#6 2008
August 13

It is good to be here because God is here,
Where else could we go and be taken care of as well as here..
Let everyone give thanks,
calling upon God's name telling the world.

It is good to be here because Jesus Christ is here
Christ is here whenever two or three meet in his name.
Whenever we sing to God
And tell of all his remarkable doings.

It is good to be here because the Spirit is here,
leading us into the only truth that really matters.
We will seek the Lord and his strength, we will seek God's face evermore.

Let us Pray

In our end of week weariness God we come to you
With our winter coughs and colds we come to you
With our fears and anxieties we come to you.

Please take us as we are,
accept us for who we are
Welcome us because we are here.

Amen

Call to Prayer

Let’s go up the mountain.
Let’s go up to the place where the land meets the sky
where the earth touches the heavens,
to the place of meeting,
to the place of mists,
to the place of voices and conversations,
to the place of listening.

Prayer
O God,
We open our eyes and we see Jesus,
all of the stories of the things he has done,
come into ficus as we open our eyes.
He is the light of the world,
your light.
May your light shine upon us.

We open our eyes and we see important people from the past,
we see our elders showing us the way
and guiding us through our lives.

They tell stories
your story,
May your word speak to us.

We open our eyes and we see mist,
the cloud of your presence
which assures us of all we do not know
and that we do not need to fear that.
Teach us to trust.

We open our eyes and we make our own plans,
our best plans,
and we miss the point,
we miss your point and your plan.
Forgive our foolishness and sin.

We open our eyes and we see Jesus,
not casting us off,
but leading us out -
growing with us, alongside of us.
Never ending friend.

We open our ears and we hear your voice,
And we give you thanks.
Amen

We are now sent from here
in the name of Jesus Christ
to serve the God who cherishes us
and to trust the Spirit who nurtures us.

That you may live with the flair of those who have faith,
That you may live with the faith of those who have hope,
That you may live with the hope of those who have love.

Go in peace
in the name the Father, Son and Holy Spirit

#5 2008
June 6

I sit in my office now watching and listening to the rain come down. It is warm with my heater on and although I would prefer to be at home, it is a nice place to sit and work. Rain here means some relief from drought, calculating of dam levels and water restrictions even if only for a day or two. Rain means different things in other places.

Farmers in the Riverina are looking at the skies wondering what effect the drizzle will have on crops and what their return will be from their hard work. Rain in Burma and China mean different things altogether. The devastation after the earthquake in China has been enormous. Rain building up behind damaged dam walls now creates a quiet and deadly danger to those downstream. In Myanmar/Burma, the monsoon means the rain buckets down for days on end over people with no shelter to protect them. Rebuilding efforts and food distribution are made more difficult by the weather and more suffering is heaped upon those who have suffered enough.

The boys in the junior school and those in the infants schools have responded so generously to an appeal I started three weeks ago to raise money and awareness for those affected by the cyclone in Myanmar. I am greeted on Tuesday mornings on playground duty by Southside students showing me their coins and pocket money to put in the chapel plate. Junior school students ask me if it is ok to give more than $2 in chapel because they would like to add some of their own money. At least two boys have told me that they gave all the money they had in their bank accounts because other people needed it more.

At Northside parents have told me how much they appreciate that their children are pestering them to give some money for chapel. All of this is so very positive. At a time of suffering and devastation, to find positive moments is very important. The efforts of the children in responding in such a way is an inspiration. So far in chapel over the last three weeks we have raised $800. To put that in perspective, our junior school chapel collection is normally around $30-50.

On Friday there is a uniform free day which will cost the boys a gold coin to participate. All the proceeds of this day will go towards the Myanmar/Burma appeal as well. This will close off the appeal and I will finalise the details of where the money will go before the end of the term. I notice also that the Senior students are hosting a food stall on Friday to raise money for the Chinese earthquake survivors.

Responses such as these are what makes this school special. There is a great quote from Jesus that says, 'To those whom much is given, much is expected'. This was always a mantra in our house when I was growing up. It was quoted at a time when we often looked for excuses not to get involved or not to give something away. It was a reminder that what we had or owned was never really ours to keep. We always had enough and were encouraged to look for opportunities to be involved with people who had less. To see small children at this school understanding and acting on this Gospel message is a great thing.

Support the boys in the junior school this Friday for their uniform free day and give them some coins for the collection. It does help people in Myanmar Burma, but just as importantly it is having a life changing influence on your boys as they discover their generosity.

The theme for the uniform free day is 'heroes'. I might borrow a school uniform and come as one of the boys.

#4 2008
May 5 2008

Back and refreshed after a wonderful break, term two begins in earnest. On the surface it appears the same as first term but there are some subtle differences. The most obvious is that everyone at school seems more settled. The routines have kicked in, expectations have been set, and we all know where we should be at any particular time and what we should be doing.

There are few surprises in store, at least in a normal day. We seem to be getting better at what we do, which is a good thing at a school. If we do not improve over time, how do know that we are learning? I am privileged enough to have an office above the John Lingard Hall. On the other side of a very thin wall, there is music practice from early in the morning until 3pm most days of the week. I am serenaded by bands, choirs, pianos and clarinets all week long. Now as we all know, when we are learning from scratch, we sometimes play notes rather than make music but as second term moves on the ratio of sound to music improves every day. And then there sublime moments, when I can no longer concentrate on the work in front of me. Such is the case when I hear a particular saxophonist on a Monday morning.

Kenny G put the saxophone on the map in the eighties with his interpretation of socially acceptable, plastic, elevator music. As a saxophone player at school, I nearly gave up when he became popular just because he overdid everything including the infamous mullet haircut and terrible video clips. I liked the image of a jazz player or even the rather rough but cool 'Ralph the Dog' who played the saxophone in the Muppets. So to hear a solo saxophone played really well without sounding like the stereotyped Kenny G makes me stop and pay attention. I have never laid eyes on the student musician who interrupts my thoughts and I don't want to. I would prefer to hear only his melodic identity and imagine that I have paid a price to hear him perform on a stage fit for such a superb performance. He plays so well that his instrument sings. I am sure he can hear himself play and so he loses himself in his own creation. Unfortunately my words cannot do his skills justice, you will just have to believe my recommendation. It is simply a gift to eavesdrop on his practice every week and I cannot wait to hear how good he will be by the end of the year after another seven months of lessons.

All of this in some way brings me back to second term at school. Whilst there are routines and normality, there is still space to be surprised. Whilst we can be with the same children each week, it is truly delightful to see or hear them improve every week. Maybe all this comes with the benefit of a couple of weeks' holiday to freshen up. A break away from everyone means we return with fresh eyes to see the improvement that was probably always there. As we come to the day of Pentecost this Sunday, I am very conscious of being refreshed in the midst of the every day.

The wind of God has this capacity to visit our lives like my saxophonist who penetrates the walls of my office and interrupts my routine. The Holy Spirit, unlike what our Pentecostal friends like to tell us, rarely shakes us to the core and changes our lives forever. She more often comes to distract us for a moment; to remind us from where we came and to whom we will return. She comes unexpectedly, but gently, to move us on when we are stuck in a rut. When we are used to the ordinary, she can give us the sublime.

#3 2008
April 11 2008
The Bible reading set down for this week, the fourth week of the Easter season is John 10:1-10. Two of the verses are copied below.

The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep hear his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.

When he has brought out all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice.

My first term as a teacher and school chaplain is coming to an end. I have to say I am glad and can't wait for the break. I don't mean to be rude but the holidays can't come soon enough. The process of immersing myself in a community of 600 or so children is exhausting. Learning the names of all but the naughty children is very demanding and my body is trying to resist the infections and colds of 650 new strands it has never been exposed to before.

The sheer numbers of boys and girls who now know me and want to say hello is beautiful but overwhelming. My new identity as 'Reverend Neale' takes some getting used to. I am very glad however, for the experience. Being known and loved (mostly) by so many lovely children is good for the self esteem. My ego soars when in the supermarket, I hear my name being whispered, in a loud child-like whisper; "There goes Rev Neale. For a Chapel Man, he's pretty cool". It does make me wonder though if I would still be cool compared to someone other than a Chapel Man.

I think for the first few days of the holidays I will lie low for a couple of days and not go out in public. This shouldn't be too hard as I plan to sleep off my exhaustion. But I will no doubt see lots of children during the holidays and hear my name called out when I least expect it. It will make me feel owned and cared for I'm sure. It is kind of the opposite of the parable of the shepherd and the sheep. I feel more like the sheep than the shepherd and the numbers are stacked against me. I have 650 shepherds who all call me by name and recognise me.

Although I don't know the names of the people who call out my name, I do recognise the voices of Grammar School children. They know me and call me by name and I hear them. I think if I could have had one aim to fulfil by the end of term one, it would be that the children, know me, feel that they own me and aren't afraid to call me by name when they see me.

It is a form of shepherding in reverse. I get the kids to shepherd me so that I don't have to watch over 650 sheep all at once.

#2 2008
March 26 2008
In Memory of Anne Gisz.
As a new person coming into the school, certain people stand out as being special or as being held in high regard by thise already here.

Anne Gisz is one of those people. As a teacher and Direrctor of Northside Grammar, she had a positive influence over many people in her time from 1991 to 2007. On the Thursday before Easter, a tree was planted in the playground at Northside to remember her and to add a physical symbol of her presence at the school. Over 100 people gathered to sing her favourite songs and to see a special visual presentation of her time at the school. Mrs Norma Edwards spoke of her friendship and time spent as a colleague at the school.

I was asked to lead the gathering in prayer and plant the tree on behalf of the community. I feel privileged to have been asked and I would like to share the words and the prayer with you.

I have been telling the Easter story to your children for the last couple of weeks. I have been trying to hold together the sadness and the happiness of the Easter events. We need both in equal measure. When we get stuck in the blackness of Good Friday, we can easily forget that the story ends in resurrection. When we ignore death in life, and always live in triumphant and ignorant optimism, we are doing ourselves a dis-service. What we are doing today is not a funeral service, nor a revisiting of the sharp grief and sadness we felt at Anne's passing.

What we are doing today is what we do at Easter. We find life in death. We plant a living tree to honour a life well lived. We acknowledge a passing from life to death and to life again. We needed to wait for this day. We needed the passage of time. We needed to get back to school and to teaching children. This is what Anne did. This is why she is known to us and loved. In the midst of the busy-ness of a school year, we take this moment to remember her and plant a tree in her memory.

We also take a moment to pray together. Compassionate God: we come to you at this time a remember a dear friend. We are gathered here and half expect her to walk in and lead the children in a song. Anne's passing leaves us sad and yet you remind us that death does not have the final say. We are not defined by death. Our children grow, a new year starts and the playground is once again full of children's laughter. These are the sounds that assure us of your presence O God. New life, a new year, laughter and activity. May you bless what we do today. May it remind us of Easter and the constant cycle of life. May we remember life in death - a tree to symbolise our life and love. May we commit ourselves to the work of education done in this place, to the love of children and the to the nurturing of young lives. Be with us, in our grief, in our memories of Anne, in our Good Friday and our Easter Sunday.

We pray in the name of Jesus Christ,
Amen

#1 2008
February 26 2008
Whilst most of the attention has been on the children settling in to their new year at school, there have been some butterflies in the stomachs of other people too. As a 'new boy' in the school, I have had to adjust and adapt to lots of new routines and work. My routines and my stomach are now ruled by a bell and I sometimes find myself conting down the minutes until the final bell in the afternoon when I can make myself a cup of coffee and take a breath. Life as the new chaplain is very different from what I am used to.

I came here after six years as the Uniting Church minister at South Woden. I also had a second job as Chaplain to the ACT Ambulance Service and I was on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week. So my routines then were based a lot around organising Sunday morning church services, meetings and pastoral work combined with the phone ringing at odd hours to attend to ambulance work. One of the things I enjoyed most was the flexibility to take my two boys to school and day care and pick them up each afternoon. Now, they hurry me out the door every morning telling me to have a good day at school and reminding me to take my lunch. It is a refreshing change to be at Canberra Grammar School. I enjoy having colleagues in the staff room and being surrounded by children who are eager and enthusiastic. It is especially enjoyable to be a chaplain in a setting where people do not always have extreme needs. I used to attend fatal car accidents, deaths of babies and children and many other tragedies and worked hard at providing a comforting and practical presence for people. Now my presence is about being there for children, staff and parents in everyday life rather than just turning up in difficult times. If I am ever needed at times of tragedy I will be there, but for the moment, it is a pleasant change being with people in the excitement of everyday life. I hope to communicate with the school community through this blog on a regular basis. I will happily receive your feedback and suggestions so please introduce yourself if you see me at school.

Finally, one of the highlights of my year so far has been the participation of the school in the events of 'Sorry Day' and the apology to the stolen generations. We spent a lot of time in RaVE classes talking about the apology. A lot of the student responses went in to the following prayer which we prayed at Assembly. I would like to share the words with the rest of the school community.

Dear God,
There are times when we do things we would rather forget
There are times when we hurt each other and ourselves
There are times when we feel sad for what others do to us
There are times when we feel sad for the violence in the world
Come close to us God and comfort us
When we say sorry, it is sometimes hard to be heard
We whisper, we mumble, we hide our voices
Our eyes look down to the feet and earth anywhere but at the people who we have wronged
Come close to us God and comfort us
One word will not fix the problem
One word will not heal the wound
One word does not peel back time
One word does hang in the silence
Come close to us God and comfort us
The healing begins as we accept the pain of what is past
The healing begins as we practice compassion
The healing begins when we learn from hurt
The healing begins with your forgiveness
O God Come close to us God and comfort us.

Amen