Starting the New Year with Spirit

Welcome to the 2021 School Year. We all trust that the year will enable us many opportunities to gather and enjoy the diverse community events.

With a greater focus on highlighting our School Values, I took the opportunity in our opening Senior School Assembly to explore what the Casey Grammar motto ‘One in the Spirit’ means.

The motto forms part of our logo and is printed everywhere from our diaries, to school bags, and blazer pockets. However, for new members of our community, as well as those who have been with us for a long time, it can be easy to not really understand what it refers to.

A Strong Sense of Community

The Spirit is the Holy Spirit, the inner voice that nudges you in the right direction. The Bible says that when we try to listen to the guidance of the Holy Spirit, we should be showing qualities like love, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

So, when we describe ourselves as a community that is one in the spirit, it’s about us attempting to be a community that shares these things with each other, trying to make the world we live in a bit more loving, joyful, peaceful, kind and good.

It’s also about unity. We are one School, but we are made up of students and staff of all ages. We have five-year-olds, and we have 17-year-olds who started last week. We have staff at all different stages of their career and with a wide range of life experiences.

Celebrating our Diversity

At Casey Grammar School, we celebrate that we have many different religious traditions, beliefs, and backgrounds. The fact that students have voice to disagree, debate and explore is something I value. Being part of a school that declares it’s One in the Spirit doesn’t mean that everyone is the same.

There’s a great extended metaphor in the Bible where it talks about a community being like a body, each part has a different purpose and role, but still a meaningful part of the whole. It says, “If the whole body were an ear, how could it smell?”

Of course, the concept of a body that is entirely an ear is ridiculous, and a bit comical. But that’s the point. We all have different gifts and skills that contribute to our School being an even better place than it is already.

I am so grateful to be a part of that, and to be able to witness it in so many different ways as we become One in the Spirit.

Every blessing as you begin the new year.

Monique Riviere-Pendle

Chaplain