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Tasmanian Anglican

October 2004

 

 

 

 

 

 


Bishop John helped with the Preps' PE activity.

 

News from our Anglican Schools

From The Hutchins School

 

 

Bishop John's annual visit to The Hutchins School took place in August.

We prepared various activities for Bishop John's annual visit in August including a meeting of the School Board of Management, wandering the sports fields to see Years 3 and 4 training, a Junior School Chapel Service where he got into the rhythm of a song from the Waitoto Children's Choir, helping the Preps with their Physical Education activity and spending time with a Chemistry class.

After some time with the chemists of the future, Bishop John remarked that all the knowledge and practices of his earlier days in the classroom slowly started to come back to him!

Excuses are part of the fabric of our life.

[School Chaplain the Rev. John Goodwin, delivered a lively sermon at the Hutchns School Anniversary Evensong at St David's Cathedral. Below is an extract.]

There are the ones from the car insurance industry that have done the rounds. 'I'd been driving for forty years when I fell asleep at the wheel.'

There are excuses from the office. I came across a list of what to say to the boss when he finds you asleep at your desk. 'I was just testing to see if the keyboard was drool-proof!'

At school, excuses are part of the culture. In a quiet and dark corner, near the Staff Room, lies the LATE BOOK - which must be signed by those who are late. What a source of wonder it is! Here is a small sample:

  • Waiting for clothes to dry
  • Bad alarm clock
  • My pants broke
  • Brother wasn't ready
  • Learner bus driver
  • Sister
  • Sister wouldn't get up!
  • Arranging brother's homework
  • Wheel fell off bus
  • Dad had to drop into work… again!
In these excuses is a glimpse of the heartbeat and desperation that begins the school day.

For the author of The Book of Wisdom, there is no such thing as a good excuse. There is no excuse good enough for remaining ignorant of God.

… But yet again, even they are not to be excused: for if they had the power to know so much that they could investigate the world, how did they fail to find sooner the Lord of these things? (Wisdom 13)

The story of God's people is the story of God's unmistakable presence, sometimes thunderous and awesome - as to Moses before the burning bush. Sometimes the presence of God is announced in a whisper, as to the prophet Elijah on the mountain running for his life and desperate. God's presence was whispered but unmistakable.

A gentle presence in a whisper might be lost on a generation of people who are never quiet. In his book, The Ragamuffin Gospel, Brendan Manning writes:

So often we walk amid the beauty and bounty of nature and we talk non-stop. We miss the panorama of colour, sound and smell. We might as well have remained inside our closed, artificially lit rooms. Nature's lessons are lost and the opportunity to be wrapped in silent wonder before the God creation passes.

To become more 'in touch', we need to make space in our busy lives, to smell the roses and to have our feet to the fire. Then we may come to know the whispering presence of God.