Dear Families
This is our penultimate week of the year. Penultimate is a word that means the one before the last. I’ve wondered about the significance of penultimate moments in life. They often go without mention as if they are of lesser significance than the important final moment. For instance, much is made of the last supper when Jesus and His disciples broke bread and drank wine together as a representation of Jesus’ death and sacrifice for sin. In contrast, not much is recorded about the dinner they ate together the evening before. However, by the nature of Jesus’ relationship with His disciples, we might extrapolate that there were many meals that preceded the last supper. The penultimate supper (that is the supper before the last supper) may very well have been quite ordinary by theological standards and yet it speaks to the extraordinary teaching and relationships that Jesus and His disciples were building together.
Next week, our final week of term, will be an exciting one – there are awards assemblies and class celebrations and our wonderful Celebration evening. This week, the penultimate week of the year, is full of, well... very ordinary events. However, we should not miss that these ordinary events, such as classes, excursions to the University, sports, assemblies, interschool challenge days and chapel services are actually remarkable events because of the teaching and learning and relationship building that occurs between students and staff, all of which build and strengthen our Christian Learning community. What may seem mundane and ordinary – just another week in the school term – needs to be celebrated as meaningful even though it may not have the glamour and excitement of the final week.
During our K-12 Christmas chapel service, I was very encouraged to watch our remarkable students from Years 5 and 6 use shadow acting and puppetry to tell the story of Jesus’ birth. At the same service Students from our Year 7-10 music group led us in singing, our Prefects played the role of Masters of Ceremonies through the chapel service and several senior students prayed and read the Bible. It was wonderful and remarkable, but perhaps more so because it was consistent with each of our other chapel services throughout the year. Our students being excellent leaders isn’t a one-off event. Though the topic of Christmas was contextual our students have, with great consistency, lead similarly wonderful chapel events and serve the school community through these spaces in the weekly calendar. It is the case that our students and their teachers are remarkable in many ways, but particularly in the pursuit of excellence in which they approach the daily learning opportunities with which they are presented.
As we come to the end of the year, I am thankful to God for the blessings of learning together in our Christian Learning Community, for the rich opportunities to grow together relationally, for our wonderful students and their families, for our high-quality teachers and support staff. Above all these things, I give thanks for Jesus – in Him, through Him and for Him are all things created. What a wonderful time to celebrate His birth. Merry Christmas.
Praying for a rich week of learning.
Matt Cohen
Principal