School News

 

Donuts with Dads Recap

September 29th, 2023

Thank you to all the dads and VIPs who joined us on Wednesday for donuts, beverages, and morning prayer. It is good to start the day with full bellies and even better to begin with satiated souls. It was a blessing to be able to spend time with all the dads and other important people who continue to bless our students and our school. You are a blessing to our students and to Trinitas. 


CCE Corner – Persistent Prayer, part II

September 28th, 2023

As mentioned in part I, the classical Christian tradition teaches us that friendship with God is humankind’s highest good and that cultivating this friendship requires a life of prayer. How then should we pray? Together and alone. Through the words of others and in our own. We have a God who created and sustains the universe and yet also hears each of our prayers. How blessed are we when in our solitude and without concern for the form of our words we offer our adoration and thanks, make our confessions, plead our requests, and express our emotions. We find our model for this intimate individual and spontaneous form of prayer in scripture. The Psalmists poured out their hearts to God. And we know from his prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane that our Lord poured out his. But private prayers are not the only soil in which friendship with God grows.

In his book Prayer, George Buttrick draws attention to the act of praying together, saying that it “should be stressed in a generation which easily neglects and discredits public worship. For a man to argue, ‘I do not go to church: I pray alone,’ is no wiser than if he should say, ‘I have no use for symphonies: I believe only in solo music’” (35).* To this I would add that praying through the words of others might also need to be stressed in a generation which admires the “authentic” and disparages the rote.

Read the rest of this entry »


Artist of the Quarter — Exekias

September 22nd, 2023

On Monday of this week, Mrs. Mouw revealed our first artist of the quarter. His name is. . . Exekias! Exekias was a Greek potter and painter during the sixth century BC. He is one of the few named artists we know of from the ancient world, and a remarkable amount of his work survives today. Our students learned about one of his most famous jars, called an amphora, which depicts the heroes Ajax and Achilles playing a board game between battles. Ask your students to tell you more about the intricacies of this particular piece. 


Author Visit — Simonetta Carr

September 14th, 2023

Students in grades 5-8 enjoyed a visit on Thursday from award-winning author Simonetta Carr. Ms. Carr spoke to them about the importance of studying church history. The students offered good reasons of their own for studying history, and Ms. Carr added the quotation: “The past is a foreign country: they do things differently there.” (Ms. Carr is from Italy and now lives in California.) How wonderful it is to be able to study the different ways people in God’s church have done things throughout history. We have so much to learn from them! It’s a way to learn about the Christian family tree, to understand your beliefs better, to be able to provide a defense of your faith, and to appreciate, with humility and charity, the various ways of living out the Christian faith. Ms. Carr has written over twenty books for young people, including many biographies. Most of the titles can be found or ordered locally at Reformation Heritage Books. Additional titles can be found on Amazon. Copies of her newest book, Church History, are available in the Trinitas office through the end of next week if you would like to purchase one. Ms. Carr has also recently started a podcast for kids: Kids Talk Church History. You might want to check it out for the car ride! 


CCE Corner – Persistent Prayer, part I

September 14th, 2023

Like all of Jesus’ parables, his stories of the persistent widow (Luke 18:1-8) and a person who repeatedly knocks on a friend’s door at midnight (Luke 11:5-13) contain a “hidden” meaning. I am reluctant, even with the help of commentaries, to try to interpret this deeper meaning about prayer and the relationship of asking, seeking, and knocking to receiving, finding, and opening. I have too many questions about prayer in general (and am also shy about the possibility of committing heresy): Do our prayers somehow change God’s mind? But isn’t God unchangeable and impassible? Do our prayers merely change us? Do they simply give us a better “perspective,” cultivate psychological equilibrium, build our character? Does the timing of our prayers matter for a God who is outside of time? (I once attended a philosophy colloquium on the topic: “Praying for Things to Have Happened.”) While I have a desire to know the answers to such questions and can appreciate the subtle debates, I know that mystery will continue to veil much of prayer. It is part of the Christian tradition, however, not to let mystery be an impediment to action. At some point, we may need to be satisfied with the classic Sunday school answer: “Jesus.” Jesus prayed. Jesus told his followers to pray. And, in these parables, the message close to the surface is that we are to do so persistently. 

In his classic book on prayer, Presbyterian minister George Buttrick writes that on the issue of prayer, “as always [Jesus’] deed and word are an indivisible flame” (35).* In less eloquent expression: Jesus “walked the walk.” Jesus prayed in solitude and with friends, he prayed in routine days and in crisis, he prayed at his baptism and in the desert, he left the crowds to pray and he prayed before choosing his disciples, he prayed on the Mount of Transfiguration and he prayed after the feeding of the five thousand, he prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane and he prayed on the cross, he prayed, “until prayer became the climate of his days. The saints said that ‘to work is to pray,’ and they believed profoundly that ‘to pray is to work.’ Jesus said in the language of deeds that ‘to live is to pray,’ and that to pray is to live’” (36). If Jesus prayed, shouldn’t that be good enough reason for us to do the same? 

Read the rest of this entry »


Looking Ahead to Next Year

July 13th, 2023

A successful school year starts in the summer! Now is the time to work together on habits for mind, body, and soul. You might want to print a copy of our updated Healthy Habits and hang it on your fridge.

N.B. The 2023–2024 Academic and Vacation Calendar was sent last week. Please note the addition of Monday, April 8, to our Spring Break for those who wish to travel to view the total solar eclipse.


Summer Reading Club – Nourishing Narratives

July 13th, 2023

Join us for food for the soul! We plan to discuss Jennifer Holberg’s Nourishing Narratives: The Power of Story to Shape Our Faith. Please contact Mrs. Poortenga for more information. Some of you attended Professor Holberg’s wonderful talk in March, which was drawn primarily from two chapters of the book.

Note: The book will be released on Amazon on July 25. Baker Book House on East Paris currently has copies in stock. Call to reserve a copy. It is also available now on the IVPress website. Some new/like new copies can be found on eBay.


No Umbrella Needed . . .

July 13th, 2023

… when there’s a brainstorm! For all the dreamers, schemers, planners, and storytellers; the artisans, handicrafters, tinkerers, and designers; and of course the engineers, architects, cultivators, and curators: we invite you share your creations at Maker Faire 2023.

What is a Maker Faire? It is a showcase of both individual and group projects, featuring innovation and experimentation across the spectrum of science, engineering, art, performance, and craft.

How do I participate? Consider a skill you have or would like to have. Then, consider how you might grow that skill and ultimately showcase it in our Maker Faire next November.

Participation is free. Our Trinitas Maker Faire will feature student, alumni, and hopefully even parent exhibits, as well as hands on activities that invite students (and adults) to make something during the event.

If you would like to participate or have questions, please contact Mrs. Hultink.


Praise God From Whom All Blessings Flow

July 13th, 2023

How do you pray? If every member of our wonderfully diverse ecumenical community could gather in a circle to talk about prayer—or even better, to pray together!—we would surely be blessed by the richness of those diverse traditions and forms of communion and conversation with our Lord. The apostle Paul told the Thessalonian community of believers to pray without ceasing. We can only conclude, then, that our very lives are offerings of prayer, from the moment we wake up and say, “Here I am, Lord, use me for your glory and service today,” to the moment we go to sleep and place those hours of rest (and sometimes, restlessness) in the hands of the One who never slumbers, but is always mindful of us.

Though July marks the end of our worship grant year, we continue to seek to learn, and hopefully, apply, what we have learned to deepen our expressions of faith as a body of believers, united in Christ. In our summer newsletters, we will share some of what we learned specifically about prayer.

I will lift up my eyes to the hills—
From whence comes my help?
My help comes from the Lord,
Who made heaven and earth.
He will not allow your foot to be moved;
He who keeps you will not slumber.
Psalm 121:1–3


Welcome, Mrs. Stawicki!

July 13th, 2023

We are excited to announce that Ginnie Stawicki is joining the Trinitas staff as our primary first-grade teacher. Mrs. Stawicki has a Masters of Arts in Teaching (MAT) with honors from James Madison University. She is an experienced elementary educator, having previously taught for seven years in Northern Virginia where she taught second and fourth grade and specialized in curriculum development as well as helping English as a Second Language (ESL) students. Mrs. Stawicki joins our staff having previously served in various part-time roles, helping with office duties and providing pull-out support for math to our fourth-grade class. Outside of school, she has served in a volunteer role to supplement Children’s Ministry curriculum materials at her church. Mrs. Stawicki and Miss Mehari will be working closely as partners in collaborative and creative ways to continue to build the first- and second-grade learning community.