Be kind to yourself...

I’ve been using this phrase a little lately. Be kind to yourself. As I work with young people, we talk about all kinds of things: school, work, relationships, our well being and our faith.

Some weeks, things are going great. Other weeks are tougher, with school work piling up, lots of unfinished jobs and feeling tired in the morning. Sometimes we don’t quite even know why we’re feeling down. And other weeks grief might come with shock and surprise.

In the gospel accounts of Jesus, the writers constantly draw our attention to the compassion and kindness of our Saviour. He was moved by compassion for others – to heal them, to feed them. In Matthew 11, Jesus called to those carrying heavy burdens with these words: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.”

“I love to dwell deeply on the fact that Jesus doesn’t call us to impress Him with our competence and talents, but instead he invites us into a relationship that rests completely on who He is. ”

I love the kindness and compassion that live in this verse. I love to dwell deeply on the fact that Jesus doesn’t call us to impress Him with our competence and talents, but instead he invites us into a relationship that rests completely on who He is.

We are often our own worst critics. We could always be more successful, more accomplished, more attractive or more talented. Sometimes we judge ourselves far more harshly than we would judge someone else. And there are some seasons of our life when even just everyday things are so much more of an effort. But when we fix our gaze on Jesus and away from our own inadequacies, we can start to practise that kindness towards ourselves, understanding that our value isn’t fixed in our achievements, but that our value and worth is found in knowing our Creator and His love for us.

Being kind to ourselves means reminding ourselves daily that while we may fall short, Christ is enough. While some may struggle and think that kindness to ourselves means taking the easy way out or setting our standards low, in reality the kindness we show to ourselves reflects the fact that we know that God never called us to be a superhero in our own strength.

“...in reality the kindness we show to ourselves reflects the fact that we know that God never called us to be a superhero in our own strength.”

Maybe kindness to ourselves means avoiding the doomsday scroll through news and social media. Maybe it looks like an early night or a cup of tea watching the sunrise. Maybe it means replacing a critical thought we have about our appearance with a reminder of our inner worth and beauty. To me, being kind to myself means eggs on toast after Sunday night church and not judging my skills as a mum by the emptiness of the laundry basket.

My prayer is for each of us to deeply know the kindness and compassion of Jesus and that this kindness would extend to both others and ourselves.

Stelle Carmichael — Head of Students

Food - fuel for life

“Soup Club” is a winter tradition started four years ago at Calvin Secondary.

At lunch time on Wednesdays, staff gather around a large table in the staff room to share in hearty soups and crusty breads lovingly prepared by their colleagues. Recipes are often shared and cooking stories told. It is one of the highlights of the week for me.

This week is National Science Week and food is the focus for schools. We are to consider how food acts as the ‘fuel for life’ for individuals and to explore the need for sustainable food futures for our local and global communities.

“ It makes us reflect on our personal and collective responsibility for wise use of resources.”

As someone who enjoys cooking and eating food, I love this year’s theme. I am grateful for the advances in agriculture and science that provides our supermarkets with fresh, tasty fruit and vegetables. I have benefited from the advances in technology and transportation that allows us to consume foods from other countries and to have seasonal vegetables or tropical fruit regardless of the season. 

However, this year’s theme is also very relevant for Christian communities such as Calvin. It makes us reflect on our personal and collective responsibility for wise use of resources. It challenges us to share our often-abundant supplies of food with individuals, communities and nations in need. It makes us wonder about the environmental, social and physical costs of our current eating habits. It forces us to contemplate whether our current relationship with food is in line with the plan God intended when he created both people and food.

“The sharing of food was central to the life of the early church, with the believers meeting together for teaching, prayer and the breaking of bread. ”

In the early church, the sharing of food was an identifying characteristic of the believers. Jesus called his followers to share their food with friends and strangers alike as part of their faith response, saying in the parable of the sheep and goats that “whatever you did for one of the least of these, you did for me” (Matthew 25:40). The sharing of food was central to the life of the early church, with the believers meeting together for teaching, prayer and the breaking of bread. In the Lord’s Supper, the sharing of food was used to symbolise the new covenant and as a remembrance of Jesus’ death.

Food is indeed an important and relevant topic to explore as a Christian learning community. During their Home Room sessions each morning in the Secondary School this week, students will be considering challenges posed by how we source, process and consume food in our modern society. We hope that this year’s theme will stimulate questions about our personal and collective responsibility for the sharing of food and stewarding the environment.

Bonny Moroni — Head of Secondary

Opening up to the Possibilities

Last Monday and Tuesday, we welcomed parents into the school for the Secondary Parent-Teacher Interviews with the primary school hosting their sessions at the end of Term 2.

These connection points are critical to the sense of partnership that we seek to establish with parents. The opportunity to openly collaborate and communicate in the shared journey of educating our students is a central aspect of the life and heritage of Calvin Christian School.

I am enjoying the opportunity to gradually meet more of our parents. Part of the value of that for me, is to hear the stories of ‘why’. Essentially, why Calvin was chosen as the school for their family. Whilst I hear many stories about the academic preparation provided by Calvin, I have heard more parents mention the sense of community and the Christian faith and values that lie at its core as the key factors in their enrolment decision.

With this in mind and knowing the history of Calvin Christian School, you will not be surprised to learn that thinking about how we communicate faith and encouraging students to consider what a life of faith means in practice is a discussion that our staff are regularly engaged in. At the start of this term, our intrepid teaching staff spent two-days in Launceston, at the Christian Education National state conference listening to our keynote speaker, Dr Rod Thompson encourage us to consider how we share and seek to understand the Scriptures with our students.

“Done well and with an opportunity for student response and prayer, these devotional times communicate faith in action, the ‘lived faith’ that is more than mere head knowledge. ”

Openly sharing faith at Calvin begins each morning as our teachers and some of our students lead our ‘devotions’. Devotion times are an opportunity to apply the Scriptures to our own lives, an opportunity to bring the Bible to life, and for students to familiarise themselves with the Christian faith. Done well and with an opportunity for student response and prayer, these devotional times communicate faith in action, the ‘lived faith’ that is more than mere head knowledge.

Our vision is to be a “transformational Christian learning community” where our students begin to see the incredible connections as God speaks to each aspect of our lives, academic, physical and spiritual.  Through their time at Calvin Christian School, we remain focussed on our roles of providing an excellent academic preparation for our students at whatever level we need to meet them, whilst actively communicating and nurturing a deep understanding of faith and God’s call to each of our students to be in relationship with Him.

I would encourage you to find out more about what a Christian learning community looks like at Calvin and trust that your child’s experience of the academic and spiritual life of our School will open them up to the possibilities of a life lived with God.

Scott Ambrose - Principal