Dear saints,

As promised last week, for the next couple of months I will share a weekly note as we continue to discern how God calls us forward to be the church in this place. Each week, I'll share stories from the myriad of ways communities near and far are choosing to be a blessing in the world. 

I'll start just around the corner at the Ansley School (https://theansleyschool.org/), located a couple of minutes from All Saints' on Ralph McGill Blvd. The Ansley School had its beginnings in a basement space at our neighbors, St. Luke's, with a mission to offer tuition-free private school education to children whose families have experienced homelessness. Walking around the school today, the scene looked like many others I have witnessed over the years: children playing at recess, a teacher crouching at the side of a desk of a child in need of some extra help, administrators huddling to think through pedagogical strategy for the next month. The difference is in what you cannot see. 

More than half of the 90+ children who attend Ansley also receive some form of therapeutic support. The school's work is trauma-informed. With a full-time therapist and a social worker on staff, children and families are offered practical hope for their journey toward healthy and happy futures. 

Hope tends to come in large and small packages. There are the buses that pick kids up, the playground jungle gym, the bright classroom spaces. And then there is the closet for toys to gift to children when a family is evicted—small parcels of hope in the midst of profoundly destabilizing life events. Apparently, the toys are almost always forsaken when people lose their homes. 

Ansley is one of several similar schools around the country that offer high quality private education at little or no cost. There are some notable Episcopal schools in that mix—Imago Dei Middle School in Tucson, AZ (https://www.imagodeischool.org/), and the Epiphany School in Boston, MA (https://www.epiphanyschool.com/epiphany-model)—each carrying on the strong tradition in the Episcopal Church as a national leader in education and as an expression of our denomination's commitment to be light in the world. 

I wonder how these beacons of light inspire your heart? Of the many visions for the block you shared this spring, a good proportion of them thought of children—perhaps not a surprise for a church that had its beginnings as a Sunday school. 

Pray with me if you would for the life and ministry of our friends at the Ansley School and for all those whose lives are brighter because of them. And continue to seek the Spirit’s leading for our own corner of the kingdom.