Page 12 - Southwell School_The Chronicle July 2020

FROM THE CHAPLAIN’S PEN
AFE AS T OF PEN TECOS T
t the time of writing this piece it is the Feast of Pen- In other words, God was in control then, and still very much so tecost – the birthday of the Church. Students were today, through the indomitable Spirit at work in each and every able to determine a rough age of 1987 years old for one of us to protect and support us through the vagaries of this life.
the Church and everyone agreed that a serious danger to life would exist if all candles were lit at once!
Pentecost, at least in this country, has been greeted this year by Christian congregations with extra joy for not only the coming of the Holy Spirit at that first Pentecost, but also
the reopening of Church buildings for services after such a lengthy period of closure. How exciting it is when people reconnect, celebrate and enjoy each other after a long absence. Similarly, when the whole School gathered again
for the first time in ages, the energy released was palpable! Perhaps this is what God did at the first Pentecost by empow- ering his disciples with joy, exuberance and a sense that the future was not cloudy but full of so many possibilities to be gained by spreading His word even to the “ends of the Earth.”
There had been a feeling that recent health-threatening events have “robbed” people of both time and opportunities. Indeed, the consequences for some have been dramatic and have hit hard at the very core of their world causing justifiable anxiety and stress. However, comfort can be taken from God’s word even from Old Testament times. In Joel 2:25 God says to his people, hit hard as their crops were destroyed by plagues of locusts, “I will restore the years the swarming locust has eaten.”
Therefore, we are encouraged to reap the joys of the Holy Spirit every day of our lives, as for example did one Richard Baxter (an English vicar in the 1600’s) who, in spite of several serious health issues managed to daily fififind joy and reassur- ance from his relationship with God. His whole adult life was spent battling one sickness after the other. He was harassed by a constant cough, frequent nosebleeds, migraine head- aches, digestive ailments, kidney stones, and gallstones. He believed in supernatural healing and said several times he was restored to fruitful labour because of God’s direct interven- tion. Dramatic as Richard’s situation was it demonstrates to us today that from adversity there will arise a new strength to go on, even in the protective power of God’s Holy Spirit.
I leave you with this Pentecost blessing:
May the Spirit, who hovered over the waters when the world was created,
Breathe into you the life He gives.
May the Spirit, who overshadowed the Virgin when the eternal Son came among us, make you joyful in the service of the Lord. May the Spirit, who set the Church on fire upon the Day of Pentecost, bring the world alive with the love of the risen Christ. Amen.
IN MEMORIAM
It is with sadness that we record the passing of the following. We express our condolences to their families.
Kenneth Nicholson Holmes Southwell Fellow
Dr Peter Wynn Nicholson MBChB Old Boy 1932 - 1936
Jon Morton Foreman Old Boy 1936 - 1943
Sally Noreen Lindsay McKibbin Daughter of Noreen Johnstone (nee Sergel)
Edward Spencer Storey Old Boy 1983 -1984
Bridget Alice Murray Old Girl 2004 -2006