This week has been another week when I have valued the privilege I have working across the school, from Nursery to Sixth Form.
In Reception class this week we sang ‘He’s got the whole world in his hands’, replacing ‘the whole world’ with the name of each pupil in the class in turn. I explained that in the bible God said, through the prophet Isaiah, ‘I have carved you on the palm of my hand.’ We know that God is holding us because God has told us that he is. ‘I can’t feel God holding me,’ one of the pupils said. Just as we don’t notice that we are breathing in air but would soon notice it if we weren’t, we don’t notice or feel God holding us because he always is. We would soon notice it if we were to fall out of God’s hand.
On Thursday we had a lovely Reflection Day with Year 12. The theme of the day was ‘New Beginnings / Embracing New Opportunities.’ We planted some spring-flowering bulbs, symbolising new beginnings that just like the Year 12 students will be nurtured and will grow and flourish over the next few months. We thought about new opportunities that arise as a result of being in sixth form and about some of the reasons why people do, or do not, take advantage of such opportunities. All this was framed under the words of Jesus in Matthew’s Gospel, ‘Behold I am with you always, to the end of the age.’
On Friday it was Year 7’s turn for a Reflection Day, with a focus on friendship. Like Year 12, these students are at an exciting and new stage in their lives. While examining friendship and strengthening friendship we were reminded that Jesus said, ‘I do not call you servants any longer, I call you friends.’ During the day the Year 12 students joined the Year 7s for an hour, ‘Big Sisters’ joining their ‘Little Sisters’. Friendship extends throughout the school, not just within individual year groups.
How wonderful to have been reminded within the context of the relationships that we have with one another that God holds us in the closest possible relationship with himself. Jesus is our friend, with us always. God the Father holds us in the palm of his hand.
Mr George
