Book tower

For the first day of school

God of Solomon the wise and just,
God of Luke the learned,
God of the School Sisters and even the Scholastics,
God of each one teaching one:

You inspire your people with visions of the deserts rejoicing in bloom. You water us for growth, nothing less than the full stature of Christ.

You draw us into mystery. We can always say more. We could never say enough.

Bless those who give and receive your wisdom, and bless our variety of gifts:
Bless the voracious readers.
Bless those who work in clay.
Bless tinkerers and doodlers and thinkers-out-loud.
Bless flashcards in the backseat.
Bless labs and gyms and study groups and storycircles.

Bless those who know that sitting still is heresy,
and those who know that stillness is divine.

Bless induction and deduction and expansion and distillation
and even devil’s advocacy in its proper time,
always as a tool and never as a weapon.

Bless us as we sift and winnow and rejoice and play around and butt heads and make music. Bless our filling of napkins and composition notebooks as font and offering.

Let the final word always be this:
you are One-and-All.

Amen.

Stained glass image

Starting grad school (and a newsletter)

Pentecost feels like a good day to announce what I believe has been a Spirit-led discernment process:

In September, I will start full-time Ed.D. studies (that’s doctorate in education) in the Communications, Media, & Learning Technologies Design Program at Teachers College, Columbia University. I’ll miss being the digital missioner in the CMT@VTS, but I look forward to ongoing collaboration on several e-Formation initiatives.

There are too many people to thank for me to even make a go of it here. But I can’t not mention the person who envisioned and nurtured this vocation the last four years: Lisa Kimball. To say I couldn’t have done it without her would be an unpardonable understatement. Thanks, boss, for literally everything.

If you want to keep up with what I’m doing and continue to get resource suggestions, e-learning commentary, and of course podcast rhapsodizing, please subscribe to this new newsletter. My ‪#‎vtsdigimin‬ students inspired me to put it together.

I take very seriously my responsibility to share what I’m learning with the church, so don’t be shy with suggestions or requests.