Chaplain’s Corner

Celebrating Diversity During Pentecost

One of the things I enjoy about our School is its diversity. St. George’s Anglican Grammar School reflects the multicultural nature of Australia and whenever opportunity presents itself, we celebrate our diverse culture as a school. Such was the atmosphere this week in Chapel as we celebrated the Feast of Pentecost. We are familiar with these words from Acts 2: ‘When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.’ The Holy Spirit did not only enable the disciples to speak in different languages, but the audience understood them in their own languages! They were amazed: “Aren’t all these who are speaking Galileans? Then how is it that each of us hears them in our native language?” So, during Chapel, we read Acts 2 in Shona, Japanese, Cantonese, German, French and English. It was wonderful to see and hear the rich cultural heritage of our staff as they spoke so richly to the school community in a range of languages. Using illustrations of the difference between a deflated and inflated ball, I emphasized that people filled with the Holy Spirit bounce with love and joy. What a happy school we become when we accept, love, and respect one another’s different languages, cultures, and religions, understanding that we are all people of the same God! The students got to see their chaplain’s great moves in kicking a soccer ball—what a happy Pentecost Chapel Service we had!