CHAPLAINCY
School life is dominated by time. No pupil is unaware of when each lesson starts. The cyclical nature of a school year is simply inescapable. September to July, September to July…
One of this summer’s blockbuster films will be the fifth and final instalment of the Indiana Jones saga. Consider this though: The first – 'Raiders of the Lost Ark' - came out years before a number of staff in the staff room were even considered, let alone conceived. All of the U3 were born after the fourth movie was made.
Time truly marches on.
There are, of course, those that push against time’s tide with extraordinary efforts (Tom Cruise? Martha Stewart?). No doubt having their own gym and a range of ablutions and personal trainers help! There are some who seem to defy time by engaging in eyebrow-raising endeavours (Al Pacino, 83, is fathering his fourth child this year). Others are doggedly determined not to be held back by time, or overly defined by time – think Joe Biden – (and Donald Trump, purely for political balance). I ought to add, before there’s an accusation of underlying ageism in this reflection, that I genuinely do think that age should be viewed as the length of time given to accumulate wisdom, rather than viewed through the lens of wrinkles, dodgy knees and the like.
At the start of this year I hit my 10 year anniversary of starting life at Headington. Soon I will no longer be a staff member and a parent: my younger daughter is part of our departing U6 cohort. And, in September, I will once again reflect that though the U3 remain the same age always, I just get a little older…
Humility and Mortality
The passing of time is a very natural and good thing. Each year we have a fresh set of fabulous prefects. I have noted the humility of the prefect team as they hand over their roles to their successors. They have served, and their time is up. There is more than a glint of humility knowing that soon they will no longer be the ‘big fish’ – known by nearly all. They will be first years at a new institution.
Time isn’t always kind though. Benjamin Franklin is famous for saying, rather blithely; death and taxes are the only certainties to life. Sadly, due to the numbers of those in our school (over 1,000 pupils and many staff), it's more than possible that there will be those in our community who, each year, will suffer a heavy loss.
We very rarely talk about death in a helpful way in British society. Other cultures do it far better. That our days will end is inevitable. Very often, working with young people, bereavements, which may be very privately held, are very untimely.
There is a strange and beautiful book in the Bible called Ecclesiastes. King Solomon is credited with writing it. A passage from Ecclesiastes is read every U6 leavers’ service, and this is the opening line:
"There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens"
This is, I believe, thoroughly true. I also believe that God is present at every point of our lives. Indeed, you will have sung these very words at some point in December: “And He feeleth for our sadness, And He shareth in our gladness.”
God is God, He's the lord of Time and those times include every season. We are human and we are mortal. But we were made for eternity. Eleven verses on from his opening salvo, Solomon wrote “God has also set eternity in the human heart”. Through Christ, eternity with God can be ours.
There are enormous privileges to spending my time here at Headington. To see students who flourish and blossom in ways that they wouldn’t have thought possible. I recall one who in U3 wouldn’t speak in class but by Sixth Form was involved in whole school assemblies.
To witness such flourishing is humbling. It reminds me of the school prayer – “whatsoever things are true, pure, lovely and of good report may here forever flourish and abound.”
I’ll stop now. I’m sure I’ve run out of time! Thank you for taking the time to read this. I’m humbled! And if, like me, you’re feeling your mortality a little more these days, let’s remember that we were made for eternity and that the God who holds time in his hands, holds us too.