This article was originally published as a Weekly Meditation. View the original here.
One of my favorite aspects of summer is having a bit more breathing room to catch up on reading. With June and July just around the corner, I wanted to share some picks. This year, I have organized my suggestions around the four pillars of Episcopal identity.
School Worship: Creative, inclusive, drawing fully upon the resources of The Episcopal Church, and a regular part of school life for all faculty and students.
Dr. Timothy Seamans (Cathedral School for Boys, San Francisco, CA) recently published his second book on prayer. Prayers for Every Season: More Common Prayer for Children and Families is a wonderful resource that explores praying with young people. Whether you have a child at home or work with children during the week, this is an excellent book to enrich your prayer life. If you haven’t read his first book with Jennifer Gamber, Common Prayer for Children and Families, I suggest it, as well!
Community Life: Reflection, prayer, and matters of the spirit are honored and cultivated, while the physical, mental, and emotional health of all are supported and nurtured.
In my last meditation, I referenced the current challenges to student health and wellness that we are navigating on our campuses. School leaders and parents alike would benefit from reviewing some of the recent literature on this topic. For a deeper dive, I suggest Jonathan Haidt’s The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness. Exploring the decline of a play-based childhood against the rise of a phone-based childhood, Heidt explores what those who care about young people can do to set them up for success.
Religious Formation and Study: Meaningful, academically substantive, and age-appropriate teaching of the Christian faith while also encouraging dialogue with other traditions.
If you are looking for an approachable, yet substantive reminder of our faith and traditions, I suggest, Dear England: Finding Hope, Taking Heart, and Changing The World by Stephen Cottrell. Cottrell serves as the Archbishop of York and wrote this book as a response to someone asking him why he became a priest while he was picking up a coffee at a train station. In it, he explores the rational basis for the existence of God. As I flipped through the pages, it reminded me of C.S. Lewis’ Mere Christianity written for today’s audience.
Social Justice: The ideals of equity, justice, and a fair society, while embracing and honoring diversity alongside the integral inclusion of community service and service-learning.
I have been reading and writing a lot lately about maintaining a healthy community amid a difficult and charged political climate. Thriving in a World of Pluralistic Contention: A Framework For Schools is a paper that explores this topic in detail. Authored by a task force of heads from independent schools across the country and supported by The Edward E. Ford Foundation, this paper explores how to foster a climate where open, non-partisan, and courageous civic inquiry can thrive on our campuses. Special thanks to NAES heads of school Byron Lawson (Trinity Preparatory School, Winter Park, FL) and Joy McGrath (St. Andrew’s, Middletown, DE) for their hard work on this project.
Hopefully, these suggestions will help us recharge while providing inspiration and ideas to prepare for a successful new year!