This week we have a special lead introduction from Rev Alison Andrew…..
As we enter Neurodiversity week at school, a week where we highlight the many modes in which students’ brains work and celebrate them, I cant help but smile. How far education has come in many ways over the past twenty years of my teaching career. Celebrating diversity is just one of the many things Tintern does very well and makes me proud to work in such a richly diverse school.
As we watch the world and the events unfolding in Ukraine, there is a sense in which we can feel a bit helpless, it seems so far away and yet our screens bring it so close. Throughout the school we have written ‘Notes and prayers of hope’, prayed and lit candles to help us remember the people who are living in fear and distress in Ukraine. And yet through all this we wonder what else can we do?
I have come to realise that one of the most powerful things we can do is create and nurture a community at Tintern which is almost counter cultural, one that does not place one group of people or characteristics above another, one where all people are embraced and celebrated and diversity is the normal. If we can do this and our students grow, play and learn in that environment, then when they leave school they will carry that set of expectations and way of seeing our world into the wider world. This will then seed communities and workplaces that actively encourage understanding and hope. Understanding and hope being the opposite of fear and oppression like we are seeing in Ukraine.
Jesus in his ministry demonstrated a way of living and loving that was counter-cultural, he and the everyday people he called to live and work with him, through actions, not words showed a new way, a new ‘kingdom’ where God’s love is seen and heard. Where people are respected and embraced simply because they are God’s creation. He called people to live their best lives, and this spread from Galilee to the world and we are still talking about him today.
So, my prayer as we approach Easter:
Loving God
May your kingdom be seen and known here at Tintern.
May we, through our actions, embody the love you have for us and for the world.
May we embrace our rich diversity.
Make us a people who seek to bring hope and understanding now and throughout our lives.
We pray this in the name of the resurrected Jesus. Amen
Rev Alison Andrew
School Chaplain
Head of Religion Studies
