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Loving our neighbour
As a Strathy student, I remember doing a skit on the Good Samaritan story in an Assembly in Featherstone Hall. We had great fun acting out the people who walk by the man left for dead at the side of the road, while the bikie (toughest person we had heard about) stopped to help. I knew the story was about being kind to people around me and I did learn that it is important to ‘reach out’ to others.
This year the theme for Chapel reflection has been ‘Love one another’. The story of the Good Samaritan is told by Jesus when he was asked, “how do I live a good life?”
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“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and soul and strength and love your neighbour as you love yourself”. (Luke 10:27) This is known as the Golden Rule.
At Strathcona, we believe in positive connections. We focus on wellbeing where we regard every human being as our neighbour. Our students are encouraged to engage in social service and action, a way of ‘loving our neighbour’ near and far. For our
Richard Rohr’s daily meditations from the Centre for Contemplation and Action is something worth taking a moment to read each day. Both contemplation and action is important. In our Strathcona School Chapel we now have a beautiful artwork called Morning Cloud by former Strathconian Jennifer KeelerMilne (’78) who put me on to the Centre for Contemplation and Action. The painting reminds me to stop and contemplate, a priority before action. The Chapel is a place where students can come and contemplate before we reach out to ‘love our neighbour’ or show unconditional positive regard by supporting people around us and being connected to the School, our families and the wider world.
Strathcona is a School connected to the Baptist church where we teach these values of ‘loving our neighbour’. We aim to teach contemplation and action in various ways across the curriculum and through co-curricular activities.
Our neighbours are the people we live amongst where all are welcome. This is the Golden Rule and at Strathcona we encourage connections between our families as we ‘reach out’ to each other with support and love.
REVEREND JANET COSTELLO Senior School Chaplain
