Here’s the text with extra space added between the paragraphs for better formatting on your blog: My father is not a fish. I don't believe that he ever will be. But for the past few days it has felt like my father is a fish.I often implore my students to furnish the interior of their hearts, to decorate their minds, to wallpaper their souls with great literature and poetry. It's a hard thing for...
Read MoreWhat a joy it was to see so many of you at our 2024 convocation service last week. We are hopeful that more and more of our families will join us each year as we seek to begin our school year by asking for the Lord’s blessing. It was an evening of beautiful singing and prayer. We were also blessed by a message from Rev. Tim Goodwin who is the Director of Operations at The Geneva School, a classical Christian school in Manhattan. Tim spoke...
Read MoreA day or two after walking a group of teachers through a magnificent old fairytale, an old myth: The Handless Maiden, one veteran educator came up to talk to me about the story. But in reality it wasn't a discussion about the story simpliciter, it was about the role of stories—stories told, stories heard, stories written. The teacher said to me, “I…
Read MoreA Proclamation: Any American who has ever listened to a bugler sound Taps, the last salute, whether on a green and grassy hillside, a muddy field halfway around the world, or a lonely tarmac stateside or anywhere freedom is cherished and defended, knows exactly why we set aside a special day each year to honor those who have died for our country and to pray for permanent peace. We do so for the sons and daughters of our land who have perished in the cause of liberty…
Read MoreO Lord of Divine Majesty, You are the sustainer of the cosmos. We eternally express our admiration to You, for You are magnificent and exquisite in Your love. Every good and perfect gift is from You who does not change like shifting shadows. (1) Bestow humble hearts upon us, O Lord, that we may come properly into Your presence with shouts of thanksgiving. We will extol…
Read MoreOne of the insights of classical, Christian education is that education is much more than information transfer, or preparation to take tests. It is a rigorous training of the whole soul: body, mind and spirit. As Plutarch wrote long ago, “the mind is not a vessel to be filled, but a fire to be…
Read MoreO Lord, we rejoice in You, our Everlasting Father, even creation rejoices in You! “Thou burning sun with golden beam, thou silver moon with softer gleam, O praise Him, O praise Him! ”All nations shall fear You, the King of kings and Lord of lords for You are good and true. When You saved us from the serpent, we exclaimed Your wondrous works. We shouted out the stories of our salvation from…
Read More“My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken us? Why art thou so far from helping us, and from the words of my roaring? O my God, we cry in the daytime but thou hearest not; and in the night season I am not silent.” (1) O God, our Father, although You remain silent, we place our faith and trust in You even though we are worms at your feet. (2) O Lord, our fathers have put their trust in you and from you their rescue came. (3) For you are the alpha and omega…
Read MoreOne of the things that Chapel Field strives to be is a place of prayer. We open the day in morning assembly in prayer. On Wednesday, Chapel opens and closes with prayer. Many classes do the same. For the most part, these prayers are extemporaneous. The vast majority of the modern evangelical West is familiar with almost nothing but extemporaneous prayers. Now there is nothing wrong with praying…
Read MoreOne of my all-time favorite poems is “In Memory of W.B. Yeats” by W.H. Auden. It is just hard to beat one of your poetic heroes writing a dirge for another one of your heroes. This poem was bouncing around my mind all day yesterday, the 2 year anniversary of the passing of Coach Spanjer—the founder and patriarch of Chapel Field Christian Schools. It is poetic, providential, fitting, that a passage from Mark’s gospel was also swirling inside my skull, mixing and…
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