Welcome back from Spring Break! Even more importantly, welcome back from Holy Week and Easter! We have taken time to rest and rejoice, and are ready to continue a journey toward the end of the school year.
This is a yearly trek we make together. Our Systematic Theology students can tell you the Academy is Christian but not a church!, an educating, discipling community of faculty, staff, and families. From the tanned warmth of August through frozen winter and now on to capricious spring (from sunny 75 one day to 45 the next then back to 68 but raining) we travel as a group.
How does that play out in real life?
The word community is from Latin communis, “common”. Our teachers seek a common language with students, and work from a common store of knowledge, to discover new thoughts together and achieve a common understanding. That involves math teachers teaching about Pi on 3/14, and Juniors wondering about ideas from History or Literature in Physics class. Both Voltaire and Samuel Clemens joked, “The problem with common sense is that it isn’t too common”; we are hoping The Academy community is finding some new idea to celebrate together every day.
Last month the 4th grade had its Indiana Wax Museum. I hope you got to attend because it was very impressive! One girl, Eleanor, represented Margaret Ray Ringenberg, who served as a WASP in World War II. And what is a WASP? The Women’s Airforce Service Pilots were young ladies who had learned to fly and helped in the war effort in non-combat air transport. For example, they would fly bombers across the Atlantic, so male pilots in England could take them into action! They also helped with training those young men stateside.
I was surprised when I heard Eleanor’s presentation (in WWII USAAF uniform, thank you!). She was surprised that in college my Sunday School teacher was a WASP! Although our birthdays are more than five decades apart (and my teacher’s was four decades before mine!) we had something in common, something we could talk about.
What made it even better was that my teacher, Mrs. Helm, was a dynamic Christian woman who served God faithfully until a ripe old age. She is a sister Eleanor and I have in common, and someday in heaven I may get to introduce them.
The Apostles’ Creed speaks of the communion of the saints, that is, the universal body of Christ. Communion is related to community and communication. Just as Chinese people and the Irish share common history and culture with their fellow citizens, we who are in Christ are a unique tribe doing our unique things. We have just celebrated one of our two great holidays; this thing we do at The Academy is also an expression of that life together. Let’s enjoy the rest of this year’s journey!
