Something wonderful
I love this time of year and the way in which it brings out moments that we might call times of
awe and wonder.
The Christmas productions as ever brought to us the story at
the heart of Christmas, that of a promise fulfilled and a gift of a child
Immanuel – God is with us. There were so many moments throughout each of the
performances where the message and truth that Christ came to bring shone out. Whether
this was in the words of a song, the line from a script or just the magical
moments of seeing children give their all with such wonderful smiles on their
face. These as always were very special times and again many great memories
will have been created.
This truth is also found in the individual conversations
that children have with me as I walk around school, they are always eager to
comment on something, to tell me about how they love to sing a certain song,
that they have taught their parents the actions, or whether they sing it to
cheer themselves up. Their enthusiasm and joy in sharing what they take away
from our assemblies is what is very special about our school. The fact that
they know they are special is something that we would all aspire for them to
believe and it is the reason why that special baby was born in Bethlehem such a
long time ago.
Equally those moments can be seen in the love of music that
is such a strength of our school. The
privilege of watching our school orchestra perform is something really special.
They just don’t seem to get nervous or overawed by the moment. Instead they are
just confident in their own ability, calm about what they are about to do and
always deliver, even when placed on a raised stage in front of a few hundred
adults! That in its self is certainly a moment of awe and wonder!
There is also awe and wonder in the innocence of our
children’s experiences and how they see the world, something I was reminded of
this week in a wonderful way. In the school foyer sits our nativity display and
in the last few days I have added some LED candles and stationed a CD player
under the table that plays Christmas carols. Yesterday two of our foundation
children were delivering the class register. As they walked past the nativity
scene, they stopped and listened. Looking intently at the scene, one child turned to the other and said very
thoughtfully, ‘Look the candles are singing!’ a priceless and special moment!
I am also continually struck and encouraged by how the
children seek to outwork their understanding of God’s love for them and his
call to love others. This again was brought home to me very powerfully this
week. After our Christmas productions we have been taking a collection for the
Children’s society. At this time of year we seek, as a school community, to
make a difference together and to give from what we have to those who are most
in need. I had talked about this at one of our productions and explained why we
did this. The next day one of the children came to me and informed me
that they had some money they wanted to give and that they would bring it to
the production that evening and that’s exactly what happened. As I was putting
the final touches to the sound desk, the same child approached me. ‘I
remembered Mr Marshall’ they said and then dug into their pocket and drew out some money; ‘it’s for the collection’ they said with a great smile on their face. I am
sure at that moment God had a great smile on his face as well, I certainly did.
Love in action, exactly what Christmas is all about!
We wish you a wonderful Christmas break and pray that in
whatever you do, you may catch some of the awe and wonder that Christmas is all
about.
