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Creating a Culture of Attention: Why St. Timothy’s Matters

Adapted from a talk given to our parents by Todd Anderson

I want to explore the nature of attention in this digital age we find ourselves in, and what it means for our involvement here at St. Timothy’s.


What do I mean by attention?


The root of the word, from Latin, means stretching, extending, or striving; to take aim or pursue a goal. We use it most often in the phrase “pay attention” by which we mean to focus or look intently. But what do we find ourselves looking at?


This new digital age creates a new form of attention, as Marshall McLuhan predicted. Our culture is tuning its ears to a new frequency. Consider the rise of anxiety or our fixation on identity. Consider our preference for indirect communication (texting), the decline in eye contact, and a general allergy to criticism. Finally, broadly speaking, our culture no longer reads poetry.


I mean two things by this last point: there is little desire for or interest in poetry, and there is a lack of capacity to engage with it. Poetry was the original formalizing structure for all speech. If something was worth memorizing or preserving, it was done in the form of poetry. Poetry was aspirational, a medium of the devotional life or worship. Engaging in poetry can be challenging to those whose hearts and minds have been shaped by sound bites. It asks for a contemplative, almost worshipful, space in our souls: a quiet space to delight and ponder on things beyond the frenetic pace of the day. 


I have a challenge for you: test your own attention with your digitally-shaped brain. Consider what is happening to your heart and mind as you listen.


Please click on the following link: Lines Composed A Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey

(read for the purposes of this newsletter by the actor, Michael Sheen)


Did you pass the test? Did you fall asleep? Did you reach for your phone?


Notice how much work your ear and mind had to put into paying attention?


 This experience is what St. Timothy’s is after: a series of habits of attention kneaded into the hearts and minds of our children. But these habits are necessary not only for them, they are for us adults as well! What Wordsworth was highlighting, standing near that old Abbey, was the value of memory; the value of attending to a scene with all the richness of his being, so that he soaked it up. And the purpose of this is to transform character. We ask our children to memorize scripture because scripture teaches us that we ought to “hide God’s word in our heart so that we might not sin against him.” “I meditate on your word day and night,” says King David.We do this so the mind might be a “mansion for all lovely forms”, and the memory “a dwelling-place for all sweet sounds and harmonies.”


Wordsworth knew what parents know: life is hard. Our children must have something that will endure: words – truth – to lean on in times of trouble. St. Timothy’s is in the business of creating an environment which attends to true and living value – the wonderful children in its care.


Todd is the General Manager of The Acacia Group, an openly Christian law firm in Ottawa that provides legal and consulting services for charities, churches, and religious institutions. Before this, he served as the Principal of Augustine College from 2022-2024, a classical Christian post-secondary institution in downtown Ottawa. He also teaches homeschoolers in Ottawa and speaks on a range of literary and cultural topics. Todd serves on the Board of Elders at Calvary Baptist Church, and lives in Kanata with his wife, Heather, and their six children. When he is not playing with his kids, changing diapers, or rushing off to a local meeting, Todd enjoys writing poetry.

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