Devotion – A story of humility

‘I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, and his incomparably great power for us who believe’ (Ephesians 1:18–19). Most of us are confined to our homes in some shape or form still. We appreciate those who go to their workplace each day at risk – we thank you. Some are working from home, are home schooling, or are retired. We are all missing family contact and are blessed that these restrictions are gradually easing. But we are still deep in the ‘during’ phase of this pandemic. So, what’s happening with your faith in this ‘during’ time? Is it on hold like so much else? Have you coasted and not given it much effort? Is your faith richer as you depend more on prayer, reading, meditation, and one-on-one contact with God? How do you maintain faith without a weekly church service with the add-ons of music; friends; touch; prayer for others or yourself; the noise; a cuppa during fellowship; and the people you don’t really know well but find you are strangely missing their faces? Are online services working for you? In a nutshell, are you enlarging your faith in this space of ‘during’? How are you going without Holy Communion? Is it a good thing that you can’t commune presently? Are you deliberately finding ways to feast with Jesus, read his word, sing songs of praise, enjoy deep quiet time, rest in his presence, and converse with him in your aloneness or loneliness? May this be a time of renewal of your faith with God, and your community. Jesus, as I do the dishes, school work, my job, housework, deal with online connecting, or hide in the toilet for five minutes of peace from the children or my partner, bless me and take my mind to the rooftop, to contemplate the sunset with you Jesus, to imagine the breeze, smell and gentle waves at the beach with you, Holy Spirit, by my side. Show me the beauty and bounty of you, Father, in all ordinary moments of my days. Bring your words, songs that lift my spirits, forgotten hymns, favourite psalms, and mostly, your presence to my being. Amen.

Prayer Points

We give thanks that our students have been allowed to return to school

We pray for the families who have not been able to return to school due to medical risk and other reasons.

We pray that our faith may be strengthened during these difficult times

We ask that the Holy Spirit continues to work through us so that we can spread the Word of God to those around us

We pray for the Kuihon, Khy Lout and Lai Sui families

Micah Award

To David for outstanding quality throughout remote learning

To Va Ngia for demonstrating quality in her work and attitude

It is wonderful to be back!

It is wonderful to have all our classes back at school, with the Year 5/6s joining the other classes on Tuesday. Like the lifting of a dark cloud, the sounds of learning and playing have returned to the classrooms and playground, bringing joy to the ears of the staff.

Lifting the spirits of others

We are well aware that the coronavirus pandemic has been a difficult time for everyone. However, we also realise that we are blessed at Sunshine Christian School, and felt that it was important that we serve others in greater need. So we have endeavored to brighten the lives of others in our community throughout this time! The staff delivered Mother’s Day gifts to all of our wonderful school mums, as well as donated and delivered care packages to our families in need. Ms. Clarke and the students also created beautiful butterflies and wrote encouraging letters for the elderly in our partner organisations.

Prep/ 1

In the Prep/1 classroom we have been learning to break our SMART spelling words up into sounds using our fingers.

You can ask us to put up our fingers every time we hear a new sound.

Year 2/ 3

In the Year 2/3 classroom we are learning about Multiplication.

You can ask us how we use Arrays and multiplication facts to solve multiplication problems.

Year 3/ 4

In the Year 3/4 classroom we have been learning how to improve our sentences!

We came up with an acronym to help us remember the things we need to include: NAVA.

You can help us by giving us a ‘boring’ sentence that we can improve using NAVA.

Year 5/ 6

In the Year 5/6 classroom we have been writing encouraging letters to people in our community who remain in isolation.