Hymns

I'm back at Providence Hall, teaching in my Foundations of the Faith class. After some prayer while I was away in the Philippines, I changed my lesson plans, and decided to spend the month of February studying the Book of Psalms with them.

This idea was prompted in part by a book I read on my flight home by Kathleen Norris entitled The Cloister Walk. It's a memoir of a year when she participated in the daily life and rhythms of a Benedictine monastery. I could go on and on about the book, but this is the quote that triggered my reconsideration of my lesson plan:

“You come to the Bible’s ‘great book of praises’ through all the moods and conditions of life, and while you may feel poorly, you sing anyway. To your surprise, you find that the psalms do not deny your true feelings, but allow you to reflect on them, right in front of God and everyone.”

After my great week with the students at Faith Academy, I was reminded that we can never talk enough about how to cultivate a devoted, earnest life of prayer. This quote confirmed that hunch.

In preparation for this series, I went to a trusted resource. My friend Tremper Longman, in his book How to Read the Psalms, say that there are roughly seven different types of psalms. I thought it would be great to walk my students through these different types in order to learn more about "God's prayer book." Ultimately, I also want us to experience the prayers together as well.

So on Tuesday we started off with the type most people probably think of when they think about the Book of Psalms ~ Tremper calls this type the "hymn." As he describes them,

Hymns are easily recognized by their exuberant praise of the Lord. The psalmist pulls out all the stops in his rejoicing in God's goodness. His praise is exuberant because the psalmist is very conscious of God's presence.

I then shared with them the 3 structural pieces that scholars detect in the psalmic hymns:

1. They begin with a call to worship.
2. They continue by expanding on the reasons why God should be praised.
3. Hymns often include, and sometimes conclude with, further words of praise.

Then we looked at Psalm 113, and used the psalm as a guide to prayer:

Psalm 113

¹ Praise the LORD.

Praise the LORD, you his servants;
praise the name of the LORD.
² Let the name of the LORD be praised,
both now and forevermore.
³ From the rising of the sun to the place where it sets,
the name of the LORD is to be praised.

⁴ The LORD is exalted over all the nations,
his glory above the heavens.
⁵ Who is like the LORD our God,
the One who sits enthroned on high,
⁶ who stoops down to look
on the heavens and the earth?

⁷ He raises the poor from the dust
and lifts the needy from the ash heap;
⁸ he seats them with princes,
with the princes of his people.
⁹ He settles the childless woman in her home
as a happy mother of children.

Praise the LORD.

There is almost nothing more enjoyable to this old youth pastor's ears than hearing the hum of many students in prayer. I encouraged them to be as honest with God as they are with their friends, and walked them through a couple of examples.

I think at least a few of them got that. Well, one of them sure did... I overheard him thank God for "ice cream, and baseball." Smile.

During lunch, one of the junior girls called out to me from her circle of friends, "Kelly, how cool is it that a few of us have been praying that we could learn how to pray more at Providence Hall, and then you bust out with that lesson today?"

Indeed. How cool is that?

Hope for Resolution

I have been sort of waiting for the feeling of Christmas to kick in. I don't know if I've been in a fog because of various work projects and the stuff of life, but I haven't decorated my house, and I've only just started buying some gifts.

But last night it all washed over me. I went to Providence Hall's Service of Lesson and Carols. Since I had never gone to a service like this, which is an Anglican tradition, I had no expectations. Let me tell you, I was utterly, completely blown away.

I won't even begin to try to recreate the evening. For a rough sense of the history of this tradition and what the repertoire was like, you can look up Lessons & Carols on Wikipedia, I suppose. But uniquely, the choral director selects the songs. And our presentation was done with a combination of two choirs -- the Laudate Children's Chorus, a precious group of seventeen children ranging from 5th through 8th grades, bracketed by the Chamber Choir and larger Chorale of Providence Hall. Plus the audience (congregation) participates throughout as well, joining the choirs in singing various Christmas carols.

I had limited expectations also because we are a small school. Thirty-eight of our 75 students are in the choral program. To be honest, I wondered how much talent we would be able to generate!

I was stunningly wrong. I told someone afterward that I have sat through a TON of concerts in twenty-eight years of youth ministry, but I have never listened to choir concert where the students actually believed what they were singing!

The evening got off to an amazing start before it even began: the sanctuary, a classic Episcopal stone church with a high ceiling, which seats 400, was overflowing right before we started. Some staff had to scramble back to our school, two buildings away, to grab as many folding chairs as we could to seat the overflow. The service started with the quiet scraping sound of folding chairs on cement muffled in the back.

I was one of the readers designated to read the lessons: my passage was from Isaiah 11:

The Branch From Jesse

¹ A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse;
from his roots a Branch will bear fruit.
² The Spirit of the LORD will rest on him—
the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding,
the Spirit of counsel and of might,
the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the LORD—
³ and he will delight in the fear of the LORD.

He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes,
or decide by what he hears with his ears;
⁴ but with righteousness he will judge the needy,
with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth.
He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth;
with the breath of his lips he will slay the wicked.
⁵ Righteousness will be his belt
and faithfulness the sash around his waist.

⁶ The wolf will live with the lamb,
the leopard will lie down with the goat,
the calf and the lion and the yearling together;
and a little child will lead them.
⁷ The cow will feed with the bear,
their young will lie down together,
and the lion will eat straw like the ox.
⁸ The infant will play near the cobra’s den,
the young child will put its hand into the viper’s nest.
⁹ They will neither harm nor destroy
on all my holy mountain,
for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the LORD
as the waters cover the sea.

This passage was a gripping reminder to me of how desperately our world needs true shalom, the peace of God. This is not peace as the world gives, which is temporary, usually resulting from a narcotic or distraction, or from an uneasy truce, where both sides still hate one another, but agree to stop the conflict for a time. God's shalom makes things right. There is resolution.

That was expressed as well in this service as the choirs sang the Hope for Resolution: a breathtaking combination of two songs: the classic carol Of the Father's Love Begotten, combined with an African Zulu Freedom Song called Thula Sizwe.

The Hope for Resolution started quietly, with the Laudate Children's Choir singing the Christmas carol in their gentle, hesitant, childish voices...

Of the Father’s love begotten,
Ere the worlds began to be,
He is Alpha and Omega,
He the source, the ending He,
Of the things that are, that have been,
And that future years shall see,
Evermore and evermore!

This carried on for several minutes. I was sitting close. Their faces, concentrated and animated as they sang, consumed my entire attention.

Then the Providence choir eventually folded in with Thula Sizwe, a thumping, driving chant. Initially you cannot understand how these two songs work together. But quickly they weave as one, the words and songs braiding together:

Thula Sizwe
Ungabokala
Ujehova Wakho
Uzokunqobela

Inkululeko
Sizoyithola
Ujehova Wakho
Uzokunqobela

Translation:

Hush nation
Do not cry
Our God
Will protect us

Freedom
We will get it
Our God
Will protect us

The students rocked back and forth, wrapped around the children like a shawl. The little ones stood straight and attentive, using every fiber of their beings to stay on pace with the song as the larger and older choir rocked around them.

My eyes welled up with tears. To say it was moving is a massive understatement. I really wanted to hold it together though. I was in the second row, and the students could see me. I didn't mind if they saw me cry, but I didn't want to be a distraction. There were little tears rolling down my cheeks, but I was composed. The song finished and there was a nanosecond of silence; in that gap, the man behind me heaved a sob. It was hopeless. I lost it.

I'm glad I did. This is Advent -- celebration of that first coming, the burst of God becoming man and invading the mess we have made, bringing the gospel of hope and purpose. Yet ultimately we were left behind, so in this celebration we also desperately await His return. In other words, we hope for resolution. Where all is made right. Where seemingly dissonant peoples come together as one in worship, delight and true PEACE.

May it be so. Happy Advent and Merry Christmas. Lord Jesus, come quickly.

(For a taste of the evening, listen to this far larger and more advanced choral performance of the two songs. Its grandiosity captures some of the power of my smaller, more intimate but live experience last night.

Since I posted this at first: a parent shared his taping of the service. Here it is. Not the same as being there, but certainly wonderful.)

Providence Hall in the Headlines

Very cool. The two students profiled in this article are really, really great. I am excited for them to get the attention. Read about Providence Hall below :)

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Santa Barbara News-Press

By MARK PATTON NEWS-PRESS SENIOR WRITER

J.T. Royston of Providence Hall drives against the Dos Pueblos High junior varsity during a summer league game.

Faith Emerson is a key player for a Providence Hall team that has gone undefeated during its first season of junior varsity summer league play. THOMAS KELSEY/NEWS-PRESS PHOTOS

July 9, 2009 10:49 AM

J.T. Royston felt all alone last winter as he toed the free-throw line during the defining moment of his sophomore basketball season.

No time remained on the clock and the Lions of Providence Hall still trailed by a point.

But Royston will tell you that he had felt much lonelier just a year earlier - during the opening week of practice at the new school.

"We had a few people come in and out the first day," he recalled, "but the next day, nobody else was even there."

He made both free shots to make Providence Hall a winner, and a rush of teammates promptly hugged away the loneliness.

A lot is indeed changing for Santa Barbara's newest high school.

"That actually happened twice last year, when we were down a point and J.T. was shooting a one-and-one with basically no time on the clock," said coach Keith Luberto, who doubles as Providence's athletic director. "He made them both - both times."

The Christian school, which shares a stately, two-story building with a Catholic grammar school at the corner of Anacapa and Micheltorena Streets, opened in 2007 with 27 students. Its enrollment grew to 41 last year, and the expectations are for up to 60 students this fall.

Providence has a lot going for it, including support from parent/super model Kathy Ireland, an enthusiastic Christian community - and a handful of standout athletes who are giving its athletic director some ambitious goals for their first official CIF basketball season of 2010-11. The enrollment is projected to be in the 80s by then.

"The expectations are that we'll make the playoffs and do well there," said Luberto, who is arranging a schedule of mostly home-school varsity teams for next season. "And if our girls' team keeps progressing, it'll have a chance to become Southern Section champs."

Providence also fields teams in cross country, girls volleyball and track.

Its athletic fortunes have benefitted from the providence of some family connections. Former Santa Barbara High basketball star Cara Emerson, whose daughter Faith plays for the powerhouse Blazers basketball club, works as the assistant to the headmaster.

"I found out that the academic standards were outstanding," said Faith, a 5-foot-9 freshman, "so I said, 'Let's go there! Let's go there!' "

But then it hit her: "Where's the team?"

Royston had a similar exchange with his mother, Joy, who served on Providence's founding board of directors.

"My first choice was to go to DP," he said, referring to Dos Pueblos High School. "But one day my mom said, 'You're going to Providence.' I said, 'OK ... Is there a team?'

"She was like, 'Well, we just got a coach.' I said, 'All right then.' "

But a coach was about all Providence had at the time.

"For awhile, it was just him and me out there on the basketball court," Royston said. "Knowing that we didn't have anybody else, that was really hard for me. I mean, I'm just one person.

"The first year was extremely rocky. We had just enough players to have a team, and most of them were seventh and eighth graders."

Providence, playing against primarily club teams, won only two of 14 games.

The fortunes of the Providence boys turned around when a new player showed up during last year's local frosh-soph summer league. Her name was Faith Emerson.

"We twice beat a local public school by 25 points - I won't name the school," Luberto said. "In one of the games, we were shooting a foul shot, and their boy came down with a rebound - and Faith just ripped it out of his hands.

"She then scored right in his face while getting fouled. The way boys are, I was thinking, 'This kid isn't going to live this down for the rest of his life.' "

The Providence boys went 12-3 last winter with a lineup that also included Nicki Burgo, Royston's teammate from the 805 Basketball Club. Ireland's son, Erik Olsen, even joined the team to help fill out the thin roster.

"She's come to a lot of games, even when Erik wasn't playing," Luberto said.

"I remember our first game and the boys' first game, and the big turnout we got from board members, faculty and students," Emerson added. "It was so incredible that our student body could support each other like a family."

The boys have continued their success in this summer's junior varsity league.

"We played against what DP expects to be their JV and lost by only three," Luberto said. "We were up by four with a couple of minutes to go, but we've only got seven guys, and all these teams have like 14 or 15, and so we get worn out at the end."

They could've used Emerson, but she's been busy this summer with an unbeaten Providence girls' team that's added other Blazers including Lindsay Beebe, Sydney Hedges and Lacey Gonzalez.

"They've been beating all the other JVs by 20, 30 points," said Luberto, who hired former UCSB stars Sha'Rae Gibbons and Jenna Green to coach them. "Just watching them practice, I can tell they're good players and that they're well-coached."

Providence will join CIF in 2010 as a free-lance school, but Luberto would like to join a league.

"The Condor League is local, for the most part, with Laguna Blanca and Cate, and several schools from Ojai and the (Santa Ynez) Valley," he said. "But there's also a group of Christian schools in the Ventura and Camarillo area called the Omega Conference that looks appealing.

"But they already have eight teams, so I'm not sure where we'll end up."

Finding court time is a more immediate concern. Providence has practiced and played in the gymnasiums of such institutions as the Page Center, Girls Inc., St. Mary's Seminary and even the Montecito Convenant Church.

To keep up his spirits in the search for a gym, Luberto carries a book called "The Miracle of St. Anthony."

"St. Anthony is a school that's never had a gym and has still won three national championships," he said.

Westmont College did offer Murchison Gym to Providence for one night of basketball last season. The college has strong ties to the school, with its former president, Dr. David Winter, having come out of retirement to serve as Providence's first headmaster. One of Westmont's faculty members, Dr. Jane Wilson, served last year as the academic dean at Providence.

"They've really kind of adopted us as their little brother or sister," Luberto said. "We had about 400 people come out to our game there. A lot of Westmont students turned out - we bribed them with pizza, but they were still there.

"Coach John Moore has offered to do a mini-camp for our guys and Kirsten Moore, their women's coach, is interested in doing those things, too."

Several of Westmont's baseball players even helped Royston and his basketball teammates with their weight training.

Royston has dreams of playing NCAA Division 1 basketball some day, but Emerson liked what she saw at Westmont.

"I just hope maybe I can get to the level where I'd be accepted there," she said.

The team from Providence has already gained acceptance in her club basketball circles.

"They used to ask me what school I go to, and I'd tell them Providence, and they wouldn't know what I was talking about," Emerson said. "But now we're out there, beating these other JV teams by a lot, and they're going, 'Oh, you go to Providence.' "

The name now rolls off the tongue, as easily as the victories.

Job Update #2

Hello! Thanks for your emails, comments, and encouragement about my latest work stuff. I sure do appreciate your support. Lots. It's a real gift.

If you haven't read Installment #1 of the Job Chronicles, please look at my post from July 4. I am still very excited to fill you in on Eden Reforestation Projects...

Another big piece of the puzzle is my new part-time position at Providence Hall High School. I taught there for several weeks from January through March of this year. I spent a few weeks in the Book of Philippians, exploring various qualities of true leadership. Then the school asked me to spend five weeks teaching doctrine through a study of the Apostles' Creed. Out of that time at the school, Providence Hall approached me last month and asked to be the Campus Pastor as of July 1, for the 2009-2010 school year.

My energy will be focusing on 3 areas:

1. Teaching the Foundations of Christianity class. The student body meets two mornings a week for studies in the history, beliefs, and applications of the Christian faith. Occasionally I will also have others come in to teach short-term series.
2. Expanding Community Service at the school. I've already contacted a couple of ministries in Santa Barbara for the students to serve with. This has always been a passion of mine, as you know, so it will be wonderful for me to get to continue guiding students in what it means to be a truly selfless servant.
3. Organizing a new community-wide series called "Providence Presents..." Providence is in a unique position to cross denominational boundaries and offer larger-scale parenting seminars. Over the years I have had a few topics come up consistently with parents, and I want to explore those. I am very excited about this! Stay tuned for specifics on this - we hope to advertise in the paper and get the word out. This will be a great resource for folks to bring their neighbors to as well.

I will also do my best to represent Providence Hall in the community: at the monthly youth pastors' fellowship that I have been involved with since the beginning of my Young Life days, with community service organizations, and in the schools.

As I have said to many of you, I am really impressed with the staff and the mission of Providence Hall. I also really love the students! They are earnest in their faith, diverse in their backgrounds, and incredibly fun and welcoming. A surprising addition to all of this is that my housemate & best friend's brother, Tim Loomer, has just been named Academic Dean at Providence. So it's going to be even more gratifying to build my relationships within the staff and student body. It is a wonderful family.

Check back in soon for more details on other projects in my pipeline. I'm having a great time!