' and 'What happened?' On the surface, they are both addressing an incident. The first question, however assumes guilt and culpability. In essence, by asking 'Why did you do that?' we say 'You did something wrong, now explain yourself...' By asking 'What happened?', the conversation is now open to listening, empathy, perhaps dialogue, and instruction.

It's a amazing how such a simple small change in wording can transform a morning from chaos to calm, from defensive to cooperative.

Will this change everything? Of course not. We will still find ourselves at odds with one another, but beginning from a place where we open ourselves up to relationship rather than jumping to punishment. Our seminar introduced us to working away from punitive/blaming and permissive/excusing to restorative/ cooperating.

Want to know more? The content from both seminars is uploaded to our website at http://covenant.nace.ca/news-and-info.html . These will also help you to understand how we are striving to address relationships here at school as well.