This week we celebrated running, jumping, throwing, and healthy competition. Track and field day is always a highlight of the year for many.
Our kindergarten students enjoyed all their events!
Our students were divided into multigrade teams and were led by Grade 8 students. Each team had a name and a colour. Points were earned at each event and every centimetre or second mattered! The competition for trophy was fierce! There were even points for the loudest cheer (measured by a decibel metre) and a human curling competition, which happened a few days before.
There were many smiling faces, cheers and quiet encouragement for those that were feeling down.
There are always many parents and grandparents cheering everyone on.
Many moms provided yummy lunch and snacks.
On Wednesday, our grade 8 students participated in their own field day and competed for the highly sought after Beacon Cup.
We were blessed with amazing weather, no injuries, many smiles and lots of encouragement between students!
Last week, we welcomed our grandparents and grandfriends to school.
It is always a very special day!
The students eagerly awaited the arrival of their grandparents! Artwork was proudly shown.
Grandparents usually bring lots of treats to their excited grandchildren!
Our students put on a program.
The gym was full!
Grandparents are eager to see what their grandchildren are learning and the work they produce...
...and how smart their grandchildren are!
While this day is about fun and celebrating our grandparents and friends, we are most thankful for the influence our grandparents have on our lives in teaching us in His way. We thank God for them!
Let each generation tell its children of your mighty acts; let them proclaim your power.
Today we had our second chapel on the throughline of Earthkeeping.
Some of our students led us in praise and worship songs.
Psalm 104:24
How many are your works, Lord!
In wisdom you made them all;
the earth is full of your creatures.
Our Grade 6 students created a slide show based on Psalm
Some of our students shared a sacrifice of praise with liturgical dance to the
song Joy by Rend Collective.
We then got together with our GIFT groups (Growing In Faith Together).
In our mystery bag were some things found in creation. Using only our sense of touch, we explored creation from a different perspective. We can't help but marvel at His creation when we take the time to use our senses to notice and enjoy.
However, we know that sin is also evident in creation and in how we care for the earth.
We are concerned and want to help by being better earth keepers.
Dear God,
We love this wonderful earth you have created.
We are worried about the many things which cause it harm.
We understand that there are many problems with our environment.
We ask you, God, to help us find ways to take better care of our earth.
We know there are many people working to help the earth and we would like to find our own ways to be stewards of creation. Amen
from http://www.webofcreation.org/Worship/services/children.htm
This month we are looking deeper into the throughline of earth keeping. We desire that our students will respond to God’s call to be stewards of all of creation.
As the Prairie Centre for Christian Education's Doug Monsoma writes: Everyone, in his imagination, can go to the most beautiful places on earth. Perhaps it is a mountaintop with a forever view, or a long, white-sand beach. Maybe it is the spray and the thunderous roar of a waterfall or the quiet, gentle sway of a seemingly endless golden field of wheat. These places can help us to have a Garden of Eden experience. The Garden must have been an incredible place, not only because of the tangible presence of God, but because of its beauty. The writer of Genesis says “And God saw everything that he had made, and it was very good” (1:31). It seems almost unbelievable that God calls us to be stewards, caretakers or gardeners of all of creation. (Gen 1:28) God created the world and he gives us the opportunity to ‘manage’ it on his behalf? Amazing! Incredible! Daunting!
Our Grade 6 students share the creation story
Amazing? Yes! Incredible? Yes! Easy? No! Caretaking can so easily succumb to exploiting. Stewardship can so often turn into self-centred greed. Our sin has made it difficult for us to clearly see the role and tasks gardeners and stewards must play. Loud voices from our culture shout out, “stuff equals happiness” and we see people wearing T-shirts with the mantra, “Whoever dies with the most toys wins!”
Grade 1 shares a sacrifice of praise on the orff instruments
We and our students need to reclaim the world/universe and relearn how to treat all things contained in it (natural resources, environment, water, trees, farm land) with respect. By doing this we respect the One who gave us this job!
In our global economy, this earth-keeping is not only about stewarding the environment, it is about the challenge of living lives that balance our wants and needs with those of other people, people living in other areas of the world and those still to come. This is a counter-cultural message that students must grapple with in our Christian schools.
Today in our chapel, we welcomed Pastor Art VanSlagaren. He shared his thoughts with us about the parable of workers from Matthew 20. He encouraged us to think of big and little ways that we can care and keep God's creation.
Grade 1 led us again through the Butterfly Song. We then watched a really awesome video of some pretty amazing things that God has created. We can't help but be amazed at all the things God has created! And they are good!
Today we had our fourth chapel on Justice Seeking. Proverbs 31:8-9 have been our focus for the last four weeks. We are called to see and act on things that are "not fair" in our world.
We've been singing this song this month: (Great Are You Lord -All Sons and Daughters)
Today we heard the parable of the persistent widow found in Luke 18:1-8. It is perhaps a lesser known parable: 18 Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. 2 He said: “In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared what people thought.3 And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, ‘Grant me justice against my adversary.’
4 “For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, ‘Even though I don’t fear God or care what people think, 5 yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won’t eventually come and attack me!’” 6 And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. 7 And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? 8 I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?” New International Version (NIV)
The focus of the parable is for us to persist in our faith against all odds. This includes being persistent when seeking justice for all. We need to continue to work for justice in a world full of injustices. And while we can't fix every wrong in the world, we must never give up hope.
After our time of worship together, we divided into our GIFT (Growing in Faith Together) groups and discussed what we can ask God to help us with in seeking justice at school, as well as what we can pray for in relation to seeking justice in our world. We then wrote out thoughts on hands to display as a reminder for us as we continue to seek justice in God's world.
And finally, here is our Grade Two "orffestra" playing God of Great
Our program at Beacon Christian School is woven together by ten threads called Throughlines. Throughlines are qualities that we desire our students to develop as God is revealed to them "in all things." They answer the question, "How now shall I live?
This month our focus in on the throughline Justice Seeking.
As written by the Prairie Centre for Christian Education based in Alberta, we acknowledge that the world is not as God intended it to be. U2 lead singer and social activist Bono once said, “Every age has its massive moral blind spots. We might not see them, but our children will.” We are able to lead our students to see the injustices in this world—the injustices of poverty, racism, gender inequality, war, exploitation in work places, abuse in relationships, poor governance etc.
But seeing these things can’t be where we stop. If we do, we leave our students discouraged and hopeless. We need to enable students to act as agents of change by BOTH identifying and responding to injustices. Together we must find the moral blind spots and bring the vision of God’s kingdom to them.
The Bible is clear that justice is a central part of the
shalom of God’s kingdom. The Bible leaves no doubt that Christian lives must be
lives of justice. It is the first requirement listed in answer to Micah’s
question, “What does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy
and to walk humbly with your God.” (Micah 6:8)
God has decided to use his people (us!) to do His work in
this world! What a responsibility and privilege! Christian education nurtures
and disciples young people to take on this ongoing responsibility and to rejoice
in the glimpses of the kingdom that they get in this task.
Last week, we welcome Pastor Kevin to our chapel. He told us the story of the Good Smaritan. He asked us how we wanted to be remembered?
What do we hope those who know us will see in us? Words like compassionate, caring, loving, Godly, humble, helpful, kind were some of the things our students hope others see in them.
This week, we continued digging into what it means to seek justice.
Our Grade 1 students led us in opening worship.
We also welcomed two people who are involved in the homeless shelter at Southridge Church.
Both spoke about finding friendship through the shelter.
It was interesting to meet and hear their stories and how finding friends in unlikely places has changed their lives. We were reminded that no one begins life dreaming about being homeless and that those without homes began their lives much like the rest of us. Their stories offered insight and thought into another area where we can seek to do what is just.
Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute. Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy. Proverbs 31:8 (NIV)
This week we celebrated running, jumping, throwing, and healthy competition. Track and field day is always a highlight of the year for many.
Our kindergarten students enjoyed all their events!
