2019-2020 Chapel Theme: "Hope does not disappoint." The passage is from Paul's Letter to the Romans, chapter 5, verse 5.
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The American Red Cross is always in need of blood, so please consider signing up to donate at The Episcopal Academy blood drive on Monday, October 21 in the Competition Gym. Sign up here.
Upper School
Friday, October 18 - Can Drive Skit
On Friday, the Vestry presented a Can Drive Skit on why it is important to support the Can Drive and support our community partners. The Vestry explained how the collection effort supports St. Mary's Church in Chester; the Chester County Food Bank; and SHARE, the largest food distribution center in Philadelphia. Upper School students will be assigned specific items by grade. Freshmen/soup and pasta, sophomores/protein products, juniors/toiletries, and seniors/cleaning supplies. All of these items will help the poor and working poor in the Philadelphia and the surrounding counties. The Can Drive begins on Friday, October 18 and runs through Thanksgiving.
Middle School
Tuesday, October 15 - Sermon in a Box
Chaplain Tim Gavin shared a "sermon in a box" on Tuesday- where he spoke on a question asked by a II Former, having no previous knowledge of the question. The question he addressed was one of three picked out of a box. The question was, "Who created God and why was God created?" After taking a minute in quiet meditation, Father Tim explained that God was not created, but that God was the creator and prime mover of creation. After drawing from both the New Testament, the Hebrew Scriptures and Thomas Aquinas, Father Tim asked for five volunteers who he had stand in a circle, facing each other's backs. He asked them all to put their right hand on the shoulder of the person in front of them, but only after they had felt the hand of the person behind them on their right shoulder. Of course, no one could move. Father Tim explained that God was the first mover: the eternal force that was not created but created all things.
Thursday, October 17 - The Power of Words
With the I and II Form away on field trips, on Thursday we had a 6th grade only Chapel. Drawing from Genesis 1, John 1 and James 3, and using a tube of toothpaste as a prop, Rev. Bert Zug spoke about the power of words and how they can either create or destroy. He also explained how, once said, they cannot be unsaid, just as it is possible to empty a tube of toothpaste, but it is not possible to easily put the toothpaste back in the tube. The Rt. Rev. Daniel G.P. Gutiérrez, Episcopal Bishop of Pennsylvania, also attended Chapel, paying a pastoral visit with his wife Suzanne and The Rev. Canon Shawn Wamsley, the Diocese of Pennsylvania's Canon of the Ordinary.
Lower School
Wednesday, October 16 - Rise Against Hunger
This week in Lower School Chapel, our students learned about hunger and different ways to help our hungry neighbors. Chaplain Michelle Bullock spoke with students about different tools we might use to help our hungry friends and neighbors-- we can give food, we can plant seeds that grow more food, we can build something that can help supply or grow more food, we can give money to buy food, we can give other people access to education and opportunities that can help them have access to more food or a better life, or we might use our own education to create solutions to hunger. There are a lot of tools we can use to feed people, and we live the Stripes by helping to feed our neighbors.
The Lower School Chapel is on Thursday, October 24 when we will celebrate Diwali. Please join us!