Installation of Mrs Heather Goedeke as Head of Herschel Girls School, Claremont, Cape Town, on 6 February 2020
Readings: Ecclesiastes 3:1-11 and Hebrews 11:32-12:2
May I speak in the name of God, who is Creator, Redeemer and Sustainer. Amen.
Sisters and brothers in Christ, dear people of God, the heads of schools present here, the Chairperson and members of Council, educators, Mrs Goedeke and your family, friends, parents and learners: it is a great joy to be with you today to share in this important milestone in the life of this school.
Showing posts with label Herschel Girls School. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Herschel Girls School. Show all posts
Saturday, 8 February 2020
Sunday, 8 September 2019
Sermon for a Combined Confirmation Service for Anglican schools in Cape Town
Sermon for a Combined Confirmation Service for Anglican schools in Cape Town, St Saviour's Church, Claremont:
Readings: Jeremiah 18: 1-11; Psalm 139:1-5,12-18; Philemon 1-21; Luke 14: 25-33
May I speak in the name of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, dear people of God, heads of participating schools – Mr Stewart West of Herschel, our host school this year; Mrs Sue Redelinghuis of St Cyprian’s; Mr Guy Pearson of Diocesan College; and Mr Julian Cameron of St George’s Grammar School – also friends and families, it is a great joy to be with you today and share in this important milestone in the lives of the confirmation candidates. Let me also greet Bishop Garth and Marion, whom I saw as I entered the church today. Indeed, there is life after retirement!
Readings: Jeremiah 18: 1-11; Psalm 139:1-5,12-18; Philemon 1-21; Luke 14: 25-33
May I speak in the name of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, dear people of God, heads of participating schools – Mr Stewart West of Herschel, our host school this year; Mrs Sue Redelinghuis of St Cyprian’s; Mr Guy Pearson of Diocesan College; and Mr Julian Cameron of St George’s Grammar School – also friends and families, it is a great joy to be with you today and share in this important milestone in the lives of the confirmation candidates. Let me also greet Bishop Garth and Marion, whom I saw as I entered the church today. Indeed, there is life after retirement!
Wednesday, 15 October 2014
Address to the Annual Prizegiving of Herschel School
Address to the Annual Prizegiving of Herschel Girls School, Cape Town, October 15, 2014:
Good evening, girls! Good evening, parents! And good evening to the whole school community: girls, parents, teachers, headmaster, other members of staff, and members of Council. Thank you Mr West and Council for inviting me to speak tonight, it is an honour indeed.
It's such a joy to be here again for a formal school occasion. Congratulations to you all for your achievements in the past year, individually and collectively: to the prize-winners of course, to the soon-to-be matriculants whose time here is coming to an end, but also to every single one of you. For each one of you is a winner, because each one of you is equally part of this community of achievement, of this body that is Herschel School. And you remember how St. Paul describes a body in his First Letter to the Corinthians? He says "the body does not consist of one member but of many" and that every single member belongs to the body, and that, to quote him again, “God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose.”
In similar vein, your achievements are not only yours' but they are the achievements of everyone who has supported you over the past year. So, in recognition of that, why don't you the girls, applaud them? First, let's applaud your teachers and the staff and governing body of the school who support them. And now, let's applaud your parents, your grandparents, other members of your family and the cloud of witnesses – your great-grandparents and ancestors – who are looking down on us today!
In the past year, we have seen women and girls in the news in a range of ways that I can't remember seeing before. We have seen stories of pain and despair which are testimony to the ways in which our society continues to disrespect and abuse women, but we have also seen stories of strength and moral courage in which they have demonstrated their resilience and their capacity to triumph over adversity. Let's look at just three examples.
The first is the story of Reeva Steenkamp and our response to her killing. Now I know that Judge Masipa's finding means that we cannot say with a certainty that is beyond reasonable doubt that Reeva's death was a manifestation of how women are abused in South Africa. We need to respect the finding of an experienced judge, who listened to all the evidence, that Oscar Pistorius's explanation of what happened that night might reasonably possibly have been true. But at the very least, we can say that the case, and the arguments around what happened, have put the issue of domestic abuse front and centre on the country's agenda. And that is a good thing, because if you speak to clergy in our communities – who by the nature of our ministry are privileged to hear people's confidences – they will tell you that domestic abuse, and especially the abuse of women and children by men, is one of the greatest of the hidden evils of our society, and that it happens in both poor and wealthy communities.
The second example is the abduction, six months ago last night, of more than 200 girls from the town of Chibok in north-eastern Nigeria by members of the Boko Haram group. That event may seem far removed from South Africa, and in many ways it is, but the growth of movements of extremist thugs – I won't dignify them by calling them religious because the ideas they propagate are a perversion of religion.... the phenomenon of extremist thuggery is something that as global citizens we must oppose everywhere. And the phenomenon is not confined to Nigeria or West Africa; it is emerging among disparate, uncoordinated groups in East Africa, North Africa and the Middle East as well, and it poses a challenge which we dare not underestimate.
Those of you who are history students will know that this year marks the centenary of the outbreak of World War One. Margaret MacMillan, a Canadian who is the warden of St Antony’s College, Oxford, says that one of the reasons we stumbled into that war, and that so many people died in it, was that our forebears miscalculated the significance of changes in the nature of warfare. Applying those lessons to our situation today, she gives us this sobering warning:
“A comparable mistake in our own time is the assumption that because of our advanced technology, we can deliver quick, focused and overpowering military actions… drones and cruise missiles… carpet bombing and armoured divisions – resulting in conflicts that will be short and limited in their impact, and victories that will be decisive.”
But she notes that far from seeing easy victories, we are seeing wars with no clear outcomes involving what she calls “a shifting coalition of local warlords, religious warriors and other interested parties” across countries and continents.
The third example to which I want to refer tonight is – you will be thankful to hear – an inspiring one and that is the story of Thuli Madonsela. Isn't it wonderful to listen to her on television laying down the law, not loudly and bombastically as men often do, but in soft, gentle tones? They say that President Theodore Roosevelt of America, a man's man if ever there was one, used to say that a leader should "speak softly and carry a big stick," and even our beloved Madiba was won’t to instinctively respond to certain situations by reaching for his big stick. But I think we can coin a new phrase about Thuli and say: "She speaks softly and carries the Constitution."
It has struck me recently that one of the major obstacles to solving our problems in South Africa is that we have become a “me” society instead of a “we” society. We ask too often, what are “my” needs and aspirations, not what are “our” needs and aspirations. For South Africa to flourish, we need to move from “me” to “we”, asking not what I can do, but what we can do, together, to meet not my needs, but our needs, and to work for the common good.
How do we, then, as the body of Herschel, demonstrate our refusal to succumb to fear or to become inured to suffering? How do we use our collective capacity for good, our privileges, our inherent love and goodness, to challenge violence, whether domestic, individualised or collective, and corruption? How do we use our innovation, creativity, and even our essay-writing skills, to highlight the problems of our day? How do we demonstrate the values of Herschel? Let me briefly suggest a few places we might start.
Let us commit to addressing the cancer of domestic abuse within our society, helping those who suffer to overcome the paralysis induced by shame and often by their continued love for the perpetrator, and to act to protect themselves.
Let us continue to express our outrage at the holding hostage of the Chibok girls, and let's commit to remove the conditions in our country and beyond which are conducive to the growth of extremism. If we do business with Nigeria or other countries in Africa, let us not collude with the misallocation of resources in those countries.
In South Africa, let us acknowledge that our failure to end the desperate conditions in which many of our people live can create the conditions for an explosion, and let us join efforts started by those including Prof George Ellis and former mayor Gordon Oliver to face up to the crisis. The Department of Human Settlements reported last year that we still have a backlog of about 2.1-million houses. Even if people have houses, about 2.5 million of them don't have proper toilets. My daughter gets embarrassed when I call myself the "toilet archbishop", but I am compelled to campaign on this issue: a report from the Water Research Commission says only one in three households in Khayelitsha have yard and in-house water and sanitation facilities. About seven in 10 depend largely on communal taps or "stand pipes" for water and have inadequate or no access to sanitation. In parts of the Free State, the Northern Cape and even here in the Western Cape, many people still have to use buckets to remove human waste from their homes.
Let us also join Thuli Madonsela in fighting corruption, rigorously evaluating the energy deal with Russia lest we slap our children and grandchildren with huge bills to pay in their adulthood.
Let us also work for ecological justice, starting with recycling our domestic waste at home.
Let me end on a note of celebration of you and your achievements, and on a note of challenge very specific to Herschel. We have a wonderful school. The quality of your education is attested to by tonight's prizes and your impressive history of outstanding matric results. On behalf of the Diocese and my own behalf, congratulations!
But, as Jesus says in St. Luke's Gospel: "From everyone to whom much has been given, much will be required." At the Western Province Prep School's Centenary Celebration earlier this year, I challenged them to adopt an equity policy and to establish bursaries to attract more black students and more black teachers. Tonight I want to take this opportunity to make the same call on you.
You are a first-class, Christian, value-based school of excellence. I appeal to you to extend the fine work you already do so that it reaches even further into our communities, giving the opportunities we enjoy to even more students, whether from privileged backgrounds or not. Join our church and our Anglican Board of Education in addressing South Africa's educational challenges. Join us in repudiating cynicism, fear and the feeling of being overwhelmed by our country's problems, and help us in our determination to bring about change.
I ask of you, to go into your resources, dig deep into these, and establish an endowment for recruiting more black teachers and bursaries for more black learners. Mr West and Council, that is my plea and more specific a challenge to the school community
Thank you, congratulations again, and God bless you!
+Thabo Makgoba
Good evening, girls! Good evening, parents! And good evening to the whole school community: girls, parents, teachers, headmaster, other members of staff, and members of Council. Thank you Mr West and Council for inviting me to speak tonight, it is an honour indeed.
It's such a joy to be here again for a formal school occasion. Congratulations to you all for your achievements in the past year, individually and collectively: to the prize-winners of course, to the soon-to-be matriculants whose time here is coming to an end, but also to every single one of you. For each one of you is a winner, because each one of you is equally part of this community of achievement, of this body that is Herschel School. And you remember how St. Paul describes a body in his First Letter to the Corinthians? He says "the body does not consist of one member but of many" and that every single member belongs to the body, and that, to quote him again, “God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose.”
In similar vein, your achievements are not only yours' but they are the achievements of everyone who has supported you over the past year. So, in recognition of that, why don't you the girls, applaud them? First, let's applaud your teachers and the staff and governing body of the school who support them. And now, let's applaud your parents, your grandparents, other members of your family and the cloud of witnesses – your great-grandparents and ancestors – who are looking down on us today!
In the past year, we have seen women and girls in the news in a range of ways that I can't remember seeing before. We have seen stories of pain and despair which are testimony to the ways in which our society continues to disrespect and abuse women, but we have also seen stories of strength and moral courage in which they have demonstrated their resilience and their capacity to triumph over adversity. Let's look at just three examples.
The first is the story of Reeva Steenkamp and our response to her killing. Now I know that Judge Masipa's finding means that we cannot say with a certainty that is beyond reasonable doubt that Reeva's death was a manifestation of how women are abused in South Africa. We need to respect the finding of an experienced judge, who listened to all the evidence, that Oscar Pistorius's explanation of what happened that night might reasonably possibly have been true. But at the very least, we can say that the case, and the arguments around what happened, have put the issue of domestic abuse front and centre on the country's agenda. And that is a good thing, because if you speak to clergy in our communities – who by the nature of our ministry are privileged to hear people's confidences – they will tell you that domestic abuse, and especially the abuse of women and children by men, is one of the greatest of the hidden evils of our society, and that it happens in both poor and wealthy communities.
The second example is the abduction, six months ago last night, of more than 200 girls from the town of Chibok in north-eastern Nigeria by members of the Boko Haram group. That event may seem far removed from South Africa, and in many ways it is, but the growth of movements of extremist thugs – I won't dignify them by calling them religious because the ideas they propagate are a perversion of religion.... the phenomenon of extremist thuggery is something that as global citizens we must oppose everywhere. And the phenomenon is not confined to Nigeria or West Africa; it is emerging among disparate, uncoordinated groups in East Africa, North Africa and the Middle East as well, and it poses a challenge which we dare not underestimate.
Those of you who are history students will know that this year marks the centenary of the outbreak of World War One. Margaret MacMillan, a Canadian who is the warden of St Antony’s College, Oxford, says that one of the reasons we stumbled into that war, and that so many people died in it, was that our forebears miscalculated the significance of changes in the nature of warfare. Applying those lessons to our situation today, she gives us this sobering warning:
“A comparable mistake in our own time is the assumption that because of our advanced technology, we can deliver quick, focused and overpowering military actions… drones and cruise missiles… carpet bombing and armoured divisions – resulting in conflicts that will be short and limited in their impact, and victories that will be decisive.”
But she notes that far from seeing easy victories, we are seeing wars with no clear outcomes involving what she calls “a shifting coalition of local warlords, religious warriors and other interested parties” across countries and continents.
The third example to which I want to refer tonight is – you will be thankful to hear – an inspiring one and that is the story of Thuli Madonsela. Isn't it wonderful to listen to her on television laying down the law, not loudly and bombastically as men often do, but in soft, gentle tones? They say that President Theodore Roosevelt of America, a man's man if ever there was one, used to say that a leader should "speak softly and carry a big stick," and even our beloved Madiba was won’t to instinctively respond to certain situations by reaching for his big stick. But I think we can coin a new phrase about Thuli and say: "She speaks softly and carries the Constitution."
It has struck me recently that one of the major obstacles to solving our problems in South Africa is that we have become a “me” society instead of a “we” society. We ask too often, what are “my” needs and aspirations, not what are “our” needs and aspirations. For South Africa to flourish, we need to move from “me” to “we”, asking not what I can do, but what we can do, together, to meet not my needs, but our needs, and to work for the common good.
How do we, then, as the body of Herschel, demonstrate our refusal to succumb to fear or to become inured to suffering? How do we use our collective capacity for good, our privileges, our inherent love and goodness, to challenge violence, whether domestic, individualised or collective, and corruption? How do we use our innovation, creativity, and even our essay-writing skills, to highlight the problems of our day? How do we demonstrate the values of Herschel? Let me briefly suggest a few places we might start.
Let us commit to addressing the cancer of domestic abuse within our society, helping those who suffer to overcome the paralysis induced by shame and often by their continued love for the perpetrator, and to act to protect themselves.
Let us continue to express our outrage at the holding hostage of the Chibok girls, and let's commit to remove the conditions in our country and beyond which are conducive to the growth of extremism. If we do business with Nigeria or other countries in Africa, let us not collude with the misallocation of resources in those countries.
In South Africa, let us acknowledge that our failure to end the desperate conditions in which many of our people live can create the conditions for an explosion, and let us join efforts started by those including Prof George Ellis and former mayor Gordon Oliver to face up to the crisis. The Department of Human Settlements reported last year that we still have a backlog of about 2.1-million houses. Even if people have houses, about 2.5 million of them don't have proper toilets. My daughter gets embarrassed when I call myself the "toilet archbishop", but I am compelled to campaign on this issue: a report from the Water Research Commission says only one in three households in Khayelitsha have yard and in-house water and sanitation facilities. About seven in 10 depend largely on communal taps or "stand pipes" for water and have inadequate or no access to sanitation. In parts of the Free State, the Northern Cape and even here in the Western Cape, many people still have to use buckets to remove human waste from their homes.
Let us also join Thuli Madonsela in fighting corruption, rigorously evaluating the energy deal with Russia lest we slap our children and grandchildren with huge bills to pay in their adulthood.
Let us also work for ecological justice, starting with recycling our domestic waste at home.
Let me end on a note of celebration of you and your achievements, and on a note of challenge very specific to Herschel. We have a wonderful school. The quality of your education is attested to by tonight's prizes and your impressive history of outstanding matric results. On behalf of the Diocese and my own behalf, congratulations!
But, as Jesus says in St. Luke's Gospel: "From everyone to whom much has been given, much will be required." At the Western Province Prep School's Centenary Celebration earlier this year, I challenged them to adopt an equity policy and to establish bursaries to attract more black students and more black teachers. Tonight I want to take this opportunity to make the same call on you.
You are a first-class, Christian, value-based school of excellence. I appeal to you to extend the fine work you already do so that it reaches even further into our communities, giving the opportunities we enjoy to even more students, whether from privileged backgrounds or not. Join our church and our Anglican Board of Education in addressing South Africa's educational challenges. Join us in repudiating cynicism, fear and the feeling of being overwhelmed by our country's problems, and help us in our determination to bring about change.
I ask of you, to go into your resources, dig deep into these, and establish an endowment for recruiting more black teachers and bursaries for more black learners. Mr West and Council, that is my plea and more specific a challenge to the school community
Thank you, congratulations again, and God bless you!
+Thabo Makgoba
Wednesday, 15 January 2014
Weaving the Spiritual Dimension Into the Tapestry of a School
Homily for the Licensing of Sue Taylor as Chaplain to Herschel Girls' School on January 15, 2014:
Reading: 1 Samuel 3:1-10
I greet you all in the name of God who calls, informs and transforms us. Amen.
If I was to say, like young Samuel, that I am hearing voices, you would all say, "Archbishop, you need to see a psychiatrist or psychologist." But I want to assert to you that God still speaks to us today.
Thank you, Mr West and your staff as well as Professor Watson, the Chairperson of Council, for the invitation to preside at the licensing of Sue as Chaplain to this prestigious school. Thank you very much Mr West for the kind words of welcome, more importantly for inviting us and the school to pause and reflect as well as to pray for the soul of Nelson Mandela.
Let me also start by congratulating the school and you all for your 2013 matric pass rate. I have never been so proud to be associated with Herschel and to be a parent at the school – you have been named as number one in the Western Cape for matric passes in 2013. It is indeed a "wow" moment, and I am going to ask you to pause and applaud this great achievement. I am sure that Madiba, who was your neighbour in Bishopscourt after retirement as President, is smiling down at you for this achievement, for he believed, and I paraphrase him, that education is the key to advancement and human flourishing.
Now turning to you, Sue, as this is your special occasion and I want to give you padkos, that is food for your journey. You firstly join this diocese, the Diocese of Cape Town, as a priest in the church of God and then as Chaplain of this prestigious Anglican school. Congratulations on your appointment and thanks to those who interviewed and selected you for this role. I know that as a priest and teacher you will serve the school well.
You join a team of hard-working girls, industrious and able staff members, and a visionary and practical head of school and council members.
In sum, as in the story that we read from the Bible (1 Samuel 3: 1-10), there are and will be many voices and demands on you – intellectual, emotional, physical, social – and you will need boldly to weave into this tapestry the spiritual voice. In this way, you will truly form an outstanding Herschelian girl, one who like young Samuel, at the feet of his mentor/teacher or chaplain, and even parent, would boldly say, “Speak, Lord, your servant is listening.”
Sue, your task is both challenging and a great joy. You have what I call a double quandary, that of being Samuel, the servant, who says, "Speak Lord, I am listening," but at the same time, being Eli, who is called to help the girls and the school to discern the voice of God in our midst and in our time.
Like Eli, you are to give the girls and staff, as well as parents, the confidence to listen and to hear God’s voice, but equally help us to find and exercise our own voice. In the midst of competing volleys of dogmatic utterances, you are called to create space, especially for the girls and this place to discern all that is Godly and noble and truthful. You are to help the school, which may drown in a sea of privilege, to discern the word of God, yearning and crying in a sea of poverty where many South African youngsters are learning in mud schools and may possibly be destined for failure and hopelessness.
This discernment has to lead to action. Sue, welcome to this place and I pray that you will grab that voice, that very thin yet mysterious thread and weave into the tapestry of what is called Herschel, the spiritual dimension.
In other words, I pray that you will grab God by the scruff of the neck, take God and bring God here, and then take the school by the scruff of its neck to where God needs it to be, in such a time as ours, in the world.
As an Anglican priest in the church of God, a church whose declared Vision is to be Anchored in the love of Christ, Committed to God’s Mission, and Transformed by the Holy Spirit, you are to help the girls, and indeed the whole Herschel community, to be anchored in all that is loving and caring, to be committed to the pursuit of Godly knowledge in the world and to be critical in doing so, and to be transformed by God’s love and voice in God’s world.
With this brief homily and comments, welcome Sue, as we license you as Chaplain to the school.
Amen
+Thabo Cape Town
Photo: The Revd Sue Taylor with the Archbishop. (Herschel Facebook page)
Reading: 1 Samuel 3:1-10
I greet you all in the name of God who calls, informs and transforms us. Amen.
If I was to say, like young Samuel, that I am hearing voices, you would all say, "Archbishop, you need to see a psychiatrist or psychologist." But I want to assert to you that God still speaks to us today.
Thank you, Mr West and your staff as well as Professor Watson, the Chairperson of Council, for the invitation to preside at the licensing of Sue as Chaplain to this prestigious school. Thank you very much Mr West for the kind words of welcome, more importantly for inviting us and the school to pause and reflect as well as to pray for the soul of Nelson Mandela.
Let me also start by congratulating the school and you all for your 2013 matric pass rate. I have never been so proud to be associated with Herschel and to be a parent at the school – you have been named as number one in the Western Cape for matric passes in 2013. It is indeed a "wow" moment, and I am going to ask you to pause and applaud this great achievement. I am sure that Madiba, who was your neighbour in Bishopscourt after retirement as President, is smiling down at you for this achievement, for he believed, and I paraphrase him, that education is the key to advancement and human flourishing.
You join a team of hard-working girls, industrious and able staff members, and a visionary and practical head of school and council members.
In sum, as in the story that we read from the Bible (1 Samuel 3: 1-10), there are and will be many voices and demands on you – intellectual, emotional, physical, social – and you will need boldly to weave into this tapestry the spiritual voice. In this way, you will truly form an outstanding Herschelian girl, one who like young Samuel, at the feet of his mentor/teacher or chaplain, and even parent, would boldly say, “Speak, Lord, your servant is listening.”
Sue, your task is both challenging and a great joy. You have what I call a double quandary, that of being Samuel, the servant, who says, "Speak Lord, I am listening," but at the same time, being Eli, who is called to help the girls and the school to discern the voice of God in our midst and in our time.
Like Eli, you are to give the girls and staff, as well as parents, the confidence to listen and to hear God’s voice, but equally help us to find and exercise our own voice. In the midst of competing volleys of dogmatic utterances, you are called to create space, especially for the girls and this place to discern all that is Godly and noble and truthful. You are to help the school, which may drown in a sea of privilege, to discern the word of God, yearning and crying in a sea of poverty where many South African youngsters are learning in mud schools and may possibly be destined for failure and hopelessness.
This discernment has to lead to action. Sue, welcome to this place and I pray that you will grab that voice, that very thin yet mysterious thread and weave into the tapestry of what is called Herschel, the spiritual dimension.
In other words, I pray that you will grab God by the scruff of the neck, take God and bring God here, and then take the school by the scruff of its neck to where God needs it to be, in such a time as ours, in the world.
As an Anglican priest in the church of God, a church whose declared Vision is to be Anchored in the love of Christ, Committed to God’s Mission, and Transformed by the Holy Spirit, you are to help the girls, and indeed the whole Herschel community, to be anchored in all that is loving and caring, to be committed to the pursuit of Godly knowledge in the world and to be critical in doing so, and to be transformed by God’s love and voice in God’s world.
With this brief homily and comments, welcome Sue, as we license you as Chaplain to the school.
Amen
+Thabo Cape Town
Photo: The Revd Sue Taylor with the Archbishop. (Herschel Facebook page)
Tuesday, 22 January 2013
New Principal at Bishops, New Head at Herschel
This is an edited version of the sermon preached at the Installation of Mr Guy Pearson as the Principal of Diocesan College, 'Bishops', on 16 January 2013. A similar sermon was preached on 21 January 2013, at the Installation of Mr Stuart West as Head of Herschel Girls' School (recently named the top school in the Western Cape - Congratulations, Herschel!)
1 Kings 3:5-10, Matthew 13:44-52
May I speak in the name of God of all wisdom, who gives us both old and new treasures from his store.
Let me repeat what a great delight it to be installing Mr Guy Pearson as the new Principal of Bishops. Guy, we offer you hearty congratulations on this appointment! Though the weather in Cape Town may not be quite as hot as in Kwa-ZuluNatal at this time of year, be assured that our welcome to you and Marée could not be warmer!
I also want to congratulate Diocesan College on such an excellent choice! We know you come with extensive experience in educational excellence; with business skills; and with a deep, mature, Christian faith. And we look forward to the developing synergy between all that you are and that you bring to us, and our own traditions of pursuing excellence, promoting innovative and entrepreneurial instincts, and, of course, grounding every aspect of life upon the firm foundation-stone that is Jesus Christ.
The task of the school is the development of the boy child – intellectually, socially, spiritually. I know you share our vision, and will work for it: including through leading our gifted and more than able staff team; and through challenging and encouraging parents and guardians in playing their part in the raising of young men. Together, our desire is that each Bishops boy may grow into a contributing member of society: an effective citizen of the world, who can be part of life’s solutions at every level, personal and professional.
This is our shared hope, our shared prayer.
It is very much like the prayer of King Solomon, which we heard in our first reading. Here was a young man, preparing to take on great responsibilities in a changing world. His time was not the time of his father, King David. He inherited a nation at peace, after much war and turbulence. His task was consolidating a divided people and building a nation – rooted in the faith of God and all that this meant: a nation of justice and moral standards; of peace and economic prosperity.
I am sure you see the parallels with the new generation of ‘free-borns’, growing up and coming to adulthood in democratic South Africa.
Solomon knew it was a huge task – and he knew what he needed most: God’s gift of wisdom. The Bible tells us that God’s wisdom, holy wisdom, is not about being brainy. It is far more profound. It is about understanding how the world works and what makes people tick. It is about seeing under the surface of a situation, grasping what needs to be done, and knowing how to achieve it.
The Bible says such wisdom is more valuable than gold or precious jewels – and more to be desired than riches or honour, prosperity or success, fame or fortune! God’s wisdom is at the heart of the ‘buried treasure’ of God’s kingdom, the ‘pearl of great price’ of which Jesus spoke in our second reading. It is worth devoting our lives to.
Godly wisdom comes in as many different forms as there are people – as varied as the fish in the net of Jesus’ parable. For some, it may indeed mean becoming an expert in a particular field, pioneering new knowledge and its constructive use. Or it may come in very practical ways; or in organisational aptitudes; or in leadership abilities; or people skills.
Not everyone can be a straight-A student – but God has a gift of wisdom for each of us to grow in. Every one of you – and I include parents, staff, all of us, at any time – every one of us can pray the same prayer as Solomon, and know that God delights to give us whatever wisdom we need, for the challenges and tasks that come our way in life. God’s wisdom is for everyone – and it is also to be used for everyone, for the good of others, for the well-being of the whole of society – as, indeed, Solomon himself prayed.
Bishops shares this wider perspective. Boys are not here to pursue narrow goals of self-advancement, but to learn to make a positive difference in the world around. This begins at school – through the vision in the Bishops Partnership, through the Outreach programmes and Special Projects, through networks with other Anglican schools, and in many other ways.
As I’m sure you know, spreading educational opportunity and excellence to all South Africans is very close to my heart – and this is why I have launched the Archbishop’s Education Initiative; and am promoting the Vuleka School network, which, I am delighted and honoured to say, is now building a new ‘Archbishop Thabo Boys’ School’ in Johannesburg.
Mr Pearson, we are delighted that you are becoming part of Bishops’ life. Together we can build on what we each bring, of tradition and experience. Together, by God’s grace, we can also create new initiatives.
In other words, to quote our second reading again, together we can discover and use the old and the new treasures which God has in his storeroom for us.
So may he bless us all, in the new chapter that lies before us. Amen
1 Kings 3:5-10, Matthew 13:44-52
May I speak in the name of God of all wisdom, who gives us both old and new treasures from his store.
Let me repeat what a great delight it to be installing Mr Guy Pearson as the new Principal of Bishops. Guy, we offer you hearty congratulations on this appointment! Though the weather in Cape Town may not be quite as hot as in Kwa-ZuluNatal at this time of year, be assured that our welcome to you and Marée could not be warmer!
I also want to congratulate Diocesan College on such an excellent choice! We know you come with extensive experience in educational excellence; with business skills; and with a deep, mature, Christian faith. And we look forward to the developing synergy between all that you are and that you bring to us, and our own traditions of pursuing excellence, promoting innovative and entrepreneurial instincts, and, of course, grounding every aspect of life upon the firm foundation-stone that is Jesus Christ.
The task of the school is the development of the boy child – intellectually, socially, spiritually. I know you share our vision, and will work for it: including through leading our gifted and more than able staff team; and through challenging and encouraging parents and guardians in playing their part in the raising of young men. Together, our desire is that each Bishops boy may grow into a contributing member of society: an effective citizen of the world, who can be part of life’s solutions at every level, personal and professional.
This is our shared hope, our shared prayer.
It is very much like the prayer of King Solomon, which we heard in our first reading. Here was a young man, preparing to take on great responsibilities in a changing world. His time was not the time of his father, King David. He inherited a nation at peace, after much war and turbulence. His task was consolidating a divided people and building a nation – rooted in the faith of God and all that this meant: a nation of justice and moral standards; of peace and economic prosperity.
I am sure you see the parallels with the new generation of ‘free-borns’, growing up and coming to adulthood in democratic South Africa.
Solomon knew it was a huge task – and he knew what he needed most: God’s gift of wisdom. The Bible tells us that God’s wisdom, holy wisdom, is not about being brainy. It is far more profound. It is about understanding how the world works and what makes people tick. It is about seeing under the surface of a situation, grasping what needs to be done, and knowing how to achieve it.
The Bible says such wisdom is more valuable than gold or precious jewels – and more to be desired than riches or honour, prosperity or success, fame or fortune! God’s wisdom is at the heart of the ‘buried treasure’ of God’s kingdom, the ‘pearl of great price’ of which Jesus spoke in our second reading. It is worth devoting our lives to.
Godly wisdom comes in as many different forms as there are people – as varied as the fish in the net of Jesus’ parable. For some, it may indeed mean becoming an expert in a particular field, pioneering new knowledge and its constructive use. Or it may come in very practical ways; or in organisational aptitudes; or in leadership abilities; or people skills.
Not everyone can be a straight-A student – but God has a gift of wisdom for each of us to grow in. Every one of you – and I include parents, staff, all of us, at any time – every one of us can pray the same prayer as Solomon, and know that God delights to give us whatever wisdom we need, for the challenges and tasks that come our way in life. God’s wisdom is for everyone – and it is also to be used for everyone, for the good of others, for the well-being of the whole of society – as, indeed, Solomon himself prayed.
Bishops shares this wider perspective. Boys are not here to pursue narrow goals of self-advancement, but to learn to make a positive difference in the world around. This begins at school – through the vision in the Bishops Partnership, through the Outreach programmes and Special Projects, through networks with other Anglican schools, and in many other ways.
As I’m sure you know, spreading educational opportunity and excellence to all South Africans is very close to my heart – and this is why I have launched the Archbishop’s Education Initiative; and am promoting the Vuleka School network, which, I am delighted and honoured to say, is now building a new ‘Archbishop Thabo Boys’ School’ in Johannesburg.
Mr Pearson, we are delighted that you are becoming part of Bishops’ life. Together we can build on what we each bring, of tradition and experience. Together, by God’s grace, we can also create new initiatives.
In other words, to quote our second reading again, together we can discover and use the old and the new treasures which God has in his storeroom for us.
So may he bless us all, in the new chapter that lies before us. Amen
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