He began to call down curses, and he swore to them, ‘I don’t know this man you’re talking about’ (Mark 14:71).
This was a low point in Peter’s life. Not long before this time, Jesus had asked his disciples, ‘Who do you say I am?’ and Peter answered, ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God’.
Jesus said of this response, ‘Blessed are you, Simon Peter … on this rock I will build my church and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven’ (Matthew 16:16–19).
Later, when Jesus said all the disciples would desert him, Peter was adamant that he would not be a deserter (Mark 14:29).
Yet here he is, not long later, disowning Jesus. Even though he was warned of the events to come, that Jesus would be handed over to the authorities and put to death, Peter did not understand what was happening and what his reaction to the unfolding drama would be. His denial of Jesus was also a denial of who he was, one of the foremost disciples of Jesus. No wonder he wept at the realisation of what he had done.
However, Peter did become the rock on which the church would be built.
It is comforting to note that discipleship is not destroyed by our own foolishness, weaknesses, failings and inabilities. We do and will stumble, just as Peter did. But beyond our stumbles and frailties is the risen Christ who gives all believers the gift of salvation from sin and eternal life. In our failures, we come to rely even more on God’s forgiveness so we can continue to hold the keys to the kingdom of heaven.
Heavenly Father, you know our weaknesses and how they derail our discipleship. We pray for forgiveness, and despite our failures, we pray for the courage to be a witness to you in all that we do. Amen.
Prayer Points
We pray for the Year 1 and 2 sleepover that the students and teachers have a wonder safe time.
We give thanks for all the organisations that have supported and continue to support the school throughout the year.
As 2023 draws to a close, we reflect on and give thanks for the many blessings that God has bestowed on us this year. One of those blessings over the past 5 years has been Mrs. Vella, the school Receptionist. Mrs. Vella recently announced that she and her family are moving to sunny Queensland to pursue amazing opportunities. This of course meant that she needed to hand in her resignation. We are both very sad to see Mrs Vella leave our community, but also are very excited for her and her family.
We are going to greatly miss Mrs. Vella and the amazing dedication and hard work she has dedicated to the school during her time at SCS. Her role as the ‘face ‘of the school has been invaluable as has her ability to take on many extra roles within the school.
We wish her, and her family God’s richest blessings as she pursues a new adventure in her life.
Let Them Flourish Foundation
The school is blessed to have external organisations that support us in many ways. One of the new relationships the school has developed is with the Let Them Flourish Foundation who have offered two scholarships to two Year 6 students. Through the 6 Scholarship Programme 2023.
The Scholarships offer a $500 Officeworks Card to students at the end of Year 6 for the benefit of the students providing some assistance going on to secondary school. The Let Them Flourish Foundation Scholarship Awardees are selected by the school’s teachers.
We thank the Let Them Flourish Foundation for their generosity and we look forward to presenting the two awards at the End of Year/Graduation Service later this year.
In the Prep/1 classroom we have been practising spelling words using triangle words.
Get us to show you at home what this looks like!
Year 1/ 2
In the Year 1/2 classroom in Maths, we are learning about subtraction that involves trading.
Ask us to do a few simple calculations together.
Year 3/ 4
In the Year 3/4 classroom, we've been using AI technology to craft various visual texts.
Please ask us for more details about our experience!
Year 5/ 6
In the Year 5/6 classroom we have been working on describing settings and characters using figurative language to paint a picture in the reader’s mind.
