Welcome to Term 3!

In the latter years of his life, my father put together a small book detailing his experiences growing up near Liverpool in the 1930s and 40s. His memoirs included stories of exploring the countryside, playing conkers with acorns, sailing a homemade model yacht in water-filled bomb craters, going for long walks in the British countryside to nearby towns on Sundays, building cubbies at the disused quarry or walking to watch a matinee on the weekend.

Perhaps it is an inherent part of being human - this desire to capture something of our lived experience and pass it on but my dad felt something more: a desire to preserve, somehow, the idea of how children used to play and his fears that technology may erode that.

Author Kurt Vonnegut tells his wife he's going out to buy an envelope:

"Oh, she says, well, you're not a poor man. You know, why don't you go online and buy a hundred envelopes and put them in the closet? And so I pretend not to hear her. And go out to get an envelope because I'm going to have an unbelievably good time in the process of buying one envelope.

I meet a lot of people. And see some cute babies. And a fire engine goes by. And I give them the thumbs up. And I'll ask a woman what kind of dog that is. And, and I don't know….”

We need to be wary, in the words of Sam Burrows, of "algorithmically directed human development" — a world where convenience quietly replaces the chaotic richness of interaction

So, it is good to be back at school. Whilst the school yard may be an imperfect training ground, schools remain, at their heart, relational enterprises. They are places not only of learning but are full of unpredictability, spontaneity and human connection. 

A place where students (and teachers) road-test their faith and, hopefully, a place where we pass on to young people the value of human interaction and how to be Christ like in that.

Welcome to Term 3!