This last week on our senior campus has been a very busy one, but also a very important and exciting one. This has been the crescendo for our Year 12 students – our graduates. The culmination of the week is Valedictory Day with the Year 12 Final Assembly, followed by the Valedictory Chapel Service and then the Luncheon.

My colleague, Pastor Michael Bennett, delivered a very challenging message to our young men of Year 12, the kernel of this I wish to share with you.

His main focus was on “integrity” – being men of integrity as they move on from Newington. His message was graphically communicated by him comparing two pieces of Australian hardwood. On the one-hand he held up a strong piece of shaped hardwood – banged it on a table and tried to break it – a piece of wood with integrity, no doubt about it. On the other hand he picked up another piece of hardwood that appeared to be identical to the first but he crumbled this into dust with his bare hands, to the amazement of the congregation – this piece had been eaten out, from the inside, by termites.

His challenge was to ask the young men which piece of timber they would want to be like. The bible passage he had chosen was a scene from the life of Jesus where Jesus was put to the test and kept his integrity even though he knew his actions would lead him into trouble – arrest, torture and eventually execution (Mark 12:13-17).

The most lingering point of Pastor Bennett’s message was when he acknowledged, like the rest of us I’m sure, that he was a bit of both kinds of wood. There were times when he was able to hold onto his integrity but also times when he failed in this. His reminder that the message of the Gospel is like that, unlike the white-ant eaten wood, there is the possibility of forgiveness and restoration. That there will be moments in our lives where will need that. Yes, of course, aim always to be people of integrity but remember also when things happen that make us feel as if we have been eaten from the inside out, that there is forgiveness and wholeness and restoration.

God bless our Year 12’s as they go forward to their IB and HSC examinations and, beyond that, into whatever the future holds for each of them.

David N Williams
College Chaplain