Calrossy Chaplaincy

Greetings from the Chaplain

With the first half of Term 1 having flown by, I want to thank the Calrossy community for your welcomes of me to our School – in this appropriately-named ‘Year Of Gratitude’!  In turn, let me add my belated Welcome (or Welcome back!) to everyone at Calrossy, in this first term of another new school year.  It’s great to be part of this community, serving with a wonderful Chaplaincy Team; and I’m enjoying getting to know you all. My prayer is that you’ll all have a blessed and encouraging 2022 at Calrossy!

Of the many words that are said to you every day, I wonder which ones you most like to hear?  “I love you” is, of course, always a highlight – it’s a precious collection of one-syllable words.  “Have a break” or “Well done” or “Let me do that for you” can also be very pleasing.  But two words that are probably some of the most satisfying, day in and day out, are simply, ”Thank you”.  They’re words that we try to get our children to say in response, almost automatically; but they’re words that I doubt any of us get tired of hearing.  Whether the “Thank You” is expressing appreciation for something we’ve done or said, or affirming us and the value we have in somebody’s eyes, those two words can lift our spirits and spur us to keep going.

I’m not sure, though, that saying “Thank you” is quite the same as gratitude.  Do you remember the advertisement, some years ago, for Cadbury Roses chocolates, which had a theme song with this chorus, ‘Thank you very much; thank you very very very much’?  The song may have been catchy, but the repetition, I thought, tended to undermine the genuineness of the statement. When you saw the actions of gratefulness used in the ad, then the “Thank You’s” seemed more authentic. For me, that’s where the heart of gratitude is: words and actions working together and complementing each other, showing thankfulness that’s apparent in every part of someone’s life.  The Bible itself is actually full of examples of “Thank You’s” being matched by lives that equally express gratefulness to the God who has given us everything we have and are.  It would be great to have that sort of gratitude at Calrossy in the year ahead; as we have so much for which we can be thankful!

Mark Rundle

Calrossy Chaplain