Message from the Chaplain

Be Of Good Courage!

‘To boldly go where no man has gone before…’  For many of us, those words might not mean much at all. But if you’re a ‘Trekkie’ (that is, a devotee of the science fiction franchise Star Trek) they’re instantly recognisable!  This catchcry was the mission (or part of it) of the starship Enterprise and its crew as they explored the far reaches of space in movies, TV series, books and more, under the Star Trek name. Did they go ‘boldly’?  From the few movies and TV episodes that I’ve seen, the amount of boldness varied a lot, depending on which character it was!

However, ‘Star Trek’s catchcry links two important ideas: boldness, or courage; and the unknown.  Leading the way, ‘blazing the trail’ for others to follow, requires a fair amount of courage – especially when any results and consequences, especially for yourself, are unknown!  It can be easy to look at people who act courageously and think that they somehow are fearless; but that’s not the case.  As Eddie Richenbacker, an American fighter pilot and racing car driver put it, ‘There is no courage without fear’.  Yet, as the great Martin Luther King said, ‘I’ve learned that courage isn’t the absence of fear, but the triumph over it.’

What can give us the courage we need to face and conquer the fear of the unknown?  Surely a key thing, when we face that sort of situation, would be to know what’s in store – or, at the least, to know someone who can help us as we venture into what’s ahead!  The crew from Star Trek in their travels didn’t have the advantage that a young man called Joshua did, when he was called to lead a whole nation into an unknown land.  God told him to ‘be strong and courageous’; not because of who Joshua was, but because of who God was.  God knew what was ahead; God would go with Joshua into the unknown.  We’re invited to draw our courage from that same God today, as we launch into the year that lies before us.

Community Prayer Breakfast this Friday, 9th February

And there’s no better way, I think, to launch into 2024, than coming together as a community to call on our Creator and God to guide and provide for us and our School, in all that does lie ahead of us!  So please see below and elsewhere in the Newsletter about this Friday’s Community Prayer Breakfast,  which all members of the Calrossy community are welcome to attend including students, staff, parents, friends… It’s happening on the Front Lawn of the Calrossy Brisbane Street Campus, from 7.30-8.15am; it would be great to see you there!

Mark Rundle

Chaplain