Advent at Ambleside
We have entered the season of Advent in the church calendar, the time when we all look forward to Christ's coming. At Ambleside, we look for ways to turn our students' attention to the significance of this time. In assembly, we sing carols and retell the story of the thread of redemption through the Jesse Tree. In our classrooms, we create an atmosphere of expectation by reading classic Christmas stories, and decorating with a wreath, a crèche, or Christmas lights. We practice music and readings for our Candlelight Lessons and Carols Christmas Service.
Some elements, common in other schools around Christmas, are missing here--secret Santa gifts, card exchanges, classroom parties, and Christmas crafts. There is a reason for this. An Ambleside school responds to the culture. In her day, Charlotte Mason responded to a culture that devalued the poor; she provided a rich education for children of coal miners. We have the challenge of responding to a culture that breeds self-indulgence and materialism, especially at Christmas. Given the commercialization of this season and the loss of focus on the "true meaning of Christmas," we want our students to remember something different.
In Wordsworth's words, "We live by admiration, hope and love! And even as these are well and wisely fixed, in dignity of being we ascend."
And so we ask: What do we admire here at Ambleside? What do we display on walls, in words, in programs? How is our faith, hope and love expressed? Does our school culture honor Jesus the infant and Jesus the King? Do we foster an atmosphere in which hearts and minds ascend?
Charlotte Mason says, "Those of us who have not children catch echoes...The old, old story has all its first freshness as we tell it to the eager listeners; as we listen to it ourselves with their vivid interest it becomes as real and fresh to us as it is to them. Hard thoughts drop away like scales from our eyes; we are young once more with the children's young life, which, we are mysteriously made aware, is the life eternal. What a mystery it is!"
It is indeed a challenge for our hearts and minds to fathom the miracle of the Incarnation! It is indeed a privilege to celebrate this season with the fresh eyes of children.
- Virginia Wilcox
Head of School