High School Campus Blog
Archives - November 2023
Praise the Lord!
November 29, 2023
It has been an exciting year for the Cascade Christian Band Program, filled with many new performance opportunities for our band students. All band students can participate in the CCS Pep Band, which plays at all football and basketball home games as well as pep assemblies throughout the year. As our school expands, students are provided with more musical opportunities than ever. This year, we have been excited to welcome Sue Armstrong to our team as the new 6th grade band director and junior high woodwinds instructor. Mrs. Armstrong has been a fantastic addition to our team. She has lived in Washington for 23 years but was born in Oxford, England, and still has her accent. The expansion within our Music Department has allowed us to offer two percussion classes and two rock lab classes. We have also been able to add brass- and woodwind-specific classes in addition to our previously offered classes, such as Jazz Band and Symphonic Band. These new class offerings have also allowed us to create specialized ensembles such as woodwind ensembles, a brass ensemble, a percussion ensemble, and the CCS Jazz Combo, all groups that will perform independently from their larger classes.
As we approach the Christmas season, my classes have been thinking about what it means to worship God in everything we do. Worship sometimes becomes synonymous with music, but living a life of worship involves all aspects of our lives. This is particularly relevant to my instrumental classes, as most of the music we play does not have words. However, we are still called to worship and praise Him in all that we do. We are excited to practice this attitude of worship by helping lead our first “Celebration of Carols” chapel on December 7 alongside the choir and theatre programs. During the chapel, theatre students will walk through Scriptures that tell of the prophesy and fulfillment of Jesus Christ, and Christmas carols will be presented by various musical ensembles from our band and choir programs. In addition to this chapel, CCS music students are excited to share their talents at the following Christmas concerts:
♪ The JH/HS Choral Christmas Concert, on Thursday, December 7, at 7:00 p.m. will feature the Shades of Blue, Cante, VOX, and Voci Potenti choirs.
(Woodwind carolers will be providing the prelude in the lobby.)
♪ The JH/HS Instrumental Christmas Concert, on Tuesday, December 12, at 7:00 p.m. will feature the Jazz Band, Concert Band, Symphonic Band, Percussion Ensemble, Brass Ensemble, and Orchestra.
(Shades of Blue will be providing the prelude in the lobby.)
We would love for you to join us as we celebrate our Savior’s birth through music this Christmas season.
Psalm 150:3-6, NRSV
Praise him with trumpet sound;
praise him with lute and harp!
Praise him with tambourine and dance;
praise him with strings and pipe!
Praise him with sounding cymbals;
praise him with loud clashing cymbals!
Let everything that has breath praise the Lord!
Praise the Lord!
Pride & Prejudice Director's Notes
November 15, 2023
In 1813, Jane Austen published her classic regency-era romantic novel, Pride and Prejudice. In it she explored themes of love, marriage, class, wealth, superficial versus true goodness, and the assumptions we make of each other. Many movies, miniseries, and plays have followed. The reason I chose to produce this recent adaptation by Kate Hamill was due in part to the way Kate mixes in a modern sensibility, plenty of comedy, and the concept of games. Is love a game? How can one play to win? What is a win in love?
The answers were different in Jane Austen’s time. A good marriage meant that a young woman would be provided for and have security. Today, in our love-obsessed culture, romantic love can easily become an idol. Yet in God’s perfect design, it is a gift. Man and woman together reflect God’s image and partner together to steward His creation and make it flourish (Genesis 1:26-28). They are equal yet distinct beings who need each other. In this play, opposites that at first repel and then later attract are what make up the central couple. Two very different people can fit together like perfectly complementary puzzle pieces and become one. I think this play celebrates that union.
I love how theatre provides us with an opportunity to explore human nature. As the pinnacle of God’s creation, though sinful and yet deeply loved, we are complex and wonderful beings! I hope you enjoy this story of the Bennet family and their efforts to get their four extraordinary daughters married off well. It was another time and another place that Jane Austen wrote about, but the bells she rang then still echo today with truth and clarity about the crazy ways we humans sometimes behave when engaged in “the game of love.”
Celebrating Veterans Day
November 08, 2023
Yesterday we held special assemblies to honor veterans in celebration of the upcoming Veterans Day. We prayed for our veterans, honored them through music, and listened as a panel of students and faculty members shared a glimpse of what it’s like to serve in the military or to have a parent/spouse serve. Our choir and our band honored veterans with songs that celebrated our country. It was a special and moving event!
It is always meaningful to celebrate our veterans because of the personal connections we all have with friends, family members, and loved ones who have served or are serving in our armed forces. We thank the Lord for their service and sacrifice.
We live in a broken world full of “wars and rumors of war,” and because of this we are especially grateful for service members who have chosen to move toward that brokenness for the sake and safety of others. Does that remind you of anyone? The ultimate “Serviceman,” Jesus? On the cross Jesus won the battle that we needed fought on our behalf most of all. Our hero and savior defeated sin and death at the cross, and He will consummate His final victory at His return!
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Gazing on God's Faithfulness
November 01, 2023
There are certain things in life that were simply made to go together—peanut butter and jelly, soap and water, and nuts and bolts just to name a few.
Well, as it turns out, faithfulness and love go hand in hand in the Bible. For example, check out how God’s faithfulness is often tied to His love for us:
Your love, Lord, reaches to the heavens, your faithfulness to the skies. (Psalm 36:5, NIV)
Know therefore that the Lord your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commandments. (Deuteronomy 7:9)
(See also Exodus 34:6-7, Lamentations 3:22-23, Psalm 40:10.)
Not only does Scripture tie love into God’s faithfulness to us, but Scripture also ties our love for God in our faithfulness to Him. Check out what both Jesus and John say about how these two go together:
If you love me, you will keep my commandments. (John 14:15, ESV)
And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments. (1 John 2:3)
These passages show that we experience God’s love in His faithfulness to us. Additionally, we show our love for God in our faithful obedience to Him.
Throughout the month of November, we will be continuing our journey of seeking God by gazing on God’s faithfulness. Our students will see that God’s love and faithfulness go hand in hand. They will hear of how God loved Abraham so much that He was faithful to His promise to make Abraham a father of many. They will hear how God’s love and faithfulness can be seen in how He can create something good out of the difficult things we go through in life (Romans 8:28). Finally, since many of our campuses will host veterans in celebration of Veterans Day, our students will see an example of what it means to serve with love and faithfulness.
Our hope and prayer for our community is that we would be people who respond faithfully to God in the same way He has shown His loving faithfulness to us.
Family discussion questions:
- What does the word faithfulness mean?
- What is one way you have shown faithfulness to someone recently?
- What is one way God has been faithful to you recently?
RightNow Media resources on the topic of God’s faithfulness:
Elementary:
Worship: The Character of God: God Is Faithful (1 Corinthians 1:8-9)
God Rocks: Cartoon Stories – The Lord Is My Rock
Junior High/High School:
Fire and Faithfulness by Sadie Robertson Huff
Parent Studies:
God’s Unbreakable Promises by Jennie Allen
Heart of God by Francis Chan
