Dear friends,
A freezing start to the New Year seemed to be in keeping with all the awful things happening in the world around us what with fighting and bloodshed in Gaza and the credit crunch and unemployment. I was therefore really excited to be at a Head Teacher and Chair of Governors meeting recently and come across a set of value statements drawn up by a Church school in our diocese. Holy Trinity Church of England Primary School, West End, Woking promote throughout their school, both with pupils, staff and parents, a set of values for everyone to aspire towards based on what it says in Mark chapter 12 verses 30,31. (go on, go and look it up!)
Part of the philosophy behind the set of values is the concept that we must be positive about what we do and how we behave and stop letting others such as the media, society (whatever that means), our peer group, fashion stores etc shape how we act. I have listed some, but not all, of their values below. It is good to actually read them out loud as if they are truly your own and see how it feels and whether you could live with them at the centre of your life.
Some of the values are:-
Forgiveness. I remember what Jesus said “Forgive as I have forgiven you” I will choose to forgive even though it might be difficult.
Truthfulness. I will tell the truth because it is right to do so. I want to act with transparent honesty.
Service. I will remember the needs of others and be selfless and caring. “Do for others what you wish them to do for you”.
Thankfulness/Contentment/Awe. I gratefully acknowledge and receive God’s gifts and am content with what I have. I stand in awe of God’s handiwork in the world around about us and will do all I can to take care of it.
Courage. I will do what is right regardless of what my friends say or do. I will be courageous and face things I find difficult.
In addition to those above there are value statements headed compassion, humility, worship and life. Have a word with me if you want to know the value statements they have placed against them. In the meantime I wonder if you have noticed the key words in the values I have shown above? I have taken the liberty of putting them in italics to highlight them although they are not highlighted in the schools set of values. I see them as perhaps being key to the way we could change our world and those who live in it.
More to the point those words are really at the heart of what Jesus taught, what he was all about. They are words to live our own lives by and they might, just might, transform us and our own neighborhood. Words that really focus on what we can make of our lives if we are so minded. Words that, if we were to try and live by them, could point us in the direction of true happiness. Try it for a day or two or three or….
God bless you and all those you love,
John Baxter