How does your school community worship? In the Lutheran schools, I have served the worship life of the community revolves around weekly chapel services which are compulsory for students and staff. It can be debated whether or not schools should have compulsory or voluntary chapel services. My opinion is that worship is central to the life of a Lutheran School so compulsory chapel services are necessary. However, what is beneficial to balancing compulsory chapel is providing students and staff with voluntary times for worship experiences.
Chapel Topics
In terms of content for chapel services in primary settings I have used series on topics like the Parables of Jesus, short books of the Bible like Jonah (focusing on a different chapter each week), Lenten Practices during term one (prayer, fasting, giving to the needy), the ten LEA values, Fruit of the Spirit, each of the Ten Commandments, the seven petitions of the Lord’s Prayer, breaking down each article of the Apostles Creed to explore God as Creator, Provider Sustainer, Jesus as Saviour, Redeemer, Lord, and the Holy Spirit, the Church and Saints, the Forgiveness of Sins, and the Resurrection and Eternal Life. Also, I have used elements of some of the Faithinkubators systems called Head to the Heart and Bible Song which have good Bible overviews and Small Catechism material. In secondary settings, I have used shorter topical series to engage with teenagers such as Zombies and God, Jesus and Vampires, and Witches in the Bible (thanks to my colleague Adam Eime for those ideas). Social justice issues from Matthew 25 along with the themes of when I was hungry (world hunger) when I was thirsty (clean water), and when I was a stranger (refugees). These chapels were tied into Australian Lutheran World Service (ALWS) Awareness Day. For schools who approach their chapels in a thematic, term-by-term cycle there are many series possible that also link with the church lectionary and Lent, Easter, Advent, and Christmas stories.
A Cyclical Chapel Program
At Pacific College, I was blessed to build on the foundations laid by previous pastors. In terms of the worship life of the college one foundation was the cyclical chapel program created by Pastor Paul Smith, formerly Bishop of Queensland now Australia. Paul developed a three-year cycle of bible readings, prayers, and resources called “Threads”. The threads are based on research from the Search Institute in the United States called the “Developmental Assets”. From surveying millions of children and adolescents the Search Institute identified forty skills, experiences, and behaviours that help young people to develop into resilient, successful, contributing adults. You can check them out here; http://www.search-institute.org/content/40-developmental-assets-adolescents-ages-12-18.
These forty assets, together with the ten LEA values for lifelong learners and Easter and Christmas themes are spread over a fortnightly cycle during each of the four terms of the school year. Consequently, the whole college community is hearing a consistent message through chapels in sub-schools, from the principal and pastor in communications with families through the school newsletter, and in pastoral care groups and devotions in classrooms during the week. The threads at Pacific were also mapped to the Perma schema and character strengths of Positive Psychology. Particularly for upper Junior, Middle, and Senior Schools, teachers and students can access weekly thread resources which have the readings, a brief reflection on them in the context of the developmental asset, prayers, a reflective stillness exercise, and Youtube links. Teachers use what they want from these thread resources in pastoral care time during the week and they are also very useful for the students of pastoral care groups or other leaders who are rostered on to lead chapel. Below is the Thread cycle of readings and one example of the weekly resource.
These forty assets, together with the ten LEA values for lifelong learners and Easter and Christmas themes are spread over a fortnightly cycle during each of the four terms of the school year. Consequently, the whole college community is hearing a consistent message through chapels in sub-schools, from the principal and pastor in communications with families through the school newsletter, and in pastoral care groups and devotions in classrooms during the week. The threads at Pacific were also mapped to the Perma schema and character strengths of Positive Psychology. Particularly for upper Junior, Middle, and Senior Schools, teachers and students can access weekly thread resources which have the readings, a brief reflection on them in the context of the developmental asset, prayers, a reflective stillness exercise, and Youtube links. Teachers use what they want from these thread resources in pastoral care time during the week and they are also very useful for the students of pastoral care groups or other leaders who are rostered on to lead chapel. Below is the Thread cycle of readings and one example of the weekly resource.
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Grandparents Day
Recently I was involved in preparing a Prep class to lead Chapel for Grandparent's Day for our Junior School. One of the chapel rituals our kids love is the 'birthday thing' at the end of the service. Students who have had birthdays during the week are invited to come to the front, while another two students go across the line with a microphone and ask each indidiviaul their name and how old they are. The kids love it, especially when the teachers come up! In the practice for the Grandparent's Day Chapel with the Prep class the day before, one of the teachers said to the preps; 'Grandparents have birthdays too you know?' That line inspired me that night to write this story as the basis of my message for the chapel service.
| Grandparents have birthdays too |
Fathers Day
One of the things I loved doing as a father with my children when they were young was to play and pray with them. This Junior School Chapel message was written for Fathers Day when my college had lots of Dads there. It is an encouragement for the adults as much as it is for the kids. It must be said though, that it is challenging to speak into this space when children have so many differing types of relationship with their Dads or some other father figure. And unfortunately for numerous children, Dads are not part of the picture for their family.
| Fathers Day |