By Reverend Andy Fleming, Chaplain

As this week’s Bulletin is published, I will be with Year 7 on their camp. The camp is a fantastic opportunity for the students, half of who started Radford this year, to grow together and form friendships that will last for the remainder of their schooling and beyond.

The timing of the camp is important. As many of us have experienced, starting at a new place where relationships are already established can be a daunting and unsettling time. We come into these spaces vulnerable and with a level of apprehension. Over the week of camp, I see students overcome challenges of camp, largely due to new relationships they are forming with their peers.

When the disciples were first called by Jesus, I imagine they would have felt a similar sense of vulnerability and apprehension. Jesus is asking them to leave everything that they know and are familiar with. In Luke’s account of Jesus calling the first of the disciples, we find that the response to Jesus’ initial interaction is one where Simon expresses a mixture of awe and fear. Jesus, while acknowledging Simon's fear, shows that he wants Simon and his friends to join him catching people instead of fish. This is in spite of Simon’s honest admission of his sinful nature. Early on in Jesus’ ministry, we learn that Jesus wants to pursue relationship with people, with us, regardless of our own sin and failure to live in the right relationship with him.

In this second week of Lent, this reading is a great one to reflect on how Jesus pursues a relationship with us. Perhaps it can help us to recall the beginning of our own faith story. The beginning of Simon’s faith journey, with Jesus calling him, shows us that Jesus wants to build a friendship with us, despite our own sinful nature - despite our own fears, vulnerabilities, and apprehension. And just like the Year 7s are doing this week at camp, Jesus does not want us to do this on our own. Rather, he wants us to support each other to overcome challenges in building this relationship with Jesus.

All This Time by Rev Sarah Speed

I put my headphones in.

I walk quickly.

I look toward the ground.

I create one million barriers

of independence,

but still God seeks after me.

God leans a rainbow over the sky.

God sends sun after the rain.

God blankets the earth with wildflowers.

God allows music to carry

and laughter to rise,

all so that I might notice.

And when I do notice,

the unfurling that begins in my soul

is slow and holy and burning.

I am not alone.

God has been chasing after me

all this time.

The peace of God be with you in the week ahead.

Rev Andy