These are uncertain and deeply unsettling times. The worst prognostications are dark; the best aren’t very good. We don’t yet know how this will play out or over what time frame. Nor is it my role to comment on those predictions or even the causes of the financial and political situation in which we find ourselves. However, it seems appropriate to ask, “What is our role at EDS?” and “How can we help?”
Let me tackle the second question first. Here’s how we can help: Episcopal Day School can be a place of great comfort and rejuvenation in troubling times – for children and for adults. Despite whatever personal turmoil or even tragedy one might be experiencing, visiting this campus can have a healing effect. Come to an event or have lunch with your child. Experience the warmth and love of this environment and be reminded of God’s presence in our lives. Watching the children work, play, love, and grow can remind us all of the resilience of the human spirit and restore our hope in the future. Visit a chapel service on Tuesday, Wednesday, or Friday morning and allow yourself to begin your day in quiet reflection and prayer. On a more practical matter, if your family becomes so affected by current economic conditions that your ability to continue to offer your child(ren) an EDS education becomes questionable, please come talk with us. There is a misperception that financial aid is meant only to pay tuition support for very poor families. At most good schools like EDS, financial aid is available to keep the school affordable for middle class families AND to help families bridge the gap in time of financial trouble such as cutbacks and layoffs.
But the first question is even more important to me, “What is our role at EDS?” Whatever we make of the current economic and political conditions, our children will inherit it. Our job is to help prepare them. This is why the EDS faculty began three years ago asking the questions, “What can we know about the conditions of the world our students will enter, and how can we best equip them for it?” We aren’t interested merely in meeting today’s minimum standards; we have our sights set on the demands of the decades ahead. We could write a multi-volume series on this subject, but let me point out two of the key issues on which we have focused. The first is the rate of change. There is much we cannot predict about the world – and specifically the economy – of the future. But we can say with certainty that rapid change will be a universal characteristic. Sociologists and economists are predicting that our children will change careers (not just jobs) an average of 3-5 times in their working life. Clearly, more than ever our children need to be equipped with fundamental skills of problem solving, adaptability, and self-directed learning. Already you see these skills embedded in the EDS curriculum from 3 year olds through 8th grade, but you will see more and more focus on this.
Today’s uncertainty about the American economy is just one of the many challenges we face. Unrest in the Middle East, China’s ownership of American debt, unchecked immigration, changing American demographics, environmental concerns, world health issues: focusing on these can be overwhelming and dispiriting. However, ignoring or dismissing them won’t help. Our students will desperately need a moral compass, a sense of meaning and purpose. How would they navigate the complex human world without understanding the history of God’s creation and their place and purpose in it? How can they walk with confidence and competence if they don’t know that God walks with them? It seems to me that the value and importance of an Episcopal education has never been clearer.
These can be uncertain and deeply unsettling times. Our hope is that EDS can provide for you and for your children (and for the entire community, for that matter) a place of comfort and a reminder. Come visit, watch, and feel our work together in community and be reminded of God’s love, and restore and resolve your hope for the future.
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Faith and today's financial conditions
Loren Hague, the youth minister at the Church of the Good Shepherd, pointed out to me this online panel discussion. The discussion is entered as part of the blog, "On Faith," moderated by Washington Post reporter Sally Quinn and Newsweek editor (and esteemed Sewanee graduate!) Jon Meacham. They moderate a panel of renowned religious scholars of all denominations. "On Faith" is a self-proclaimed "worldwide, interactive discussion about religion and its impact on global life."
The current conversation is in response to this question posed by Quinn and Meacham: "Are the economy's recent financial failures also moral failures? Are credit and debt religious issues? Do you have faith in the economy?"
My Panther Prints column this week will talk a little bit about EDS's role in the current financial climate.
You can find the blog, "On Faith," at
but a few tantalizing excerpts are listed below.
Rabbi Irwin Kula – the President of CLAL-The National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership in New York.
Every religious and spiritual wisdom tradition suggests that great moments of collective trauma or suffering are also invitations - not for flight (turning inwards to simply protect ourselves) or fight (blaming others) - but to honestly self-reflect, introspect, and grow. Obviously, some people are guiltier than others for this economic crisis but in an interdependent reality all are responsible…let's stop having faith in the economy and begin to have faith in each other - trusting that the happiness that comes from greed is transient at best while the happiness that comes from giving, serving and even sacrificing for each other is far more enduring and credit-worthy.
Matt Maher – Roman Catholic Singer, Songwriter, Worship Leader
I think Jesus was pretty clear when He said, "You can't serve God and Money." The problem is, most people end up misunderstanding the phrase, "Render to Caesar what is Caesar's, and to God what is God's." Most people combine the two, and form a general image that God doesn't really care about money at all, or how we manage the resources entrusted to us. To that, I would say you're missing the point. God cares about people, and how we are being good stewards of what we have. It's about being a responsible citizen. That is why Jesus says you can't serve two masters. Either your love for God (and consequently, your love of neighbor) will fuel your stewardship of money, or love of money will fuel your stewardship of love. Everything starts with stewardship.
Nicholas Thomas Wright – Anglican Bishop of Durham, England
What does 'repent and believe' mean in this situation? I'm not exactly sure; but I do know that it will involve cheerful generosity. Giving money away is the first great step towards dethroning it as an idol. As long as we are a culture of mammon-worshippers we can expect, quite literally, to pay the price that idols always demand.
Every religious and spiritual wisdom tradition suggests that great moments of collective trauma or suffering are also invitations - not for flight (turning inwards to simply protect ourselves) or fight (blaming others) - but to honestly self-reflect, introspect, and grow. Obviously, some people are guiltier than others for this economic crisis but in an interdependent reality all are responsible…let's stop having faith in the economy and begin to have faith in each other - trusting that the happiness that comes from greed is transient at best while the happiness that comes from giving, serving and even sacrificing for each other is far more enduring and credit-worthy.
Matt Maher – Roman Catholic Singer, Songwriter, Worship Leader
I think Jesus was pretty clear when He said, "You can't serve God and Money." The problem is, most people end up misunderstanding the phrase, "Render to Caesar what is Caesar's, and to God what is God's." Most people combine the two, and form a general image that God doesn't really care about money at all, or how we manage the resources entrusted to us. To that, I would say you're missing the point. God cares about people, and how we are being good stewards of what we have. It's about being a responsible citizen. That is why Jesus says you can't serve two masters. Either your love for God (and consequently, your love of neighbor) will fuel your stewardship of money, or love of money will fuel your stewardship of love. Everything starts with stewardship.
Nicholas Thomas Wright – Anglican Bishop of Durham, England
What does 'repent and believe' mean in this situation? I'm not exactly sure; but I do know that it will involve cheerful generosity. Giving money away is the first great step towards dethroning it as an idol. As long as we are a culture of mammon-worshippers we can expect, quite literally, to pay the price that idols always demand.
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Welcome
Welcome to my blog! This is an attempt to expand our ability to have discussion about issues we have in common, primarily the school, education, raising children, etc. I will post my column, Mr. Murray's Musings, here, but I will also add occasional commentary or questions on other topics. In addition, you can post comments. A comment string will appear below each blog posting, so that we can engage in a continuous dialogue. Comments will be moderated by me before being posted, so please avoid personal, derogatory, or other inappropriate comments; they will not be posted. I welcome your input and look forward to the dialogue. This kind of dialogue is a lost art, and essential to the health and success of a democracy. Enjoy!
8th grade goes outward bound
Last week thirty two EDS eighth graders and four faculty members went outward bound. Shortly after noon on Monday we left the parking lot at the Pisgah Center for Wildlife Education and walked into the Pisgah National Forest with everything we needed for the next five days on our backs (food, shelter, clothing, gear, etc.). Our instructors spent much of the first two days teaching the requisite skills so that by Wednesday, the students were largely self-reliant. Each participant was assigned an important and vital daily job. The students broke camp each day, cooked the meals, cleaned up according to “leave no trace” principles (http://www.lnt.org/programs/principles.php), navigated their way to our next site, and set up camp again.
Teaching wilderness skills was not the point of the trip, although they are good to learn. It was within the context of this unique – and occasionally uncomfortable – learning environment that many other lessons were experienced. We worked with North Carolina Outward Bound’s “four pillars” of physical fitness (the importance of taking care of the body God has given us through proper nutrition, exercise, and hygiene), craftsmanship (do things that matter and do them well), self-reliance (becoming less dependent on our “stuff,” being resourceful, and recognizing and applying personal strengths), and – perhaps most importantly – compassion (recognizing and valuing our differences and our interdependence so that we live productively in community with each other).
Even still, more lessons were packed into this experience: lessons of courage and tenacity, leadership, reflection and self-knowledge, environmental awareness, the value of quiet time alone free from the daily distractions with which we occupy ourselves, and the list goes on. Lest you get the wrong impression, be assured that along the way there was also a great deal of fun, laughter, and fellowship.
While I am pleased that the immediate response to the experience by the students and their parents has been overwhelmingly positive, I also recognize that the full value and impact of the trip will not come to fruition for years to come. We went into the woods and lived simply with each other for five days. In doing so, we experienced the essence of community in a distilled and undisguised way. We directly and intimately experienced the magnificence and mystery of God’s creation, thereby being in direct communion with Him. Only later will we each, individually and collectively, determine the value and usefulness of this experience for ourselves. Somewhere along the way, I hope there is an English teacher who will assign Thoreau to these students and that his words will ring true for them when they read:
“I went into the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach…I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life…[but] I left the woods for as a good a reason as I went there..I learned this, at least, by my experiment: that if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours…If you have built your castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them.”
Now, put the foundations under them. Amen.
Teaching wilderness skills was not the point of the trip, although they are good to learn. It was within the context of this unique – and occasionally uncomfortable – learning environment that many other lessons were experienced. We worked with North Carolina Outward Bound’s “four pillars” of physical fitness (the importance of taking care of the body God has given us through proper nutrition, exercise, and hygiene), craftsmanship (do things that matter and do them well), self-reliance (becoming less dependent on our “stuff,” being resourceful, and recognizing and applying personal strengths), and – perhaps most importantly – compassion (recognizing and valuing our differences and our interdependence so that we live productively in community with each other).
Even still, more lessons were packed into this experience: lessons of courage and tenacity, leadership, reflection and self-knowledge, environmental awareness, the value of quiet time alone free from the daily distractions with which we occupy ourselves, and the list goes on. Lest you get the wrong impression, be assured that along the way there was also a great deal of fun, laughter, and fellowship.
While I am pleased that the immediate response to the experience by the students and their parents has been overwhelmingly positive, I also recognize that the full value and impact of the trip will not come to fruition for years to come. We went into the woods and lived simply with each other for five days. In doing so, we experienced the essence of community in a distilled and undisguised way. We directly and intimately experienced the magnificence and mystery of God’s creation, thereby being in direct communion with Him. Only later will we each, individually and collectively, determine the value and usefulness of this experience for ourselves. Somewhere along the way, I hope there is an English teacher who will assign Thoreau to these students and that his words will ring true for them when they read:
“I went into the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach…I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life…[but] I left the woods for as a good a reason as I went there..I learned this, at least, by my experiment: that if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours…If you have built your castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them.”
Now, put the foundations under them. Amen.
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