The "stuff" doesn't really matter.

I hope your Thanksgiving was a wonderful celebration of family for you, for the love of family is one of the greatest blessings in this life.

It is my fervent hope that at EDS we can sustain some of this attitude of gratitude as we enter the season of Advent.  Thanksgiving was not even over before the secular world had grabbed our attention way from gratitude and abundance and begun to turn our minds toward wanting and scarcity, away from giving and toward getting.

As Father Sawyer wrote to our faculty this week, Advent is “a season of hope, as prophesied long ago by Isaiah, who spoke of the coming of the Messiah, saying, ‘A people who sat in darkness have seen a great light.’  The focus of our Advent activities should be on God’s gift of Jesus to us and the light of God’s love that we can share with each other and the world.” 

In this context, it seems to me that Christmas flows naturally out of our Thanksgiving celebrations.  From All Saints Day to 8^th Grade Grandparents Day to Veterans Day to Thanksgiving, we have celebrated the abundant gift of others in our lives.  It is fitting to conclude this season and this calendar year (ironically the beginning of the church year) with anticipation and preparation for the greatest gift of all.

I invite you, the EDS community, to join us this year in being counter-cultural. Help us push back against the onslaught of secular distractions and mythology that have intruded upon this beautiful season of preparation.  Help us remind our children that the “stuff” doesn’t really matter.  Things will not make us whole, happy, successful or fulfilled.  Things are temporal and temporary; Christ’s love is eternal; and we are called in this season to reflect the light of God’s love to each other and the world – unconditionally.  While you are making lists and checking them twice, I hope you will join us by making a list of ways to tone down the commercial Christmas and upgrade your celebration of the religious holiday this year.  It doesn’t take much. A little bit of Christ’s love goes a long way (remember my October blog about how long it would take to transform the world).

Happy Advent. Prepare the way.

It's What You Don't See

As soon as I saw this scene of football shoulder pads drying in the sunny courtyard, I knew I had to write this column. I immediately asked Erica to take the picture above.  Most people probably didn’t even notice them as they scurried by, but as soon as I saw them, I saw an entire story with a large cast of characters spanning months and years, symbolizing in one snapshot the very essence of what makes EDS unique.

Okay, I can hear you now, “Only Ned would make a mountainous column out of a molehill of pads!”  But seriously, follow me on this little internal dialogue I had with myself.  Q: Twenty some shoulder pads upturned in the courtyard sun.  Why?  A: I suppose they must be drying!  Q: But from what? Football season is over.  A: I don’t know. I guess someone must have washed them before they are to be put away.  Q: Who is our shoulder pad washer and how did they know to do this?  I would never have thought about that! A:  Me neither!  I guess our athletic director Carol Trammell did that. I wonder how you wash shoulder pads and how long it takes and how she thought to dry them in the sun. 

And my mind was off and running.  Probably none of the people who enjoyed the games this year or whose children played football would stop to think about this little but important and time-consuming detail or the hundreds of other details that went into starting our first ever football team – researching student equipment, practice equipment, finding coaches, developing a schedule, arranging fields, researching safety and liability issues, transportation, equipment storage, and on and on.  Most people see only the tip of the iceberg, the end result.

Then I think of all the work and activity you don’t see around here.  If you look beneath the surface, you will be amazed by the volume, scope, and pace of the work life of a teacher.  Think for a moment about planning lessons that will engage students all day -- preparing materials, responding to questions and managing unexpected disruptions, grading papers, correspondence with parents, decorating the room.  Remember also that EDS teachers are responsible for much more than just academic instruction. We expect them to be expert at interpersonal and conflict management, using random events as teachable moments for citizenship and ethical decision-making.  Then think about the attention required for professional development: analyzing student performance and test scores, reading up on the latest in brain research, curriculum, pedagogy and use of technology.  Add to that minor first aid and the care and attention of emotional bruises that are collected along the way. And on and on.

As parents, we see only the tip of the iceberg, even if it seems like the entire iceberg to us. We see our children’s homework, graded work, quarterly progress reports, and their mood and recollections at the end of each day. Just a few data points from this vast enterprise called EDS.

Then look even a little deeper at all of the details you don’t see that are in support of the classroom: religious stewardship, pastoral care, complex financial planning, ordering, billing, facility maintenance and management, fundraising efforts, long range planning, governance, technology infrastructure, scheduling, carpool and much more!

What you do see – the tip of the iceberg – is remarkable enough. We have plenty of data to confirm that our students’ academic preparation is vastly greater than most and on par with the country’s best.  We have collected an impressive track record of success and participation in athletics.  We accomplish this with remarkable financial efficiency, increasing the value of your investment.

But it’s all the stuff beneath the surface and behind the scenes that truly makes the amazing, mysterious, magical difference of an EDS education.  It’s the dedication of our faculty to go way beyond the call of duty. It’s the engaged, supportive, and hard-working parent body.  It’s the spirit of community in which we all roll up our sleeves and lend a hand when it’s needed.  But most of all, it’s the fact that we are on a mission and that everything we do is Christ-led and student-centered.

There are plenty of busy workplaces in the world. But as General Foley observed to us last week, “There’s something special going on at EDS.”  Just remember from time to time to look beneath the surface.

Interconnected

We are in a season of celebrating community and interconnectedness at EDS. Last week we remembered All Saints and All Souls in chapel, and Friday we celebrated a beautiful 8^th Grade Grandparents’ and Grandfriends’ Day.  This Friday we honor veterans and those currently serving our nation in our annual Veterans’ Day ceremony.

These events are not just isolated holidays on the calendar for us at EDS; they are central to our identity and mission. EDS is founded on the understanding that Jesus doesn’t call us simply to be better individuals and into singular relationship with God -- although he does say the greatest commandment is to love the Lord our God with all our heart, mind, and soul. Jesus quickly adds that the second commandment is as great as the first: to love one another. He clearly calls us to live in relationship with each other as well as with God.

In equal parts, we are called to be our best selves, to grow in to closer relationship with God, and to be in loving community with mankind.  This understanding is fundamental to the EDS mission and education.  Our mission calls for us to commit to much more than merely providing for the minimal literacy needs of our students.  Surely we provide that, but our loftier mission is to help students acquire and apply those skills in a theological context of meaning and purpose.  We don’t want to help grow just good students, but good citizens, good people, good parents and spouses.  Our goal is not to send students into the world well prepared merely for high school but also well prepared to make a positive difference and to be meaningful contributors to God’s community.  This, in fact, is the greatest aspect that sets EDS apart from other schools.

So it is important and meaningful that we take time to teach our students about the others in the world who have paved the way for them.  It’s not just a nice thing to do, it’s central to our educational mission to take time to learn about and remember the contributions of saints, grandparents, veterans, and others in our lives.  We are interconnected with creation, and we have nothing, accomplish nothing, and become nothing on our own. We all build on foundations laid by others and with the support of others, so it is fitting that we take time to recognize and remember them.