Into the hand of God

Some of our year 6 leavers (left) from St James's School pose for photos in the churchyard after this morning's leavers service in church, attended by the whole school, teachers, parents, and governors.

It was good to give them a good send off as they prepare to go to their new schools in September.

Each of the children were presented with a copy of Luke's Gospel and the Scripture Union book, It's Your Move, by our chair of governors, Sir Simon Hughes, who made a point - as he always does - of a saying a few individual words of encouragement to each of the sixty leaving children in turn.

During the service Penny spoke from Hebrews 11about Abraham. She quoted verse 8 which says: 'It was faith that made Abraham obey when God called him to go out to a country which God had promised to give him.

He left his own country without knowing where he was going.' In the same way we can head into the unknown future knowing that God is with us.

She concluded by quoting the poem made famous by King George VI when he read it in a wartime address to the nation (at the suggestion of his daughter, Elizabeth, our present Queen).

 It was a great message for our 2017 leavers at St James's School. It goes like this:

And I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year:
“Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown.”
And he replied:
“Go out into the darkness and put your hand into the Hand of God.
That shall be to you better than light and safer than a known way.”