Final Chapel: Grade 5 Prayers and Farewells

On Wednesday, May 27, 2020, we celebrated our last chapel of the year. This is traditionally the time that our Grade 5 students write their own prayers reflecting on their experience at Grace and sharing what they hope will continue at their school once they have moved on. This year’s prayers were understandably even more emotional than usual, and what really came through was the optimism, friendship, and hope of this small but mighty class. A video of their prayers is embedded below in this post, and you can read the transcript here. We hope you’ll take some time to read through and watch their beautiful thoughts.

Chaplain Susan Thon (Nana Susan) shared some words of comfort with us:

Jesus once told his friends, and he says to us, “Peace be with you; my peace I leave with you.  Do not let your hearts be troubled [or afraid].”  Sometimes his followers would be worried or afraid after they were separated from him. But the Holy Spirit was always with them, as it is always with us, to give us the courage, the power, the love and the grace that holds us together forever as friends, as a community, one body, God’s people in the world, even when we are physically away from each other. . . . 

My hope for you, all of you, is that you will always remember and know deep in your heart that we are together with God and each other in the Holy Spirit. We are held together in love by God’s Holy Spirit sent into the world long, long ago to be our counselor, the one always alongside to help us and care for us, who lives in all our hearts, wherever we are, forever. Amen.

You can read the full transcript here.

Finally, Head of School Jen Danish honored retiring faculty and staff members Gail Kennedy, Rose Morrison, and Alma Scott with a blessing:

God, We come to you in thankfulness for the many years of service given by Gail Kennedy, Alma Scott, and Rose Morrison who collectively have dedicated 48 years to the Grace community.. We thank you for the long term contributions they have made in the execution of daily tasks, in their loyalty to our school and in their sharing of their experience and wisdom with others. We are appreciative of their hard work and dedication. They have adapted to many changes over the years and have made sacrifices of their personal time when the job demanded it. They have been mentors and friends to their fellow employees and have worked faithfully despite their own personal obligations, joys and challenges.

The full transcript of Jen’s remarks is here.