from the principal's desk. . .
I was in Ontario for Thanksgiving weekend – safely ensconced at my parents’ with pumpkin pie and family and worriedly watching the weather in Winnipeg. I arrived back home in Manitoba to a transformed landscape – branches bent and broken, some still blocking streets and sidewalks. There are lessons this year from our urban forest: about fragility and resilience, about chaotic weather and climate change, about vulnerability and loss. Lessons about connection and relationship and relying on one another.
We’re grateful for the help from neighbours – the trucks working in my neighbourhood on the weekend were from Saskatoon. And we’re grateful for the (re)kindling of relationships as our learning circles gather. The life of the school feels differently vibrant when a dozen students are gathered in one place – from laughter and singing to holy silence, the circle holds space for learning and connection.
There is a phrase from Paul’s letter to the Roman community that has been sustaining me this fall: Rejoice in your hope. Hold fast to what is good. The connections between our students, with our alumni, volunteers and friends give much occasion for rejoicing in hope. The more I travel and hear about where ministry is flourishing in the church, the more I am convinced that at the Centre for Christian Studies, we have held onto what is good, and are able to offer education for the transformative leadership that is needed for our current time and contexts. I rejoice in the hopes we share for new growth.
When I look out the windows of the school I see the resilient trees: still bearing their leaves. And I appreciate them more fully than I did before the storm.
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