Chaplain

Recently I attended a lecture on Hope. It was given by a PhD candidate in Psychology Liesa Aiken who is preparing her thesis on hope. This was both fascinating and encouraging as hope is one of those intangible attributes that, as humans, we need and have a deep hunger for. Yet even defining hope is difficult. Hope is not just wishful thinking nor is it not just self-confidence. Hope cannot just be a reliance on our past successes as many of us have significant past failures. Real hope is more: a dream is not enough, work is not enough.

Christian hope is focused on the object of our hope, what we hope in must have substance not just what we hope for. For the Christian it is not just the vision or dream that we look forward to, it is the one who has the power to bring that dream to reality.

Christians have an unshakeable hope: expectation that the future holds better based on the nature and revelation of the God of the bible. This hope looks forward to the new creation where wounds are healed and the brokenness of this world is transformed by the almighty God. This is a hope of healing, harmony, peace and unspeakable joy.

This is what we celebrate at Christmas: the hope that the birth of a child in 4 BCE proclaims. Christian hope looks back to how God intervened in history to fulfil his promises. He promised a virgin birth of a Messiah who would reveal the very nature of God, die for our sins and conquer death by rising from the dead. As we look back in awe we can confidently look forward in hope to the day that the God renews all things.

Parents Who Pray

This is an invitation to parents who would like to support the school community through prayer. We gather to bring before God our school, students, staff, Executive, parents and Board. A particular focus will be on praying for our Yr 12 students as they face final examinations and thanksgiving for the many blessings our school has received this year. We will gather on Wednesday 13 November in B.1.1 commencing at 8.30am and finishing at 9.15am.

Blessings

Ms Bronwyn Lihou
Senior Campus Chaplain
blihou@redlands.nsw.edu.au
9968 9830

Ms Fiona McKenzie
Junior Campus Chaplain
fmckenzie@redlands.nsw.edu.au
9953 6022