It is with mixed emotions that we start this new term. Certainly, there is the joy and the energy and excitement that comes with having the girls and the staff back for the third term. Also, there is sorrow, grief, and anger at the xenophobic violence and ongoing gender-based violence that has come to a head over the past couple of weeks. Deanne King’s letter to our community refers in this regard, and can be found on the school app, as can Bishop Steve Moreo’s pastoral letter to the Anglican Diocese of Johannesburg. Archbishop Thabo Makgoba’s call for action on the part of the government, in his sermons over the weekend, is one which we echo.

Our country needs our prayers. Below is our Gospel reading from our staff Eucharist yesterday:

On another sabbath [Jesus] entered the synagogue and taught, and there was a man there whose right hand was withered. The scribes and the Pharisees watched him to see whether he would cure on the sabbath, so that they might find an accusation against him. Even though he knew what they were thinking, he said to the man who had the withered hand, “Come and stand here.” He got up and stood there. Then Jesus said to them, “I ask you, is it lawful to do good or to do harm on the sabbath, to save life or to destroy it?” After looking around at all of them, he said to him, “Stretch out your hand.” He did so, and his hand was restored. But they were filled with fury and discussed with one another what they might do to Jesus.
– Luke 6:6-11 (NRSV)

The scribes and the Pharisees looked at the man as “other”, not with empathy or compassion, but as a pawn in condemning Christ. Secondly, there is no acknowledgement of Christ as the healer, or of the scribes’ and Pharisees’ own need for healing – a need each of us has.

Our country at this time is the man with the withered hand – crying out for healing. We all, created in God’s image and equal and loved in God’s sight, are a part of this country. It is also for each of us to look to Christ the healer, and to acknowledge our own need for healing: of our perceptions of ourselves and of others; of our own actions and inactions. Let us pray for a realised vision of reconciliation in our land.

Revd Claudia Coustas

Chaplin