Rockbridge Academy Blog
A Part of Our Rockbridge DNA: A Reflection on Faculty Morning Prayer
October 10, 2024
As students come into the building each morning, they hear a strange sound echoing throughout the hallways. It's an unfamiliar sound in schools and buildings to be happening at 7:30 in the morning: sometimes louder, sometimes softer, and sometimes a higher or lower pitch. And then it abruptly stops about three minutes later. The sound comes from Mrs. Kennedy's Physics classroom. But the students hear it every day, so they no longer raise their eyebrows and ears to figure out what it is. It's completely normal to them.
What the students hear each morning is the sound of their teachers singing a hymn a cappella. Since the door is left ajar, the sound travels. From the entrance of the school, you can just make out murmurs set to pitch; as students walk further into the building, the words become more recognizable. School hasn't started yet, so students are unloading book bags and already nibbling away at their lunches, casually hanging out with friends with heels up on their locker doors. To them, hearing adult men and women singing full voice is not strange to them. It's just what their teachers do.
#87: Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty! / Early in the morning our song shall rise to thee; / Holy, Holy, Holy, merciful and mighty! / God in three Persons, blessed Trinity!
Each morning the Rockbridge faculty and staff gather together to sing a hymn and pray together for our students, families, and alumni. This is absolutely one of my favorite things we do. Here's how we do it.
When the bell rings at 7:30, someone picks out a number from a blue Trinity Hymnal. We've all picked one up from a bookrack as we've entered, so we're ready. It's a bonus when we're accompanied by a piano or a flute, but we're normally a cappella. Some of us try to sing harmonies—others succeed. And if it’s one of those hymns with the extra verses written beneath the final music staff, we sing all the extras too.
The collection of blue Trinity Hymnals with a solitary gold cross on the front have been gifted to us from various churches as they have updated to the newer red hymnals of the same design. Inside the front cover are stamps of the names of the donating churches. That our hymnals which allow us to sing together do not all come from one church but from several reminds me of the fellowship of families which belong to a myriad of church congregations and denominations but come together to form one Rockbridge. The Trinity Hymnal has been a new hymnal to me, but it has nearly all of my favorites.
#122: O ye heights of heav'n, adore him; / Angel hosts, his praises sing; / All dominions, bow before him, / And extol our God and King.
That our hymnals which allow us to sing together do not all come from one church but from several reminds me of the fellowship of families which belong to a myriad of church congregations and denominations but come together to form one Rockbridge.
After singing, we pray for current Rockbridge families and for alumni, selecting about five or six families each day. There's even a binder labeled "STAFF MORNING PRAYER LIST" to make sure we don't miss anyone, moving alphabetically through a roster of family names throughout the year. If you are an alumni, please know that we still pray for you by name. Your teachers delight in remembering you. For current families, please know that we pray for your entire household by name. As an Upper School teacher, praying for Grammar School students is how I have come to know the students who will one day be in my classroom.
If you are an alumni, please know that we still pray for you by name. Your teachers delight in remembering you.
We also take prayer requests for the faculty and staff for the day. It is here that we have shared in some of the greatest joys in each other's lives while also lamenting the greatest of sorrows. In a way, to pray for someone is to truly know them because it is to properly see them, their joy, or their sorrow in relation to God's ever-present care. Similarly, to be prayed for is to be known. It has meant so much to me on the days when I have asked my colleagues to pray with and for me.
It is here that we have shared in some of the greatest joys in each other's lives while also lamenting the greatest of sorrows.
The hymn, the prayer requests, the fellowship of prayer. This all happens in about ten minutes. And I'm so glad it does. It would be so natural to start the day together but to do so merely for the sake of making announcements and reminders about the day. And while we do sometimes have those, the focus is on preparing our hearts for the people and the learning of that day. As the school begins to be filled with students, it is also filled with prayer asking God to guide, to protect, to nurture our students.
I wanted to know when this rhythm began and how it had evolved, so I went about asking those teachers who were starting school days fifteen, twenty, or twenty-nine (!) years ago. All of them said the same thing: it’s one of those things that everyone remembers doing but doesn’t remember when or how it started. It struck me that singing to God and praying to him are just a part of the DNA of Rockbridge. Just as we don't remember learning to brush our teeth or how to tie a knot, at Rockbridge we sing to God and pray to him because it is part of the fabric of who we are.
#492: Take my voice, and let me sing, / Always, only, for my King. / Take my lips, and let them be / Filled with messages from thee.
It struck me that singing to God and praying to him are just a part of the DNA of Rockbridge. Just as we don't remember learning to brush our teeth or how to tie a knot, at Rockbridge we sing to God and pray to him because it is part of the fabric of who we are.
Posted in
School Culture
Reconnecting with Rockbridge in Costa Rica!
September 19, 2024
Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them,
the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.
Psalm 139:16
For those who don’t know me, my name is Noelle. I graduated from Rockbridge Academy in 2022 and am now studying Philosophy at Princeton University. This summer, I had the amazing opportunity to reconnect with part of the Rockbridge community by serving as staff on a 5-week mission trip to Costa Rica. My trip was organized by Royal Servants, a mission organization for high school students that focuses on discipleship and equipping students to serve the church and share the gospel in their communities back home. Our team was being led by Mr. Matt Swanson, upper school Bible teacher at Rockbridge. I came on the trip as a college-age leader, so my main role was to mentor a small group of girls throughout the trip. As a team, we studied the Bible together, we prayed together, we worshiped together, and we did outreach together. Throughout the summer, I was encouraged to see how God had been preparing me for this experience and was teaching me to trust in Him and His plan for me.
Mr. Swanson continually stressed to the team that we were not bringing Jesus to Costa Rica. We were there to join in the work that God was already doing there. Each day we would head out to do gospel-centered outreach alongside students from our hosting church. We also visited schools to teach English, play games, build relationships, and talk to students about faith. Certain days of ministry were fast-paced and encouraging; other days were slow or frustrating.
There were definitely times when I wondered why I had even come on the trip. Even after sharing the gospel with strangers and having many spiritually-oriented conversations with the girls in my small group, I wondered whether I would really make a life-long impact on anyone’s heart this summer. As I wrestled with these thoughts and feelings, God answered my unspoken questions through the encouraging words of my leaders and, towards the end of the trip, through the testimonies of girls in my small group who spoke of how they had been inspired by my example to live out their faith in Christ.
Throughout the summer, I saw God redeem discouraging situations for our good and His glory.
Throughout the summer, I saw God redeem discouraging situations for our good and His glory. One afternoon our team arrived in the nearby town of Paraíso and it immediately began raining. We went out in groups looking for people to invite to our outreach activities, but we eventually all ended up back under the big tent at the park. We didn't end up doing our presentations that day because no one came. The team was pretty discouraged. While we were standing around with our games and equipment wondering what to do, a middle-aged man named William happened to pass by and stopped under the tent to get out from the rain. One of my teammates and I managed to engage him in conversation, and we ended up talking about everything from sports and culture to Jesus and heaven. William was a Christian and reminded us that we were family in God even though we didn't have much else in common. We talked for probably half an hour and had the opportunity to pray together (in a mixture of English and Spanish). What strikes me with gratitude and wonder is that none of that would have happened if it hadn't been raining! And this was only one of the many stories I could tell of how God used difficult circumstances for His pre-prepared purposes.
God also encouraged me throughout the summer by making it clear that He had placed me on this particular team. I only discovered the opportunity to go to Costa Rica with Royal Servants after a number of other summer opportunities fell through. When it seemed like I had exhausted every avenue to find funding from my school for the trip, I was finally able to qualify for their service internship program, which, along with the generous support of the family of God, made it possible for me to go on this mission trip. God had been working for months and honestly, years before I ever left the country to place me on that airplane.
Another way in which God confirmed that He was using me for His purposes was through a small contribution I brought to our team: Spanish. At the beginning of the trip, I was daunted but also pleasantly surprised to discover that my early-intermediate Spanish skills were the best we had to work with. This turned out to be useful (and fun!) for communicating with people at our host church and also with those we met during outreach activities. I was thrilled that many previous hours of language study were proving fruitful in ways I hadn’t previously foreseen, but God had preordained.
Most importantly, however, God opened my eyes to see the work He was doing in my heart throughout the entire experience. I was being stretched in my listening, encouragement, and conflict resolution skills as I helped young teen girls learn how to live in a community together. I was being humbled as a young adult as I submitted myself to an unusual amount of restriction over my personal life for the well-being of the entire team. I started noticing an increased desire in myself to read and study the Word of God. Like Rockbridge, Royal Servants emphasizes the importance of reading, studying, and memorizing Scripture. Each day we would have an hour set aside in our schedule for individual quiet time with God. We also had daily teachings and discussions about our readings in addition to ambitious Scripture memory assignments each week. I was pleased to realize how much Scripture I still had tucked away from my days in Rockbridge grammar school! Through the daily practice of these spiritual disciplines, I grew closer to God and even became excited to continue Bible memory work after I returned home.
Most importantly, however, God opened my eyes to see the work He was doing in my heart throughout the entire experience. I was being stretched in my listening, encouragement, and conflict resolution skills as I helped young teen girls learn how to live in a community together. I was being humbled as a young adult as I submitted myself to an unusual amount of restriction over my personal life for the well-being of the entire team.
There were definitely days this summer when I felt discouraged and wondered what I was doing on this trip. In the midst of those moments, God was slowly teaching me that He sees me and knows me and had a plan for everything I was going through. I was especially encouraged by Psalm 139, which describes how God knows us better than we know ourselves. He is intimately aware of our thoughts and habits and feelings. He has authored our lives, down to each day.
God placed me on my mission trip this summer to stretch me in new ways and use me for His purposes. How was God working in and through you this summer? You might not have gone on a mission trip or done much out of the ordinary, but you can be confident that God has been at work. Take some time to reflect on what He’s been up to. Don’t forget: God knows you better than you know yourself, and He has woven each day of your life into His master story.
Posted in
Worship