Community Spirit, Kindness and a Goat's Head

Ours is a large school. Our population has grown bigger for a large majority of our fifty years of existence. In 2025, our Jubilee Year, we planned for a number of events and activities where there would be a strong emphasis on the things that build community.

A cursory glance at wellbeing resources and community group websites will tell you that members of a community feel connected and part of it when some or all the following elements are part of the dynamics of the community:

1. A sense of belonging
2. Mutual support
3. Active participation
4. Open communication
5. Shared goals
6. Respect and inclusivity
7. Positive social interactions
8. Community projects

It is pretty clear as you work you way down this list that at the heart of each of these points are healthy and other-focused relationships. Relationships that are caring, loving, thoughtful, intentional, sacrificial, energetic, and mindful. People characterised by selflessness, humility, generosity, love, compassion and hopefulness.

Seeing the possibility for all of us as a community, is a responsibility we all share. 

What separates us is that we are a community that seeks to live out the two greatest commandments – a response by Jesus to a trick question by the Pharisees (a group known for ruining healthy community):

Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’”  (NIV)

We are Jesus followers; we love God and seek to do His will. And in this is a reason for wanting healthy, God-focused, God-honouring community life. The spirit of our community could be (indeed, it should be) intrinsically linked to our promptings of the Holy Spirit.  

Can we seek to be the people I described above? Can we have the relationships I described above? Yes, absolutely! In our service of God, as it expresses itself in our actions towards one another, in the power of the Spirit – of course it can! In our own strength, not so much.

Our “50 Acts of Kindness” initiative is a gateway activity into building community; encouraging belonging, supporting one another, ensuring participation, working out ways to communicate, show respect, clarify goals, model positivity, all in the name of a community project where the culture of “you can never be too kind” is built up.

Sometimes, with the best of intentions, we miss the mark; we misread the situation. In those moments, grace and favour extended go a long way to mending and building a bridge back to joyful experiences. Eight years ago, I was in Central North Asia, in a town (of population 50) close to the border between two of the “-istan” republics, working with underground (in secret) missionaries.  

The towns folk – most of them Muslim – put on a banquet for me, as a show of appreciation for my coming to spend time with them (no one from Australia had ever been to their town, I was told by their oldest citizen). As the honoured guest, I would be honoured during the banquet. My interpreter told me to go with the flow, that each town had their own quirky traditions.

They slaughtered a goat for the banquet. And adorned the table with all their local delicacy dishes. As the honoured guest, I received the finest cut of meat. Actually, they presented it to me on a plate. 

It was the entire goat’s head. They were so excited, and beautifully kind to me. What was I to do? This was their finest hospitality, extended with love and affection after three days together. I smiled, and dug in. While it was not the greatest culinary delight of my life, the joy it brought to my hosts was worth every chew of gristle, the squeamishness I felt as I swallowed an eyeball, and the chatter and laughter that ensued.

Reach out to your friend in our community. Do something for them. Invite them to a school event you are excited about (there are plenty ahead over the next six months), get together at something your class coordinator is organising. 

See how you can get involved in the Friends of Donvale’s activities – as our parent group, they support over 40 different school activities across the calendar year. Show hospitality.  Be intentional, reach out to the person on the edge, the one that is not feeling included. These actions build us all up.

Take care – of relationships, of each other, of the narrative we build. This is how we build community. Relationships that involve memorable hospitable acts – these are the stories we will tell for years ahead, even if at first it was a little awkward and it took time to warm up.  

Persevere. Stick at it. We reap the benefit of continuing to give it a go.

Shalom.