Page 12 - Southwell_The Chronicle_December2020

FROM THE CHAPLAIN’S PEN
ALL CREATURES GREAT & SMALL
t the time of writing this piece it is the Feast of Pen- However, comfort can be taken from God’s word even tecost – the birthday of the Church. Students were from Old Testament times. In Joel 2:25 God says to able to determine a rough age of 1987 years old for his people, hit hard as their crops were destroyed by
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 empowering 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 oppor- tunities. Indeed, the consequences for some have been dramatic and have hit hard at the very core of their world causing justifiable anxiety and stress.
plagues of locusts, “I will restore the years the swarm- ing locust has eaten.” In other words, God was in control then, and still very much so today, through the indomitable Spirit at work in each and every one of us to protect and support us through the vagaries of this life.
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 find joy and reassurance 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 headaches, 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 inter- vention. Dramatic as Richard’s situation was it demon- strates 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.
IN MEMORIAM
It is with sadness that we record the passing of the following. We express our condolences to their families.
Anthony Erskine Beveridge
Old Boy (1935 – 1939) and Southwell Fellow Father of Old Boys William, John, James and Timothy
James Lawrence Ross (Fair) Old Boy (1945 - 1952)