Love Never Fails

I am a governor at Bluecoat Wollaton Academy.  You may wonder what on earth that means.  I shall try and explain in a way that would mean something to one of the pupils. 

We are a group of people who meet regularly to learn more about the academy and to help Mr Anderson and all the teachers.  The group is made up of people who know all sorts of different things, including some who are teachers, some who are parents, some who know about buildings, some who know about faith, some who know about money and some who know about information and technology.  We meet in the Library five times a year and visit the academy regularly in between (not so much during the lockdown!!).  The governors work together in a big team with Mr Anderson and all the teachers to help make the pupils at BWA achieve their best. 

The governors are here to do three main things – The first is to make sure that BWA has a really good idea about where it is going, how it is improving and what it should do to make sure it is very very good at teaching the pupils to make them good and clever people. 

The second is that we challenge and support Mr Anderson and the staff here to make sure that the academy lives up to those ideas, so that the pupils all become better. 

The third thing is about money – it is to make sure that the taxes that the government take from working people and give to the academy are spent wisely and on the right things, so that the pupils all become the best they can be.  You get the message!!! 

At our Church, we have been using the Lent Study material from the Churches Together in Britain and Ireland to open the scriptures which is titled “Setting our hearts on fire”.  It talks about Bible passages where the words burn in our hearts.  The Bible passage that means the most to me (that burns in my heart) is the poem to love written by St Paul to the Corinthians in his first letter to them at chapter 13.  It was read by my Dad at my wife’s and my wedding (he was a minister and he married us!) and, later, I read it at his funeral. 

“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.  Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.  It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails…."

 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. “

It is a beautiful passage which implies that the God, who we shall one day meet face to face, is Love.  It talks about all of Love’s wonderful qualities and states that Love lasts forever and that it is the greatest thing!  I am witness to the true love that is shown by all folk at the Archway Learning Trust.  

Challenge

We go on a daily walk and try and say hi or good morning to everyone just to make a little human contact with people.  We do this as we cross the road or the footpath to keep a safe distance from them. This seems such a rude thing to do - or would have done 8 weeks ago!  If you are out and about with the family, please try and greet someone to make them feel better.  Be kind as someone famous once said.  

A prayer  

Loving God,

In us, O God, may peace live for a world which nurtures so much conflict. 

In us, O God, may justice live, so that it be a light in the darkness of our world.  

Amen

Written by Mark Goodwill-Hodson

School Governor at Bluecoat Wollaton Academy