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Today as we celebrate 100 years of teaching and learning in Stanley Bay, we are reminded of the many varied and vast changes that have occurred in education over a period of a century.

There have been profound cultural changes and equally profound changes in our education system. Many of these changes have had a very positive effect on how our young people feel about school and what they are able to achieve in life.

• Teaching has moved from being adult directed to child centred and in many cases child directed. This has led to a greater selection of subject choices and made for a varied and rich educational experience.
• The education system which 100 years ago was primarily in the hands of the church now finds itself firmly entrenched in the secular world. Yet teaching remains vocational and this is illustrated by the many hours and seemingly limitless energy teachers invest in the children who are in their care. We commend them today for their professionalism.
• Technology has undergone its own revolution and we have seen the demise of slate and chalk in favour of interactive white boards and computers. The internet and intranet has opened the eyes of young learners to many new avenues of learning and made knowledge so much more accessible to everyone.

However one change or shift that stands out most obviously for me, as perhaps a less positive development, is the gradual erosion of spirituality and more specifically Christian spirituality, in the lives of our young people.

100 years ago religious education with its emphasis on morals and ethics was an integral part of the curriculum of every school.

In today’s classrooms religious education has been excised from the curriculum. One might argue that this trend has saved our children from having religion rammed down their throats and spared them from enduring many hours of boring church services.

But along with this I believe we have lost something really important. We have lost the opportunity to explore the spiritual dimension of what it means to be fully human. Human beings are physical, emotional and spiritual beings and we need to be holistic in our approach to educating our children.

We live in a post-Christian era where 93% of the population do not attend church on a regular basis and one in which people are often ignorant of the Christian narrative and the Christian value system. Perhaps this was because the church failed to pro-actively present the Christian faith in relevant and creative ways.

However, as a priest, a Christian and someone who identifies her cultural heritage to be Western, it saddens me greatly that we seem to have thrown the baby out with the bath water.

Jesus’ words “Allow the little children to come to me “ stand as a challenge to me.

I am not suggesting that we either do or don’t include RE in the school curriculum. I am simply saying that we owe it to our children to ensure that their spirituality is nurtured and developed at least as much as we nurture their physical and emotional development.

Timothy’s mother and grandmother shared their faith with him and encouraged him in his spiritual journey. As a result he knew who Jesus was and what his teachings were.

Our elders shared their faith with us, we knew who Jesus was and we had some sense of matters spiritual.

Yet many of today’s children do not know Jesus, nor do they know what the Christian faith or any other spiritual path is all about.

Academically they excel. In sport, drama and the arts they reach levels of sophistication we couldn’t even dream of, yet spiritually they are often unaware even of the possibility of communing with their Creator and tapping into the power that is on stream for all who turn to him.

Is this perhaps part of the reason why delinquency; depression, suicide and crime amongst our young people are on the increase?

The Biblical tradition as we saw in the Old Testament reading for today reminds us that we must teach our children and our children’s children in the ways of the Lord.

Jesus encourages us in the gospel reading to enable the little children to come to him.

Paul’s advice to Timothy is that he must lean on the teaching and instruction given to him by his elders.

The Bible discourages us from abandoning our young people to their own devices. Instead it encourages us to pass on the moral DNA we ourselves have inherited.

We are encouraged to resource our young people as they prepare to journey into the unchartered waters of life with a map of the 10 commandments, a moral code, to guide them;

The compass of God’s love to give them direction;

A pilot, who is Jesus, to steer their ship.

Were we to gently and carefully create opportunities for our young people to explore their spirituality we may go some way to avoid  the greed that has led to the world wide economic depression we are currently experiencing;

Abate the exploitation of the natural resources that is impoverishing the planet;

And offer an antidote to the  insidious despair and discontent that seems to permeate the fabric of society and so often  leaves people, who to all intents and purposes have everything, uncommitted and dissatisfied.

I have enormous faith in the talents’ skills and abilities of our young people. I would like to see us extend further not only their physical and mental aptitude but also their spirituality.

Life is a relay race of generations.

We are part of the great relay race we call history and I would love to see us pass on the baton of spirituality which we ourselves have inherited.

Jesus’ words that the kingdom of heaven is made of children resonates with my heart.

My prayer is that the church, schools, voluntary organisations like girl guides, sea scouts and the like, will partner with parents to ensure that the next generation, by God’s grace will discover Jesus and the values that he espoused and the truths that he proclaimed

• about a world that has been created and is continually  being recreated by a loving Creator we call God.
• About a love that is so vast and generous that it embraces all who seek it and empowers all who will let it,
• About a value system that cares about the least, helps the poor and embraces the marginalised and seeks justice for the oppressed
• About a hope and a cause and a purpose to life that is greater than the individual but includes every individual in a plan of salvation that lasts for all eternity.

May we recognise within our young people, their desire for things spiritual, and their hunger for God and may we have the courage and boldness to share the rich tradition from which we ourselves are beneficiaries with the next generation,

Amen.

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