Head of School March Greetings

Dear Regents friends and families,

One of the goals of this newsletter is to give you a glimpse of what life is like at Regents School. There are the funny stories like the kindergartener who recently came to my office because he was having a hard time getting along with another friend. After talking through the behaviors that brought him to my office, it still sounded like he was having a hard time forgiving his friend. I told him that the reason we forgive others is that Jesus died on the cross to forgive our sins. This little kindergartener listened attentively with his eyes so serious and large. After I was done, he turned to me and said, "About that." "Yes?" I said. "I've been thinking a lot about that. Which cross did Jesus die on? What it the one in the basement?"

All joking aside, at this point in the year, we have lots of opportunities to practice what it looks like to be a biblical peacemaker and a good friend, inside and outside of the classroom. The Logic & Rhetoric School have been thinking about this in terms of jokes and how we speak to each other. I often hear “it was just a joke,” or “I can say that, he’s my friend!” We say these things to justify our words, and yet still hurtful things can be said. Christopher Webb, our Principal, took some time recently to remind students why we are here at school:

"There’s a lot of great things we have opportunities to do at school. But let’s not get distracted by the things around us and the ways we’ve always interacted with each other. Let’s really ask, “is this God’s best for us?” Paul says in Ephesians 4:29, 'Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.'

If we know the Scripture is calling us to something higher and nobler and more beautiful, we need to ask the Lord to change our hearts, to give us a deeper desire to pursue godly relationships and friendships the way He defines it, not just how we see others doing it. I think sometimes we judge what’s okay based on what we see other people doing and think, “Well, I’m not as bad as that other person.” But I don’t want us to settle for that. I want us to use the Scripture for how we interact with the community of God."

What is something higher and nobler and more beautiful that the Lord is calling you to this year? I pray that He will deepen your desire for those things and that, like the older students here at Regents, you commit to not settling for less.

In Christ,

Courtney Palumbo