This week in the Senior School has been ‘revision week’ with all students, apart from those already sitting public exams, preparing for their internal exams, to be sat in the week after half-term. In a sense it is a time of waiting; a short break from the learning of new content in lessons, before applying the knowledge that has been learned in tests.
This short period of waiting is a mirror of what is happening in the Church’s year. Last week we celebrated the solemnity of the Ascension, when Jesus ascended back to his Father in heaven. On Sunday, ten days after the Ascension, we will celebrate the great feast of Pentecost, the coming of the Holy Spirit. We are now in that gap between Ascension and Pentecost.
The Holy Spirit is a mighty and transforming power. Although if most people were asked to picture the Holy Spirit they would describe the Spirit in the form of a dove (and this is perfectly in accordance with scripture) the Holy Spirit of Pentecost is a Spirit of vigour, energy and even disruption. In the Prep School this week we have sung a peaceful hymn ‘Holy Spirit, living breath’, but also listened to a really high-energy and dramatic song about the Holy Spirit – the pupils said it made them feel lively, happy, bouncy and enthused.
The room where the Jesus’ mother and his followers were gathered was shaken by strong winds, and tongues of fire appeared above their heads. Suddenly they found that they could speak in different languages, so they could truly fulfil Jesus’ final command to them: ‘Go make disciples of the nations.’ They could go and talk about Jesus in all corners of the earth. They could do it with conviction, energy and enthusiasm.
May this Pentecost be a time of joy, and may the half-term break lead us all to return to school at its end with the same conviction, energy and enthusiasm to do the very best we can in everything that we endeavour to do, in examinations and in every other aspect of our lives.
