From the Chaplain

Yesterday, we had a chapel service for the Middle School students. Seeing as they will not have another chapel this term until the Whole School Christmas Service, we had an early Christmas one about ‘gifts’. They first learned about some of the traditional Christmas gifts that people around the world give each other:

Iceland – still give books every year as gifts because of World War II when paper was the only thing that was not rationed
Spain – Yule logs that are filled with nuts, dried fruits and lollies. The children then beat them with a stick so the treats fall out - a wooden piñata.
China – wrapped up apples relating to good fortune and luck as they used to be a luxury item
Egypt- wrap gifts in two layers of material, but mostly now just two layers of paper. This dates back to when peasants would give gifts to the Pharaoh with plain material on the inside and fancy material on the outside.

Austin in Year Nine gave a reflection and said how the best gift that he gets at Christmas is spending time with his large, extended family. He does not remember the physical gifts, but just the great time he has with his family. Chelsea in Year Nine also gave a reflection, saying how she likes the feeling of doing something nice for someone, and prefers to give gifts rather than receive gifts because she loves seeing the looks on people's faces when they get something they like.

I spoke about why gifts are given at Christmas in the first place. We had two main reasons:

Because the Three Wise Men (or Magi) first bought gifts to Jesus and
Jesus was the first gift given to us at Christmas, to later die on the cross to save us from our sins. Jesus is the Christmas gift of hope, peace, love and life.

We also had two Bible readings:

James 1:17 - Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.
2 Corinthians 9:15 - Thank God for his Son—his Gift too wonderful for words.

Mrs Naomi Cooper | Chaplain