Dear St. E’s Community,

I am thrilled to say Welcome Back and Happy 2023 to all of our students, parents, and staculty! I hope everyone had a restful, wonderful holiday break full of love and merriment. I know that returning to campus and reengaging in the learning process takes a minute of adjustment, but there are so many exciting things in store for us this trimester to help us ease back into life at St. Elizabeth’s.

One of the most vital parts of our school is the sense of community we work to build every single day. And not just any ordinary community, but one that is welcoming, supportive, reliable, and safe. Our staculty had a collaborative session before students returned to campus, where we discussed what a loving community means and how we can make ours even better with all the possibilities of 2023 laid out before us.

Much of this idea is gleaned from the approaching Martin Luther King Jr. Day, a holiday that prompts reflection on character, humanity, and community, and how we as individuals can act to serve the betterment of what’s around us. Dr. King’s “beloved community exhibits agape love, as the love of God operating in the human heart, which seeks to preserve and create community.” The idea is to love one another—those who love and do well by us as well as those who persecute or do evil against us—and to confront hate and injustice with love. This type of love “ensures equity in access, participation, and flourishing for everyone” by combatting anything that seeks to do harm—for those forces need love, too. (Sometimes they need it the most!)

As we get ready to celebrate MLK Day, we are reminded how important it is to put skin on the spirit; or in other words, make God’s love for all of us something that is tangible. At St. E’s especially, we try to do that every day because we know that community is a team sport. In the same way that Dr. King was trying to work for justice for everyone, so too is the work of the community and what we do here. At St. E’s, we hold ourselves to a higher standard of creating and preserving that community and ensuring that love is accessible to and felt by everyone.

As we look ahead to MLK Day, this new year, and our triumphant return to campus, there are small, but simple  gestures that grown-ups and students can do each day to  foster a beloved community. Maybe they will even inspire you to do the same in your work, place of worship, or home communities.

Beloved Community in Action

1. When we convene as a group, no one sits with their back to another person. We make space for everyone.

2. Nobody eats by themselves unless we check in with them first. It’s our responsibility to notice it and check in—there is always a right of refusal, but it should not go unnoticed.

3. When we are in a class or group session, if you’ve already spoken then you should wait until at least two others have spoken before you speak again. This is the practice of making space for others and listening.  We can’t hear the perspectives of others if we don’t practice making and giving space.

4. Pick a different spot to sit in when you come to class or a meeting. We need to be uncomfortable, talk to new people, and share who we are with those people; in order to grow, we must change and challenge our habits and get out of our comfort zone. 

5. We can’t rely on someone else to organize our community—everyone can and should contribute and anyone can do it. This happens with small, individual acts. 

Now more than ever, creating and preserving a beloved community is necessary, since the pandemic caused so much isolation and loneliness; loneliness can make us feel small, unimportant, and unloved, even if the opposite is true (and it usually is). But when we are together, supporting and sharing and growing with each other, we become the best versions of ourselves. When we have our community and that love, we feel like we truly belong, and we thrive.

If we get in the habit of these practices every day, our community will grow and thrive in amazing ways and be the best it’s ever been. So, bring on 2023 and all the hope it has to offer!

Best foot forward,

Adriana Murphy
Head of School