ASSEMBLY

On Monday and Tuesday, eight of the students chosen to be the Senior Prefect Team for 2025/26 gave a speech to encourage students to vote for them as Head Girl. The students’ speeches were heartfelt and full of ideas for the next academic year and we look forward to hearing the result!

After the speeches, Reverend Kate prayed:

Loving God,

We give thanks for our Head Girl candidates.
We appreciate their commitment to Queenswood and its students and their courage to take a risk and put themselves forward for selection.
We pray that throughout the process they will know your guiding hand on their lives and your comfort and peace.
Please bless them in all that they do.

Amen.

ACT OF WORSHIP

For our act of worship, Rebecca W (9N) read from the Gospel of Luke, chapter 13 (verses 31-35).

In her sermon, Reverend Kate reminded us that we recently sang a hymn in Chapel with the title ‘how deep the father’s love for us.’ Even though the hymn starts with the word ‘how’, which often introduces a question, Reverend Kate said that in this case the hymn is a declaration, an exclamation of awe and wonder rather than a literal question seeking an answer. However, to ask ‘how deep the father’s love for us’ is a good question which, Reverend Kate said, is answered in our Gospel reading this morning: God’s love is so deep that Jesus experienced threats, rejection and crucifixion so that we can experience forgiveness, healing, hope and joy.

What courage Jesus had – to stay focused on his mission in the face of such opposition.

And what resilience Jesus showed – in not hating the people who persecuted him, but instead, forgiving them and regretting that they would not let him save them (v34).

Courage and resilience, two of our Queenswood Qualities which when displayed by students lead to an award.

For Jesus, however, his display of courage and resilience led to his death on the cross; a death he knew would happen and to which he submitted himself in God’s love.

Reverend Kate said that despite what we may sometimes think, all of the staff at Q know that at school it can sometimes be hard for students to be courageous and resilient, especially when faced with friendship issues, study pressures and personal struggles. Jesus knows these things can be hard too.

So, the next time we feel like we do not have the courage or resilience to face a difficult conversation with a friend, or to push through an exam period or do everything we need to do, Reverend Kate invited us to draw on the courage and resilience of Jesus and, in doing so, to remember that Jesus’ courage and resilience were not rooted in his own strength alone but rooted in his trust in God’s love, the depth of which has been described in a verse of another hymn:

Could we with ink the ocean fill,
And were the skies of parchment made,
Were every stalk on earth a quill,
And every man a scribe by trade;
To write the love of God above
Would drain the ocean dry;
Nor could the scroll contain the whole,
Though stretched from sky to sky.
The Love of God is Greater Far (third verse).

These words paint a beautiful image of how limitless God’s love truly is. Reverend Kate said that as we go from Chapel today, we are to remember that we are held in the love of God which is deeper than any failure, wider than any fear and more encompassing than any challenge we will ever face.

As such, in times of struggle, all we need to do is reach out - in prayer, in quiet moments or even just a simple breath - and trust that we are held in the depth of God’s love, as illustrated on the cross and from which we have all the courage and resilience we will ever need.

Reverend Kate prayed:

Almighty God,
Thank you for the depth of your love expressed in Jesus Christ.
Help us to trust in this love at all times.
In your love may we be granted courage to face life’s challenges and resilience to persevere.

Amen.