Wise words with...

Mr Bray | Principal

Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4: 6-7 (NIV)

 

It is hard to believe that this is the final edition of NCS Bytes for the 2021 school year! Out of curiosity, I decided to check what I had written at this same time last year. 

 

In 2020, I began my final Bytes article with the following statement: ‘2020 has clearly been a year that will go down in history as a time that impacted and challenged our entire global community.’ Of course, my comments at that time were referring to the impact of the COVID pandemic on our school and every other school and organisation throughout our country. As I shared in my Thanksgiving Evening address just last Wednesday, little did we realise when we began the 2021 year that our school would, once again, face very significant impacts due to the continuation of these COVID-related challenges. Last year I also stated, ‘At times such as these, we learn a great deal about what lies at the very heart of a community.’ I went on to say that at Nowra Christian School we confirmed that ‘we serve a faithful God who truly does provide for all of our needs.’        

 

Without doubt, I can affirm that this is the same faithful God who has upheld and strengthened our school community throughout a second unprecedented year of change and challenge. I thank every member of our NCS community – students, parents, carers and staff - for your incredible support throughout this second consecutive year where the term ‘COVID’ has become an increasingly familiar expression throughout our entire world. The great strength of your commitment to the partnership between Home and School that has been so clearly evident has allowed us to, once again, achieve many rich educational outcomes throughout the 2021 school year. 

 

During these past two weeks, we have been able to celebrate the conclusion of our school year in a variety of important ways. Our students have participated in numerous enjoyable activities, many of which have been held off-site, involving picnics, visits to water theme parks, stand-up paddle boarding and kayaking and numerous other activities. 

 

Once again, some of these special events, including some assemblies and last Wednesday’s Thanksgiving Evening, were presented via virtual means. I trust that you were encouraged by the stimulating program that was streamed to every NCS family on Wednesday evening, highlighting the many special events and activities that were still able to occur throughout the 2021 school year. Two of the most important events in the lives of NCS students are the Year 6 Graduation Assembly and the Year 12 Graduation Dinner.  I am delighted to be able to report that we were able to invite parents and carers to attend both of these ‘milestone’ events with appropriate COVID-safe plans in place. 

Last Sunday, during the church service that I attended, I was both challenged and encouraged by the passage from Philippians where the Apostle Paul reminded the Philippian believers regarding how to overcome anxiety in order to live rich and fulfilling lives. They were subject to opposition and persecution and the Apostle Paul wanted to encourage them that they could live victorious and peace-filled lives through placing their trust in our faithful God and bringing their requests to him in prayer. This reminded me that, in many ways, as members of the Nowra Christian School community, we have also been facing challenging times, especially during the past two years. Consequently, I would wish to leave you with these verses from the book of Philippians that point us directly to this very same God. These promises that our loving God will remove our anxiety and replace it with a ‘peace that transcends all understanding’ are also available to us if we come to him in prayer.

 

On behalf of all NCS staff and the School Board, I convey our warmest Christmas greetings to every school family. It is our prayer that you will recognise and celebrate the true meaning of Christmas in that God sent his son Jesus into the world that we might believe and ultimately accept him as our Lord and Saviour. We trust that you will have opportunities for rest and recreation during this holiday season and we do look forward to your continuing partnership again in 2022.