THE CHAPLAIN

The parish rector, The Rev. Brad Hinton, serves as the chaplain to the Day School.  The primary role of the chaplain is to lead the weekly chapel services which typically occur on alternating Wednesdays and Thursdays.  These worship services are an important part of the life of the Day School and in the lives of our students.

FORMING THE “WHOLE PERSON”

The education of the whole child – body, mind and spirit – is an important part of the curriculum at Saint David’s.  Whether our students are engaged in lessons on primary colors or physical education that helps them to experience the full-range of their body’s abilities, or story time in worship services, we seek to address the totality of a child’s being in age appropriate and engaging ways. As has been stated elsewhere, we believe that “lessons about loving our neighbors as ourselves and caring for earth are as important as learing the ABC’s.”

ENGAGING WORSHIP

We have an incredible opportunity and responsibility where a child’s spiritual life is concerned. Our position may be second only to a student’s home environment in our ability to provide the fundamental spiritual framework and religious worldview. Our hope is that our Christian-based chapel services will be instructive, enjoyable, understandable and memorable.

We include stories, music, and movement during chapel as a way of engaging a fuller range of senses.  This has the effect of keeping the children invested (mostly) and it helps them to retain the experience.

BIBLICAL BASICS

The vast majority of our chapel services take their inspiration directly from Biblical texts.  In the course of an entire year we will cover stories from both Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament) and the Greek Scriptures (New Testament) and will include stories about many individuals (see more information below on some of the personalities we will cover).

Our intention is to give our students a chance to encounter these timeless individuals in ways that will prepare them for even more knowledge in the future.

Here is a list of some of the people, themes and stories we will cover in chapel:

HEBREW SCRIPTURES:

OLD TESTAMENT

-Creation

-Adam and Eve

-Noah

-Abraham & Sarah

-Jacob

GREEK SCRIPTURES:

NEW TESTAMENT

-Mary & Elizabeth

-The Wise Men

-The Good Samaritan

-Lost Sheep

-The Mustard Seed

GOD, JESUS AND SPIRITUALITY

-Who is God?

-Where does God live?

-Who is Jesus?

-Jesus’ birth and his life

-His dream & resurrection

-Prayer

-What is the Bible?

GENERAL PRINCIPLES AND VALUES

-Friendship

-Honesty

-Courage

-Respect

-Service to others

-Inclusion

-Generosity

-Faith (trust)

-Hope

-Love