D E A R W E S L E YA N F A M I LY A N D F R I E N D S , I trust this edition of the Wesleyan magazine finds you in good health and safely enjoying the Christmas season with your family and friends. It is easy to be distracted by all that surrounds us in our nation and our world, and it is good to take a moment to reflect once again on why we celebrate at this time of year: the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. That is the gift that changed everything! In chapter 17 of the Gospel of John, just prior to his arrest, Jesus prays for His disciples and for all believers. “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.” John 17:20-23 The times in which we live can easily push us away from the unity Jesus prays for in John 17, and yet, as believers in Jesus Christ, this is a critical time for the world to see us as one. What a terrific opportunity we have to send a message to the world. In spite of all of the many things that can divide us, we can be unified in our love for Jesus and our love for one another. This is how the world can understand the unconditional love and saving grace of Jesus Christ: that in the midst of discord and disagreement over elections, racial reconciliation, and COVID-19, we can still be unified and love one another because of Jesus. This fall has challenged that unity in ways we have not faced previously, and I am deeply grateful for the way our community has rallied and responded to the difficulties we have encountered. It is a tremendous privilege to lead our faculty, staff, parents, and students and to see them pull together rather than pulling apart. It is only through the grace of God that this is possible.
In addition to this challenge to our community, as a school we have faced an enemy that has the potential to be equally devastating: complacency. This would be an easy school year in which we could scale back and simply try to survive. But, that is not who God has called us to be as believers, and it is not in the DNA of Wesleyan School. In the pages that follow, you will read about the tireless efforts of our heroic faculty and staff as they continue to provide the Wesleyan experience to our students and families. You will read about our continued efforts to support students with learning difficulties through the newly built ARC facilities in Chapman Library. You will see pictures of the beautiful Hoyt Family Athletic Complex that will allow us to better serve our families, as well as guests to our campus, for cross country, football, softball, soccer, and lacrosse. You will read of our desire to be a community that is reflective of all of God’s creation and a welcoming home to all people. You will read about middle and high school thespians who found a way to provide live theater while wearing masks and being socially distant. You will read of births and marriages and of the generosity of the hearts of our donors. In short, you will read of a school community that has found a way to simply keep moving forward. A community that has not allowed the circumstances that surround us to deter us from fulfilling our mission to be a Christian school of academic excellence. Thank you for being such a wonderful community, and as we move from the celebration of Jesus’ birth into a New Year, let us renew our commitment to being one. Let us fulfill Jesus’ prayer that the world will know Him because they see something different in us: the unity of the saving grace and unconditional love of Jesus Christ. Thank you for reading this edition of the Wesleyan magazine, and may God bless you and your family in 2021.
Chris Cleveland, Head of School
WESLEYAN MAGAZINE | FAL L 2020
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