September 2019: Peace

8/29/2019

The concept and experience of "Peace" is central to our weekly Chapel program at Saint Mark’s Montessori School.

We come to Chapel to create peace by singing and praying and listening together; to receive and experience peace in our minds, our hearts, and our bodies; and then to go out and share peace wherever we go--with our friends, our teachers, our family, and our world!

We usually open Chapel Time by greeting one another by name and singing "Shalom my friends".

Shalom my friends, Shalom my friends, Shalom Shalom (2x)
Shalom to Ms. Laura, Shalom to Ms. Cleo, Shalom, Shalom
Shalom to Asha, Shalom to Nate, Shalom, Shalom (etc.)

We usually close Chapel Time by singing "Go now in Peace" as we bid farewell to one another and return to our classrooms.

Go now in peace, Go now in peace
May the love of God surround you
everywhere, everywhere, you may go

As we begin a new school year, we are focused on developing our spiritual capacity for Getting Ready and Beginnings.  What are the things—what are the objects and practices-- that can help us prepare for new experiences, and get ready to create, receive, experience, and share peace more fully?

In our first Chapel Session of the school year, we took time to explore several of the special items we keep at the back of the church to help us “get ready” and open ourselves to peace when we come into the church for Chapel Time: an icon, candles, water, fragrant oils, and colored glass “gems”.

What are those special things—in your home, in your family, and in your spiritual tradition--that might help you and your child prepare for new experiences and get ready to create, receive, experience, and share peace more fully each day?

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Author

My name is Sylvia Miller-Mutia (aka Mother Sylvia), and I am a priest in the Episcopal Church. I am delighted to grow and share spiritual support with the families at St. Mark's Montessori School, at St. Mark's Episcopal Church in Albuquerque, NM

I am married to Donnel (grief counselor, couples coach, artist, best dad ever), and we have three awesome kids, ranging in age from 8-14.

I hold a BFA in Ballet Performance from the University of Utah, an MA in Liturgy and the Arts from Pacific School of Religion, and Certificates of Anglican Studies and Theological Studies from Church Divinity School of the Pacific in Berkeley, CA. As a priest, dancer, and mother of three, I am passionate about inviting people of all ages to join in seeking the divine through worship, prayer, and practice that is embodied, sacramental, participatory, and intergenerational.

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