I am cheating a bit this week – here is an adult version of what the boys at Stanmore Campus are hearing over the next fortnight. I hope that you find something worthwhile and encouraging in the sentiment.

Over the holidays my wife and I journeyed to the delightful little town of Beechworth, just over the border in Victoria (near Albury). We travelled there and back in two days, a mere 1,300kms (via Canberra to overnight with friends), on a mission to pick up some antique furniture purchased by our son who with his new wife had just acquired whilst in Beechworth on their honeymoon. On loading up the trailer we discovered that we did not take with us sufficient rope to tie down the load. So off I went in search of a hardware shop and acquired a lovely bright yellow synthetic rope for $17.00.

After one hour into our journey I noticed that the furniture had a little too much movement in it. At the first available rest area I pulled over to check matters. To my horror I discovered that the fancy new rope had already rubbed through and in places had already broken – the rope on had this fluffy felt in the middle of it – the strong fibres were only millimetres deep. The rope was all gloss on the outside, looked good, but lacked substance.

Now in the Chapel services this week I contrasted this cheap (found the same rope in Bunnings for $4) flashy rope with an old cadet-store discard rope that I successfully used to attach ladders two storeys up to hold my wife and son in place as they painted our roof over the summer break (I need to be on terra firma looking after the ladders). This old rope, in contrast to the yellow one, was the real McCoy. Each fibre strong in and of itself – right the core of the rope. You could indeed entrust your life, or even your wife, to the safety of such a rope!

And so my question to the lads in Chapel has been, ‘Will you be men of substance? Or will you be more concerned about what you are on the outside?’ Surely at Newington we are aiming to produce young men of substance? Such men will have qualities such as integrity, loyalty, reliability, faithfulness and generosity amongst the attributes that run strongly through them.

Jesus challenged the religious snobs of his day about religious superficiality. He cut to the quick, and likened the religious elite of his day to “whitened sepulchres (graves)” – fancy and clean on the outside by in reality full of dead men’s bones- all words and show, but no substance, no depth of character. Through Christ’s actions and his words we are each challenged by the Almighty to think about our depth of character, the “substance” of our being – and if you are anything like me we need to lean on God’s spiritual resources that will enable us to more fully live our lives with meaning and purpose embracing the needs and futures of those around us.

Rev. David N. Williams
College Chaplin