The Thistle - An E-Newsletter of Scotch College, Perth, Western Australia

Many people around the world light a candle in times of trouble, fear or sorrow.  Each one of us can offer a candle of hope in our own way as we face up to viruses and other massive global problems.

Over the next few weeks either Rev Justine Wall or I will be spending half an hour each morning in the chapel, praying for everyone in our community.  If you are worried about someone or have any concerns that you would like us to pray for specifically, please send me an email.  We will include them in our prayers and light a candle for them.

Not being able to have our weekly Senior School chapel service, I have recorded 'a chapel' and will continue to do this each week [https://youtu.be/xLoKwmTBDMg].

'And the people stayed home.  And read books, and listened, and rested, and exercised and made art, and played games, and learned new ways of being and were still.  And listened more deeply.  Some meditated, some prayed, some danced. Some met their shadows.  And the people began to think differently.  And the people healed.  And in the absence of people living in ignorant, dangerous, mindless, and heartless ways, the earth began to heal.

And when the danger passed, and the people joined together again, they grieved their losses, and made new choices, and dreamed new images, and created new ways to live and heal the earth fully, as they had been healed.'

Kitty O'Meara

'God help us to change: to change ourselves and to change our world.  To know the need for it.  To deal with the pain of it.  To feel the joy of it.  To undertake the journey without understanding the destination, the art of gentle revolution.'

Michael Leunig

'I am thankful today for the privilege of being a small, frail, faulted, but integral part of the magic of life on earth.'

Author not known


Prayer

God of ancient calm, let your peace still us

And your light  illumines  us.

God of the flowing rivers, may we discover anew your flowing spirit.

God of the lonely plains, touch these empty places within us

Where we are vulnerable enough to meet you

And where we discover a new understanding of ourselves and the world.

(Prayer by Rev.  Dr.  Peter Millar, former warden of the Iona Community in Scotland)