Be Kind, Be safe, Be respectful, Be responsible, Be resilient, Be ready

Dear Parents and carers,

PORTABLE ARRIVING:- The portable building will be arriving in two deliveries, the first in the afternoon of Wednesday 29th May, and the last part of the building on Friday 31st May in the morning. There will be a semitrailer and a crane in the car park so at these times so you may need to PARK ELSEWHERE PLEASE. (You can park at the church or surrounding streets). We will know more about the timing of the delivery of the building closer to the day. Please be patient. For a little inconvenience, we will have added space for specialist classes, playgroups, meetings, etc.

Courage is a much-admired characteristic.

There is the story of a Zen priest who confronted his local warlord. When the villagers heard that the warlord was heading their way, they fled to the hills – except for one priest. When the warlord saw the priest standing there when all the others had fled, he drew his sword and said, “Do you know who I am? I am he who can run you through and never bat an eye!” The Zen priest replied, “Do you know who I am? I am he who can be run through with your sword and never bat an eye!” No doubt, we all wish we had that kind of courageous assurance to face up to the threats and fears in our own lives.

So when might we need to display courage in our lives or encourage our children to do so in theirs?

Perhaps, when we are challenged:

to truly take ownership of our life and live it fully; to push ourselves beyond the limits of what is comfortable and familiar;
to keep connected to what inspires us in life; to pursue our dreams;
to avoid social conformity; to be who we truly are, a fully authentic me;
to deal positively with setbacks and failures; to persevere with determination;
to be able to say “no” when we need to, even at the cost of personal discomfort.

Christians have Jesus as our model of courage for he did all of the above. Jesus had the courage to be himself and to trust God in every circumstance of his life, even when he was rejected by the religious leaders who claimed to have a greater understanding of God. He stepped outside the bounds of his society’s expectations and went to help lepers, demon-possessed people, the lame, and the blind. He called a tax collector to be an Apostle, he freely associated with women some of whom were prostitutes and social outcasts. Jesus had the courage to suffer for God’s values, the courage to die for God’s will, the courage to trust God to raise him from the dead.

As Christians, we are called to give courageous witness to Christian values in the way we live our personal lives, how we interact with other people, and how we can move out of the “comfortable and familiar” and do some “Jesus things” in our own community.

Keep smiling

Cathy

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