finding the paths

CFS and the Hill

the Puritans believed in a “city upon a hill,”

within which their faith would shine triumphantly,

the world made new by who they were,

and who they worked to be,

the light within, which Quakers know as God,

shining forth so as to inspire others 

to express their own light,

as a school, we are audacious,

believing that the whole person is our concern,

we believe that student and teacher is unique,

that we should celebrate and help enable such difference,

while at the same time building connection, commonality, community,

what can be hardest for us

is the discerning of how to use our time, our money,

the finite restrictions on the infinite reach of our hopes,

to feel the commonality of our dreams,

despite the self-centered brusqueness with which we can act,

the last two days, I have joyed in long conversations

with two other staff members whose vision of the city we hope to build

resonates with the hope I work hard to live,

each of us a frail vessel, beset by tiredness, loss, doubt,

yet each of us a scout who sees where we are and where we want to go,

we just discuss which paths lead more surely to the city on the hill.

by Henry H. Walker

August 14, ‘18