Message from the Chaplain

 Ordinary Person, Extraordinary Courage

She was the youngest of four children; her father was a mathematician and her mother worked at the University of Tasmania.  Her school life was pretty normal: she enjoyed sports, playing basketball and hockey, and also riding her horse in competitions.  She went on to study advertising in college and worked for various advertising agencies locally and overseas.  While that all sounds like a reasonably comfortable existence, it’s not a particularly remarkable or extraordinary life – and it wasn’t, until this girl met a young man at the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games who happened to be the Crown Prince of Denmark.  So it happened that the ordinary Mary Elizabeth Donaldson became ‘Mary, Crown Princess of Denmark, Countess of Monpezat’ twenty years ago; and as of last month, after her mother-in-law Margrethe II relinquished the throne after 52 years, this ordinary Australian girl is now ruling the country with her husband King Frederik X, as Queen Mary of Denmark…

She was an only child, orphaned at a young age, and brought up by her older cousin.  What’s more, her family had been forcibly removed from their own country, and she was now effectively living as a refugee in a foreign land, with most of those around her unaware of her true origins.  All she had going for her, it seemed, were her looks – and it was that beauty that was the trigger for herordinary life being altered completely.  For the ruler of the land was on the lookout for a wife, and (along with many others) this girl was picked as a possible candidate.  Sure enough, in a real-life Cinderella story, she was chosen; and this unremarkable Jewish girl, Esther, became Queen of the Persian Empire…

…but then the two stories diverge.  For while Queen Mary enjoys a comfortable life and popularity, both here and in Denmark; Queen Esther, as one of God’s Old Testament people in exile, faced the opposite in her life and her country, including a plot to annihilate her people, including herself.  Yet Queen Esther courageously used the position God had given her to secure the king’s mercy, which meant the safety and salvation of her people.  

Esther’s story, though, isn’t just an example of an ordinary person acting with extraordinary courage; this is one of many stories in the Bible that point us to how God’s plans in history focus on an apparently ordinary Person whom God uses as a saviour – the Saviour…

CALROSSY CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP (CCF) MEETING THIS FRIDAY!

23rd February – 9.00-9.30am – 130 Brisbane Street

You’re very welcome to come and join in the next meeting of the Calrossy Christian Fellowship (CCF) - a group of parents and friends connected with Calrossy who gather regularly to pray for our School community, people and events!

All are welcome

We meet 9:00 - 9:30am, at 130 Brisbane Street. Arrive any time from 8.30am.

0-5’s are welcome too!

Please bring along any others you know who may like to join us in praying for the Calrossy community.

CCF Contact: Mrs Jane Harris (host is Mrs Julie Smith)