Show us your steadfast love, O LORD,
and grant us your salvation.
Let me hear what God the LORD will speak,
for he will speak peace to his people,
to his faithful, to those who turn to him in their hearts.
Surely his salvation is at hand for those who fear him,
that his glory may dwell in our land.
Steadfast love and faithfulness will meet;
righteousness and peace will kiss each other.
Faithfulness will spring up from the ground,
and righteousness will look down from the sky.
The LORD will give what is good,
and our land will yield its increase.
Righteousness will go before him,
and will make a path for his steps.

- Psalm 85:7-13 (NRSV)

A wise priest once said that, in relation to God, a word in our current usage that is closer to the intention of the word “fear” in its original language, is “awe” – to be in awe of God.

At this, the outset of the 2021 school year, let us look to God’s Word for guidance for this year. The phrases that stand out for me, are “let me hear what God the Lord will speak, for he will speak peace”, and “the Lord will give what is good”. Whilst the year does not begin according to our plans, and Covid-19 is very much still a defining part of our reality, these words speak to me of trusting in God that within our present reality, there is and will be peace, and good, that is of the Lord. It is for us to live this year with the single-minded intention of hearing when the Lord speaks peace and gives good – albeit they are not to be found in the absence of Covid-19 and its impact on society. Some of that seeking must mean being the vessels through which God speaks peace, and gives what is good.

May 2021 be a blessed one for you and your families, and for our community as St Mary’s School

Revd Claudia Coustas
Chaplain