A Time to remember hope.
Each morning as a staff we meet for a devotional time that involves sharing our understandings of the Bible and what it reveals to us about who Jesus is and what He means to us. We then pray for every child and family in our school throughout the year. It is a privilege to be able to do this for our community.
Today we had one of our Board Members share on Advent. They challenged the staff on what Christmas means to them, specifically noting that the first week of advent focuses on the hope of Jesus.
The conversation that followed challenged me to think about my response to the arrival of this notable person in history. Isaiah the prophet says that God’s zeal made it possible for the person of Jesus to walk the earth and show us exactly the character of God and to allow us to be able to relate with him (Isaiah 9:7).
If you look carefully at the life of Jesus, his great passion is to love God and love others. This is his focus, and this is what he does. The hope that this brings to me in a time of remembering His advent is that in seeing what God is like, and living like Jesus, we can know God and His love for us. This revelation helps us know we are valuable creations and enables us to love and care for others.
This knowledge brings great hope in difficult and uncertain times.
And, here-in lies the deep hope of our school. We hope that the students of RCC gain the skills to realise what is most important and what brings them hope. RCC schooling’s end game is not in the report card or the awards, the celebrations or the graduations. It lies in the development of an understanding that there is more to this world than ‘me’ and therefore, I must live in such a way that I can assist others to live their best life and this brings hope and fulfilment.
Paul speaks of being able to be content in all circumstances because he knows Jesus and what Jesus has done for him (Philippians 4:12-13). Can you imagine what a next-generation full of kids who are able to be ‘content’ in their circumstances would be able to do for a world that is so introspective it is often oblivious to the needs of those around them? I can! It is our prayer…
In this coming week of Advent, I wonder what will bring you hope? Is it the desire for holidays, job-lists ticked off or a Uruguayan World Cup victory? Or, is it something deeper that will bring you contentment no matter the circumstances; something that is more like a house built on rock than one on sand tormented by the ever changing tides of our world.
Bring on Christmas!
Jonno
