If then there is any encouragement in Christ, any consolation from love, any sharing in the Spirit, any compassion and sympathy, make my joy complete: be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.
Philippians 2:1
It is a challenge these days to come to consensus about almost anything…from what kind of ice cream to buy to how to fund the federal government, compromise is elusive.
I had the pleasure to experience the exercise of thought and difference in a public artistic realm this week. Our own Shannon Emerick starred in Main Street Theatre’s production of “What the Constitution Means to Me” to well-deserved critical acclaim. The play was provocative and evocative as it invited the audience to consider the founding document of our country with its grandeur and its foibles. I commend it to you.
This play reminded me that we are not born knowing how to make decisions in community using critical thinking. We have to be taught. Teaching children to think critically and to live in community with compassion so that they can be peaceful and productive citizens is the purpose of education. It is also ministry…as parents, teachers, neighbors, congregations we serve in God’s name as we form children for the common good.
This week is Episcopal Schools Week. We will be welcoming Dr. Troy Roddy, the new Head of St. Stephen’s School, to be our preacher this Sunday. An important ministry of St. Stephen’s Church is our day school where we help educate 173 students ages 15 months-8th grade. Educating children in whatever setting is holy work. Together we learn how to live in tension and in love.
-The Reverend Lisa Hunt, Rector