Dear Friends,
James K. A. Smith states that, “The
primary goal of Christian education is the formation of a peculiar person – a
people who desire the Kingdom of God and thus undertake their life’s expression
of that desire.”
What jumps out at you as you read the quote? For me it is the word peculiar. What does it mean to be peculiar? What is the opposite of peculiar? What would a peculiar high school student
look like? Is Unity a peculiar high
school? Am I peculiar? Are you?
Is a Christ-follower called to be peculiar? I
think so. Peculiar students and a
peculiar school would let Christ lead in every aspect of their life, including
the way we do school, co-curriculars, communicate, use our budget…. That is our
aim at Unity.
We hear stories of high schools elsewhere where peculiar
makes the news. Consider this story from
Louisiana:
We do often see peculiar right in our own building. This past week, one of our junior students
attended a Career symposium at a local college.
This event was held for all of our area high schools. Afterwards, this student wrote a peculiar
response. He wondered why the focus was
on getting a job where you could make lots of money to buy lots of stuff. What about choosing a career that would best
serve God in His Kingdom? It was an impressive, peculiar response.
How can we as parents in our homes, and teachers in our
school create opportunities for our students/ children to be peculiar? Becoming peculiar today might mean sticking
with values and decisions things we took for granted 10 or 20 years ago. Staying the course might make us
peculiar. But is there more?
Can peculiar increasingly be more a part of what we do at
Unity?
W. Dykstra
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