Ministry

A REFORMATION REFLECTION

Pictured: The Coat of Arms of Spain, flanked by the Pillars of Hercules bearing the motto Plus Ultra.

TIM JARICK College Senior Pastor Did you know that our College motto and the name of this publication, Plus Ultra, came from a Catholic King?

That’s right. Plus Ultra comes to us via a Catholic Emperor of the 16th Century called Charles V. Charles went down in history as the ruler who declared Martin Luther 'a notorious heretic' and signed his death sentence in a city called Worms. Charles was King over Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, France, Italy, Spain, and the New World of the Americas during the time of the Reformation. So how, and why, does this Latin phrase, the personal

motto of a Catholic "king from five hundred years ago, come to be the motto of a Lutheran school in Australia today? Charles V popularised Plus Ultra during his time in history, yet it has an older origin. The words non Plus Ultra are said to have been inscribed as a warning on the Pillars of Hercules at the Strait of Gibraltar which marked the edge of the known world in antiquity. This phrase has elements of that warning which was written on medieval maps of the time—Hic sunt dracones, 'Don’t go beyond here into these uncharted areas, as there may be dragons!' Plus Ultra also has in its meaning these metaphorical suggestions of taking risks and exploring unchartered territories, as well as what we take it to mean in our College today, of striving for excellence. Charles’s motto was adopted throughout Europe some decades after the discovery of the New World by

Christopher Columbus and continues to be the national motto of Spain today. Schools, including our sister Lutheran school, Immanuel College in Adelaide, have also used this motto for these meanings that we often communicate—ever higher and more beyond. Our purpose at St Peters as an educational institution is to arouse curiosity, wonder, and creativity in students as well as the advancement of learning and knowledge. We are to be moving ever higher, striving to be better, to excel in our endeavours, and to achieve more. We pursue excellence in Christian education. Certainly, this is what faith-based schools do. But performing and Don’t go beyond here achieving more needs to be counterbalanced into these uncharted with that other meaning areas, as there may of Plus Ultra; more be dragons!" beyond. This is a radical idea that beyond the walls of this school, beyond the walls of our experience and knowledge, beyond the walls of what can be seen in this world, there may be dragons. There may be much more than we ever imagined or thought possible, rational or logical. Beyond these walls, there may be unknown mysteries, indeed God waiting to surprise us! The more beyond of Plus Ultra points to the work and word of God in the world. That in Jesus who came to earth as a real historical person, God is present, alive, and more active than we can ever comprehend. Plus Ultra, there is more beyond. There is God.