2025 Articles
The Thanksgiving table is the one place where Americans truly feast. On the fourth Thursday of each November, generations of family and friends gather to create sumptuous dishes, eat heartily, drink merrily, and enjoy each other’s company with hearts of gratitude. This year’s Thanksgiving comes after our staff had the opportunity to meet with many of our parents. Reflecting on conferences while looking ahead to the Thanksgiving meal has…
This year marks the 75th anniversary of the publication of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, the first installment of the beloved “Chronicles of Narnia” series. So as winter swiftly approaches here at Chapel Field, it is especially fitting this year to devote special attention to the “forever winter” that C.S. Lewis created for generations of readers to explore. To honor the book and the essential position that it has held in the modern Christian imagination for the last 75 years, the upper school will be gathering to read the entire book together during part of the school day on both November 24th and 25th before…
On Friday, September 5, 2025, Chapel Field held its third annual convocation at Goodwill Church in Montgomery, NY. Our Academic Dean, Mr. Henry Listenberger, welcomed attendees with a greeting, which we are pleased to share below as a Bell Tower article.
Transcript of Greeting – Academic Dean, Henry Listenberger Welcome and good evening! It is my distinct pleasure and honor to greet you all at the beginning of tonight’s event. As the Academic Dean, and as someone who is still a relatively recent…
I am not Scottish, at least not that I know of. I’ve never really put much stock in my genetic makeup. I teach my theology students that for Christians our anthropology is eschatological before it is biological anyways. I won’t attempt to explain what that means here, but it is true. Christ shatters linear time in such a way that what is last is actually first. So I am not a Scot but I am a Presbyterian whose Christian heritage is much indebted to many a Scotsman. I love that tradition even if I don’t always see eye to eye with many of those from it in regards to the way that tradition is interpreted, lived…
This Independence Day, as we celebrate the birth of our great nation, we at Chapel Field invite you to read these six short excerpts from American texts, speeches, and sermons. As we reflect on our country’s storied history, it is good and right to soak in the wisdom of our forefathers and to give thanks to our God. We hope you’ll read along with us…
When parents ask me for book recommendations for their kids to read over the summer it is usually because they are facing one of two problems: 1) Their child reads ferociously and they have no idea how to find enough good books to throw in front of them, or 2) their child does not like to read at all, and they wish they knew how to find any book that will actually compel them to sit down, read, and finally be quiet. The child in problem…
“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” Genesis 1:1 — It’s fitting to frame any discussion on the value of art by quoting the very first verse of the Bible. If we truly believe Scripture to be theopneustos or “God-breathed”, we must then recognize that the first description that God provides about Himself is that He is a creator. In Classical Christian education, the traditional academic rigor we strive for should always be infused with…
2024 Articles
I never cared for my name until, when I was around 10 years old my family was having dinner talking about where their names came from and what they meant. We all went around talking about what our names meant until it got to me. My aunt looked it up and Micah meant “one who is like God.” After that I didn’t think about my name until in my junior year in theology class we read “Parker’s Back” by Flannery O’Conner. In O’Conner’s short story…
Here’s the text with extra space added between the paragraphs for better formatting on your blog: My father is not a fish. I don't believe that he ever will be. But for the past few days it has felt like my father is a fish.I often implore my students to furnish the interior of their hearts, to decorate their minds, to wallpaper their souls with great literature and poetry. It's a hard thing for...
What a joy it was to see so many of you at our 2024 convocation service last week. We are hopeful that more and more of our families will join us each year as we seek to begin our school year by asking for the Lord’s blessing. It was an evening of beautiful singing and prayer. We were also blessed by a message from Rev. Tim Goodwin who is the Director of Operations at The Geneva School, a classical Christian school in Manhattan. Tim spoke...
A day or two after walking a group of teachers through a magnificent old fairytale, an old myth: The Handless Maiden, one veteran educator came up to talk to me about the story. But in reality it wasn't a discussion about the story simpliciter, it was about the role of stories—stories told, stories heard, stories written. The teacher said to me, “I…
A Proclamation: Any American who has ever listened to a bugler sound Taps, the last salute, whether on a green and grassy hillside, a muddy field halfway around the world, or a lonely tarmac stateside or anywhere freedom is cherished and defended, knows exactly why we set aside a special day each year to honor those who have died for our country and to pray for permanent peace. We do so for the sons and daughters of our land who have perished in the cause of liberty…
O Lord of Divine Majesty, You are the sustainer of the cosmos. We eternally express our admiration to You, for You are magnificent and exquisite in Your love. Every good and perfect gift is from You who does not change like shifting shadows. (1) Bestow humble hearts upon us, O Lord, that we may come properly into Your presence with shouts of thanksgiving. We will extol…
One of the insights of classical, Christian education is that education is much more than information transfer, or preparation to take tests. It is a rigorous training of the whole soul: body, mind and spirit. As Plutarch wrote long ago, “the mind is not a vessel to be filled, but a fire to be…
O Lord, we rejoice in You, our Everlasting Father, even creation rejoices in You! “Thou burning sun with golden beam, thou silver moon with softer gleam, O praise Him, O praise Him! ”All nations shall fear You, the King of kings and Lord of lords for You are good and true. When You saved us from the serpent, we exclaimed Your wondrous works. We shouted out the stories of our salvation from…
“My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken us? Why art thou so far from helping us, and from the words of my roaring? O my God, we cry in the daytime but thou hearest not; and in the night season I am not silent.” (1) O God, our Father, although You remain silent, we place our faith and trust in You even though we are worms at your feet. (2) O Lord, our fathers have put their trust in you and from you their rescue came. (3) For you are the alpha and omega…
One of the things that Chapel Field strives to be is a place of prayer. We open the day in morning assembly in prayer. On Wednesday, Chapel opens and closes with prayer. Many classes do the same. For the most part, these prayers are extemporaneous. The vast majority of the modern evangelical West is familiar with almost nothing but extemporaneous prayers. Now there is nothing wrong with praying…
One of my all-time favorite poems is “In Memory of W.B. Yeats” by W.H. Auden. It is just hard to beat one of your poetic heroes writing a dirge for another one of your heroes. This poem was bouncing around my mind all day yesterday, the 2 year anniversary of the passing of Coach Spanjer—the founder and patriarch of Chapel Field Christian Schools. It is poetic, providential, fitting, that a passage from Mark’s gospel was also swirling inside my skull, mixing and…
2023 Articles
Yesterday was the 125th birthday of C.S. Lewis, a man beloved by us at Chapel Field. He is best known by many for his Narnia series, but he is the author of many other works ranging from high scholastic writing on Medieval literature to works of apologetics and theology. Lewis grew up in a nominal Anglican home with a devout mother and a distant father. As a young boy his mother died…
No people ought to feel greater obligations to celebrate the goodness of the Great Disposer of events, and of the destiny of nations, than the people of the United States. His kind providence originally conducted them to one of the best portions of the dwelling place allotted for the great family of the Human race. He protected and cherished them, under all the difficulties and trials to which they…
Today was the birthday of one of the great minds of the Western world and one of the great fathers of the Christian church, St. Augustine. Augustine was born in 354 A.D. in North Africa. He was born to a Christian mother and a non-believing father. While his mother prayed incessantly for his salvation, even to the point of tears, his father wanted him to be a worldly success. He was given the best education his…
“How can you not be romantic about baseball?” Brad Pitt, playing Oakland A’s general manager Billy Beane in the 2011 movie MoneyBall posed that rhetorical question. If you haven’t seen MoneyBall, stop reading this immediately and go watch it. Life is all about order and proportion and you clearly lack both (I’m joking, but only slightly). Russian short story master Isaac Babel wrote, “No iron spike…
Our purpose tonight, through worship and thanksgiving, is to rededicate ourselves to that noble, God-given calling. It’s only right and fitting, then, to remind ourselves WHAT that calling is, and THE PURPOSE for which we’re assembled here tonight. To do that I’ll read the school’s mission statement: “Chapel Field’s mission is to partner with parents to cultivate…
Lord God, we pray for our students; for our pre-k and elementary students whose young minds and souls need the good soil of a godly education to lay strong roots for a life of faithfulness. For our junior high students; for their growth and maturity, for minds furnished and equipped to serve you, and for our high school students, that they may become godly young men and women whose chief ambition is to live for your glory. Grant them all a blessed year in which each student grows in wisdom and stature and holiness. Guard them from the idolatrous delusions…
A classical education is primarily concerned with the right reordering of the student’s affections, teaching them to enjoy good things, teaching them to hate wicked things, teaching them to love most what is most worthy of their love. A classical education is also concerned with giving students what…
"The time is now near at hand which must [...] determine, whether Americans are to be free men…" This July 4th, join us in remembering George Washington's orders to the Continental Army in anticipation of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
Our school is beaming with pride over the season that our boys’ basketball team has had this year. After an excellent regular season, they have gone on to defend their Section IX championship, defeating The Mount Academy and by defeating Bridgehampton and then later South Kortright in the regionals, they secured a ticket to the State Final Four. They will be competing this Saturday in Glens Falls in the State Semi-Finals against North Warren. It is a joy to be represented by such fine young men and it has been exciting to watch…
Assuredly you have heard the idiom that one should not judge a book by its cover. That piece of practical wisdom is not something I wish to debunk but I might desire to add a layer of nuance to it: One should not judge a book by its cover but one might attempt to judge it by its opening words. This elongation of the old adage certainly causes it to lose its marketable brevity and bite but my hope is that what is lost in economy might be gained in wisdom…
Video Recording: Today is the day each year when the church remembers the death of St. Polycarp. Watch as Bill Spanjer discusses the life and legacy of the saint. In a day such as ours, may we hold saints like Polycarp up for our children to see that they might also be encouraged to be faithful witnesses for the Lord Jesus Christ.
As many of you will know, yesterday was Ash Wednesday, marking the beginning of Lent. Lent is a season in the church’s calendar, one of fasting and the contemplation of our sin and frailty. It serves to prepare our hearts for the celebration of the death and resurrection of our Lord. Whether or not you “give something up for Lent” it is a worthwhile thing to spend time reflecting on such deep and important matters. For one, it is crucial for us to recall that we are dust. As the Bible tells…
Quote from The Holiness of God by R.C. Sproul. Follow “The Bell Tower” for more Commonplace quotes from Chapel Field’s students and faculty.
A phrase often repeated around Chapel Field is 19th century educator Charlotte Mason's famous observation that "all education is self-education." This might sound like a strange thing for a school to affirm. If everything is self-taught, why go to school at all? Why seek out teachers if we don’t need them? Of course, a little time and attention reveals that that's not what Mason is suggesting. The profound truth at the heart of this quotation is this: anything a person learns they ultimately have to see for themselves…
Yesterday marked the one-year anniversary of my father’s passing. I shared with the upper school students in morning assembly yesterday that it saddens me that so few of them knew him. In fact, it is so difficult for me to get my mind around the fact that most Chapel Field families and even some faculty, did not know “Coach,” as we all fondly called him. He was a larger-than-life person whose imprint and influence were on every nook and cranny of the school. He and my mother poured their entire…
Quote from Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis. Follow “The Bell Tower” for more Commonplace quotes from Chapel Field’s students and faculty.
For most of us, Christmas is a time of celebration with rich food and beautiful settings, a time of sentimentality and nostalgia. It is a time of singing and of joy. Historically the season of Christmas lasts for twelve days concluding on January 5th and punctuated by Epiphany on January 6th. Epiphany is the day that the church remembers the arrival of the magi to worship Jesus, the newborn king. This too, is a story that conjures up sentimentality as we remember the three star-gazing kings coming with their treasures to Bethlehem. In the history of the church, it is the time in which Christians celebrate the revelation of the gospel…
2022 Articles
This week concludes the fourth week of Advent according to the church calendar. Advent refers to the four weeks prior to Christmas and has historically been a season of expectation and contemplation of the coming of the incarnate God. While we are very acquainted with the national and cultural calendar of America, its seasons and holidays, we are less…
Quote from Martin Luther’s Letters of Spiritual Counsel, 1530. Follow “The Bell Tower” for more Commonplace quotes from Chapel Field’s students and faculty.
Just a couple of weeks ago, a handful of faculty and I had the privilege to chaperone the Juniors and Seniors on a field trip to Plymouth and to Boston. What an incredible feeling it is to stand where the pilgrims stood as they entered this strange new world filled with hopes and fears, but most of all with resolve, strengthened by their faith in the Triune God. We stood there with…
“I’m just not a math person. I don’t get math. When will we ever use this stuff?” Throughout my 25+ years of math instruction, I have occasionally caught wind of these student phrases. You may have heard them too, or even uttered them yourselves. Understandably, the mental acrobatics…
If you’ve been around Chapel Field for any length of time, chances are you’ve heard snatches of something called the “Non Nobis.” You’ve probably heard it sung, too, because one of the distinctive things about a Chapel Field education is that Chapel Field students sing…
It is the danger of any school to think that education is a mechanical process that students move through on their way to inevitable maturity. As such, classes are taught with the short-sighted goal of “getting through the material” and simply preparing the children for the next grade. At Chapel Field we…
Excerpt from a speech given by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr at a Philadelphia middle school. Follow “The Bell Tower” for more Commonplace quotes from Chapel Field’s students and faculty.
Excerpt from The Weight of Glory by C.S. Lewis. Follow “The Bell Tower” for more Commonplace quotes from Chapel Field’s students and faculty.
“I don’t like to read.” More often than I’d like to admit, I hear students (even my own children!) exclaim, “I don’t like to read.” (If we’re honest, many of us sympathize with this statement). Sure we “know” that reading is important. We’ve skimmed through…
Excerpt from The Merchant of Venice, Act IV Scene 1. Follow “The Bell Tower” for more Commonplace quotes from Chapel Field’s students and faculty.
In the book of Proverbs, Solomon guides his son to maturity by passing on his wisdom to him. In Chapter 2 Solomon challenges his son to set out on a hunt for wisdom as if he were searching for silver or for gold. “Cry out for it” he tells him…
On September 22, 1862, President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, declaring "that all persons held as slaves […] are, and henceforward shall be free." The Proclamation changed the legal…
Every academic year at Chapel Field centers on a spiritual theme. Chapels, morning assemblies, discipleship groups and our book studies bring us back to these themes and help…
Mark Twain is credited with challenging parents not to let schooling get in the way of their children’s education. Of course, for many people, education and schooling are…