Worship at Brighton Grammar School

Fr Chester Lord, School Chaplain | Brighton Grammar School, VIC Regular Chapel is at the heart of our worship at Brighton Grammar School (BGS). It provides excellent opportunities for boys to serve in a diverse range of activities. From reading, delivering prayers, singing in the choir or as an official Chapel Server; there are so many ways to participate and get involved each week. It also provides valuable time for meaningful reflection and spiritual contemplation, as well as aligning the boys’ attitudes to the school’s own values and traditions that we cherish and hold dear.

As we travel through the liturgical calendar in Religious Education classes each week, so each chapter throughout the year is observed. In addition to Lent, Easter, Pentecost and Christmas, we celebrate and observe ANZAC Day, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Founder’s Day and many of the formal BGS Leadership Inductions such as School Officers and Chapel Servers, Year 6 Graduation Liturgy, Junior School Speech Night and the Year 12 Valedictory Service. During Term 1 we recognised and inducted our School Officers and Chapel Servers for 2022. These events are celebrated by the school community with parents and friends attending services at St Andrew’s Church. We also held our Junior and Secondary School Easter services where we ceremoniously unveiled and lit the new Paschal Candle of 2022, re-affirmed our baptismal vows and considered the Easter narrative from Good Friday through to Holy Easter Sunday. At the commencement of Term 2 we held a moving and memorable ANZAC service where we honoured Brighton Grammar Old Boys who fell and lost their lives in the Boer War, First World War and Second World War. Each of the 118 lives was represented by a white cross inscribed with a name, date and war which was carried in and placed by a Year 12 student. BGS Old Boys were in attendance and our Head of History, Mr Mark Sainsbery, and four of his senior History students spoke about four BGS Old Boys who died while making the ultimate sacrifice, providing a human face to war to which all boys and staff could relate. The Junior School and Secondary School recently celebrated special Mother’s Day services in St Andrew’s. In three separate services, over 1400 boys and their mums sat side-by-side while the choir sang, reflections were shared, tributes flowed and poetry was said. Mother and son photos were displayed on the screens and beautiful Singapore orchards blessed and distributed. It is safe to say that there were not many dry eyes in church at these events. Finally, the school community came together in sad times as well. At the start of Term 1 we farewelled a dear, beloved, talented and popular Year 12 student from last year who tragically passed away and was lost to us. Our communal gathering in St Andrew’s provided much needed healing, sharing and closure for so many in the community. It was a profound, unforgettable and deeply engaging ceremony that showed once again just how central worship is to us as a school at Brighton Grammar. We look forward with great anticipation and eagerness for what the rest of 2022 provides for us at our regular Chapel gatherings. In many ways it is the very cement that holds our wonderful school together and keeps us strong in both fair and challenging times.