Over the past few decades, the legendary Neiman Marcus Christmas catalog has featured some pretty amazing gifts. Their catalog in the 60’s offered his-and-her submarines for $18,000 and a hot air balloon for $6,000. In 1970, you could buy a life size Noah’s Ark, complete with some animals for $588,000. And this year is no different...you can purchase a New Year's Eve Times Square party for a measly $1.6 million.
Maybe a million dollar party isn't at the top of your wish list this year, but perhaps you have certain expectations of what you hope to find waiting for you under the Christmas tree. If you put your hope in what gifts are found under the tree, you will be very disappointed. However, if you have put your trust in the Christ of Christmas, you will never be disappointed. Look with me at the Christmas “symbols” of the gifts Paul talks about in Romans. 

The struggle is real. When asked about the top frustrations created by the challenge of guiding their children through thirteen years of school, parents listed these roadblocks related to their child's homework and study habits: no organization, lack of work ethic, procrastination, and failure to accept responsiblity. For many families, these challenges cause frustration, tears, and disappointment.

Dramaturgy in American Literature Classes   

MPCS junior, Jimmy Jennings as Jo March? Classmate, Noah Rymut as Beth? Such interesting casting may have occurred in MPCS American Literature classes this semester. Long and sentimental, yet loved by many, the novel Little Women is seldom read in the classroom. However, when the Mount Paran Christian School drama department announced a plan to produce the musical version of the play, a cross-curricular project was born.

Oswald Chambers wrote,

“The measure of the worth of our public activity for God is the private profound communion we have with Him. We have to pitch our tents where we shall always have quiet times with God, however noisy our times with the world may be.”

I want to tell you about one of my first memories of a veteran. When I was about six years old, I remember watching my father labor to meticulously build 40 picnic tables as one of his side jobs. He had to work these extra jobs because he took a pay cut when his company moved him to working a desk job. You see, my father served as a munitions specialist in the Air Force and was stationed in Germany around 1960. His job was to reach his arm into a nuclear warhead to arm it for daily practice runs. This exposure to radiation caused my father to lose that arm (and later his shoulder) to cancer. However, he went ahead and built those 40 picnic tables with one arm.

Have you ever felt that you weren’t good enough? That no matter how hard you tried you could never measure up? Every day, we face expectations from parents, teachers, coaches, and we often fall short. Our rooms are never clean enough, our grades are never good enough, our efforts on the field are never strong enough. As much as we aim to please, we are caught in a constant battle of meeting demands that seem to be just out of our reach. We are left with the tension of trying harder or simply giving up. However, the anniversary of the Reformation reminds us of the hope we have.

One of the most prominent questions in education today is how can we properly prepare our students for the world of the 21st century. MPCS leadership is answering this question in many ways. As an institution striving for academic excellence and best practices for student learning and retention, MPCS has placed a large emphasis on teacher training. While we expect our children to learn curriculum, it is equally important that our staff be continual learners themselves. 

In today’s culture, information is readily accessible on laptops or digital devices. It’s time for library media centers to make a change from the information age to the imagination age. 

Individually, music, art, and STEAM classes in the MPCS lower school bring excitement and smiles to the faces of our students who thrive in these creative, hands-on environments. Add in a collaborative project that moves through all three classrooms, and the energy becomes contagious.

I had an occasion recently to review an article written by the American Culture and Faith Institute which has, as its sole purpose, to educate, motivate, and activate Christians to engage in cultural transformations in ways that are consistent with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The article, entitled “Americans Worried About Children,” provided a sobering analysis of a 2017 survey, which was conducted among adults in the United States. It attempted to identify the impact of the contemporary culture on the lives of our children and the views of Christians in regard to this phenomenon.

MPCS has launched into high-tech, collaborative learning in middle school with the introduction of the Connected Learning Program. Personal learning devices and digitalized curriculum directly support our goal to create an environment that equips students to think skillfully and innovatively with greater opportunities to expand real-world application beyond classroom walls.

#BeKind is a focused effort to teach students to value the God-given uniqueness of every child, friend, teacher, coach, staff member, etc. It is more than just acting nicely - it is learning the core values of good character and effective interpersonal skills. It is a way to develop relationships - crossing cultural, developmental, and socioeconomic boundaries, and encouraging intentional acts of kindness, big or small. It is about being "salt and light" by modeling Christ-like character to all of those around us. You may have already heard of the #BeKind "movement" and we have now brought it to MPCS in every grade-level! 

Today we will experience a once-in-a-lifetime phenomenon... the eclipse! Solar eclipses are an amazing phenomenon. As the moon slides between the earth and the sun, the sun’s brilliance gradually fades. Its light grows dim as if there’s a layer of dust on everything you see. The effect is most dramatic on a bright cloudless day. While the eclipse is in full force, it’s easy to forget that the sun is still there in all its force and glory.

BRAD SMITH (from 2017 blog, republished for the 2024 eclipse)

"This most beautiful system of the sun, planets, and comets, could only proceed from the counsel and dominion of an intelligent and powerful being." — Isaac Newton, General Scholium to the Principia Mathematica, 1713

As many in America prepare for the impending total eclipse taking place on Monday afternoon, the phenomenon provides an opportunity for more than just an education in science and astronomy. It is a chance to focus on the wondrous Creator who has set in motion even the unperceived features of our universe.

Ellis Island. Bees. Computers. Bats. What could these possibly have in common? They are the winning ideas proposed to MPCS administration for the inaugural year of the Innovation in Teaching Grant. Funds raised each year from the PTF auction are typically used for classroom needs and technology. However, this year a unique approach to the use of these funds was established. PTF contributed $10,500 toward “innovation grants.”