Learning and Teaching

TERM 2, Grade 1/2

Earlier in Term 2, the Year 1/2 students were learning about the important role that nature plays in our community, in particular with providing us with food and shelter. Towards the end of this unit, students were given the opportunity to engage in the process of growing their own vegetables. The students were given the responsibility to plant their own seeds in our vegetable garden. After a long wait, on Monday 8th November, the students were finally able to harvest their crop. The students were so excited to be able to harvest the onions and carrots that they had planted earlier in the year. Each student then brought some vegetables home for their families to enjoy.

Grade Prep

This week the Preps were excited to receive some seedlings from DIVRS. They took the seedlings home to plant and care for them.  The Preps understand that to grow we need food and their plants will need soil, sunlight and water to grow.  The Preps have grown so much this year; physically, emotionally and academically.  We hope they are successful in growing their seedlings and look forward to receiving photos and progress reports from them in the coming weeks.

Gospel Reflection

We are, perhaps, used to thinking of the season of Advent as a time of preparation for the celebration of Christmas. But this week’s readings, and the readings of the next few weeks, remind us that the notion of preparation extends well beyond the celebration of the birth of Jesus. We are reminded that we are, in fact, living in an ‘in-between time’. From this week’s first reading we are reminded that the expectation of a Messiah was a very long-standing hope for Israel. The coming of the Messiah would usher in a new prosperity and a divine reign of God. The earliest Christians began to see that the ancient prophecies could all be applied to Jesus and they began to regard Jesus as the promised Messiah – the fulfilment of prophecy. However, Jesus also promised that he would come again, and the expectation of the first followers of Jesus was that his return would be in their lifetime. In our second reading from the letter to the Thessalonians, we can see the growing realisation that perhaps Jesus’ return will not occur within the current generation. This realisation had a dramatic effect on the life and faith of the community. Imagine living with the belief that the end of time was going to occur not just in your lifetime but literally any day now. Slowly, they realised that Jesus’ words were not that specific and the time of return had not been identified. What Jesus had called for was a state of readiness, a state of preparedness. This didn’t mean he was coming immediately; what it meant was that there was need to get the house in order because he would be coming at some time. Advent is a time to remember that we still haven’t really got the house in order.

Fundamentalists love readings like this week’s apocalyptic gospel passage. Full of portent and urgency, it inspires the sort of thinking that says, ‘Repent now, because you could be dead tomorrow!’ It is easy to look at a passage like this and apply it to the conditions of the world today: everything’s going to rack and ruin; it’s just as the Bible foretold; the end of the world is just around the corner. But we have to remember that this was written nearly 2,000 years ago! Yes, there is still urgency! Yes, there is still need for change! But we still have time to get it right.

Scriptural context

This week’s gospel passage comes from a lengthy passage in the gospel of Luke in which Jesus speaks extensively about the future. It is a very different style of writing from the usual narrative, teaching and parable forms that make up most of the gospel. The style is an echo of the prophetic writings of the Old Testament. Compare this passage with this week’s first reading of other passages from the writings of the prophets. The style is always rich in metaphor and symbol. There is a grandness about the style. We know, just from the use of language, that great things are afoot!

Have you thought? – Waiting, waiting, waiting …

I’m not a big fan of waiting! Anticipation is pretty good; getting prepared and getting ready are OK, too. But when is comes down to being all dressed up and ready to go, I’m just hopeless at waiting. If Advent is a time of pointless waiting for Christmas then we’ve somehow missed the message. Rather than just waiting, Advent is a time of preparation and anticipation. But it’s not just about anticipating Christmas. That’s part of it, sure. However, Advent is about reminding ourselves that we have a job to do: preparing for the reign of God – in our lives and in our world.

Different View – We’re doomed!