4 minute read
Sharing Worship at All Saints’ College
The Reverend Liz Flanigan, Chaplain All Saints’ College, WA As the Chaplain at All Saints’ College, I love sharing worship with all our students from Year 3 to Year 12 every week. Junior School chapel is one of the highlights of my Mondays and is always full of enthusiastic Year 3 to Year 6 students who love to join in. Our Senior School chapels offer a wonderful chance for reflection and prayer in a sacred space where all can come as they are and meet God. It is always a joy to be together.
However, like many, we have had to adapt how we do worship at times when Covid restrictions have meant we cannot always meet in person. In Term 1 this year, our Senior School met together for chapel via Microsoft Teams - broadcast from the Chapel with a couple of student readers on hand. Students stayed in their Tutor Group classes, watching, listening and joining in with responses and a hymn recorded by our music team and some student singers. I heard that there was some particularly enthusiastic singing coming from some of the staff when the hymns came on! For our Junior School chapels, we pre-recorded the service onto a PowerPoint (thank you YouTube tutorials!) and still had plenty of involvement from our Service Captains and classes taking turns to read prayers, share photos and more. The students have become ‘pros’ at presenting to camera and it has been lovely to see them innovate and learn while still showing great respect as we lead others in worship. Meeting virtually or via video hasn’t been quite the same as meeting in person, but our weekly chapel services still offered students the opportunity to connect to God and the wider community - so important in a time when we have often felt disconnected.
Our Easter Service is usually a big affair involving the whole school - from Kindy to Year 12 - and is a joyful celebration of Jesus’ resurrection. This year, we couldn’t all meet together, so some creativity was required! Our Junior School students went on an ‘Easter Chapel Walk’ to hear the stories of Holy Week and have some time to reflect and pray. They heard about Palm Sunday while sitting under a tree and using their senses. Stopping near the Canteen, they were invited to reflect on The Last Supper. Pausing outside the Chapel and looking up at the cross gave students an opportunity to consider the events following Jesus’ arrest until his death. And finally, a walk through the labyrinth completed the journey from despair to hope and was topped off by tying colourful ribbons in a ‘tree of hope’ near their classrooms and making a ‘hope stone’ to take home. Our Senior School Easter Service was delivered via Teams, although it included some special features. An amusing studentmade vox pops video on ‘What does Easter mean to you’ set the scene for students to share their thoughts. During the service we heard the story of Easter alongside the reflections of three senior students who offered their words of hope. One shared their thoughts via video from Covid isolation and another from home, safeguarding due to a compromised immune system. Their thoughtful and insightful musings included the role that God, community, family and the loving actions of others play in inspiring hope. At the end of the service, while listening to a beautiful rendition of Amazing Grace, students from each Tutor Group were invited to add a flower to a wooden cross which was set up on The Common. The decorated cross was beautiful and sent students off on holidays with a reminder how God’s love can even overcome death.
With all that has recently been going on in the world, from the pandemic to the war in The Ukraine, to all the many other troubles we are aware of, the words of Lauren Daigle’s song Look Up Child have kept coming back into my head. They especially spoke to me this Easter. When we find it hard to hope, when darkness seems to be winning - God invites us to look up and look around. God is there. God always was there and always will be - inviting us to receive love, forgiveness, strength, healing and hope. When face-to-face worship has not been possible, God has been there – in the Teams meetings and student prayers and PowerPoint presentations. I am excited to transition back to being together again this term but have also really appreciated the opportunity to continue to worship together. I am so thankful for the technology that has allowed us to do so. Whatever our worship may look like, it continues to be the greatest privilege to share with our College Community and I look forward to continuing to witness God at work in and through all those present.
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