What I Do Daily is Most Important

If I am to tell you the truth, I have no idea why students come to the Haven. The Haven, a spiritual center, is open once a week for the Lower School students.  The students must give up the loved lunch recess to come to the Haven. When I was in elementary school, growing up in North Dakota, I would have done anything to get out of the cold, but this is Indiana.  In particular, elementary children (and maybe especially boys) love recess because they can run and play to their hearts’ content. Yesterday I had twenty first and second graders come to the Haven. Thirteen boys and seven girls gave up their recess where we were quiet, read, used a singing bowl, and held a ribbon to connect ourselves during prayer time. They leave saying it’s the best time ever. I don’t get it.

What I do know, beyond a shadow of doubt, is that I am blessed to be doing what I am doing at Canterbury School. As the religion teacher at a college prep school I take seriously and am honored by the role I have in the spiritual and moral development of the children at our school. Canterbury School is based on Christian principles but our hope is that no matter what faith is practiced, all children will feel welcome at our school. It is this multi-faith context that has lead me to be active in multi-faith dialogue. As important as the multi-faith efforts are to me, I realize that my real impact is what I do every day.

With the understanding that what I do daily is most important in the next few months I will be involved in several multi-faith endeavors and dialogues. I will post the details as they unfold but I wanted to make you aware of what they are:

• February 5:Speaking at Trinity Episcopal Church, Fort Wayne
• February 7: Haven Interfaith Parent Open House for Canterbury School parents
• February 8: A Seed of Common Ground (an interfaith group I belong to Fort Wayne) is sponsoring of movie and discussion, The Rise and Fall of Islamic Spain 
• February 21: Attending Project Dialogue at Vanderbilt University 
• February 24: Meeting with local hospital chaplains on creating a Multi-faith room
• April 11: Moderating “A Multi-faith Event: How Good Must I Be? The Consequences of My Choices” at Canterbury School
• April 17: Moderating a multi-faith forum at Taylor University
• April 19-21: Council for Spiritual and Ethical Education in Los Angeles
• April 26: Hosting a multi-faith dialogue for a local community