Theme: Supporting our Students to Become Global Citizens

In our Assembly and Chapel Programme this term, we are supporting our students to become global citizens. We aim to equip them to study, work and live in community with others who do not necessarily share the same religion, traditions or abilities. As such, in assembly on 20 November, we celebrated the first of our multi-faith weeks and were blessed by Sixth Form student Natalia H, who spoke to us about the eclectic nature of religion and belief in Japan.

Illustrating her presentation with engaging and colourful slides, Natalia enlightened us about the interplay of Shinto rituals, Buddhism and Zen Buddhism and brought along an example of omamori, which are believed to provide good luck. Exquisitely made out of embroidered material, omamori are used for passing examinations at school, driving safely and recovering from illness. Natalia H told us that the goal of Shinto is to maintain harmony among people, nature and the universe. You can see Natalia's talk below.

In our services, Chapel Stewards Tana S-B, 9S and Kate R, 8N read from the New Testament - Matthew 25:31-40 - which delivered a challenging message that when the time comes, Christ will divide all people into two groups - those on the right who follow God’s way and those on the left who do not.

The Chaplain explained that in ancient cultures, the right hand side was honoured above the left and that sheep, who were obedient in nature, were considered more valuable than goats. As such, those who obey God will be put at God’s right hand and will be honoured and valued by Christ for eternity.

With reference to Miss Cronin's address during anti-bullying week, the Chaplain steered us away from judgement, which she said was God’s work. God alone sees, hears and knows every story, from every perspective and therefore is qualified to judge. The Chaplain told us that Jesus’ teaching is uncompromising: we are to attend to those in need through deeds of love, mercy and compassion, so as to ensure we are on the right side of history and the right side of God.

Please join us in prayer this week for:

• All those who gave of their time, money and spirit to put together a shoebox of Christmas gifts for Operation Christmas Child; we donated 57 boxes which are now on their way to children affected by war and poverty. 

• Our community as we challenge ourselves to learn, live and work together in kindness, honesty, integrity and accountability.