Devotion – Global praise

May the peoples praise you, God …
May all the peoples praise you (Psalm 67:3, 5).

Let’s finish this week with a beautiful psalm of corporate praise. With its repeated refrain, this was a psalm for all the people to sing with a cantor or song leader. But it’s so much more than that.

It begins with a tweaking of the Aaronic blessing, that early blessing of the Jewish people.

May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face shine on us …

But we instantly learn that this blessing is not just for the people of Israel.

… So that your ways may be known on earth, your salvation among all nations.

This is bigger than just one chosen people – this is universal. God’s blessing is for everyone.

May the nations be glad and sing for joy, for you rule the peoples with equity and guide the nations of the earth.

And while the psalm has begun by asking for God’s blessing, it continues by acknowledging that God has already blessed us. It sings with gratitude.

The land yields its harvest; God, our God, blesses us.

And the ultimate reason for God’s blessing over us? Recognition by the whole world that God is God.

May God bless us still, so that all the ends of the earth will fear him.

As the people of God, it’s easy to look around our world and hear the voices of fear and doom around us. We watch world leaders and local leaders swap blame and whole groups of people clashing against each other. One could be forgiven for thinking that we are not being blessed right now.

But it is in choosing to look for ways we are being blessed, examples of where God is at work and where people are being loved, that we lift our praise to God, and the ends of the earth learn to fear him. And as we praise God, we realise that all over the world, people we have never met are also lifting up his name.

Please do yourself a favour this weekend. Sit with this psalm. Take a deep breath. Read it slowly to yourself. It will only take a minute. And give yourself some space to think about how God has blessed you.

Prayer Points

We give praise for the blessings God has given us

We pray that all people may come to know God and love Him

We ask that God continues to keep us safe and well during this pandemic

We pray for the Nguyen families

Micah Award

To Daniella for demonstrating outstanding commitment and quality in her remote learning

To Naomi for demonstrating excellent manners and dedication to her remote learning

The overwhelming message that I am receiving from students and teachers is that this period of remote learning is proving to be much more challenging than last time. Some of the feelings I am hearing are frustration, loneliness, worry, helplessness.

From my perspective, there are a number of factors contributing to these feelings.

Firstly, Stage 4 is a much harsher lockdown than Stage 3. The restrictions on us are far greater, and it is more difficult to leave the house to release the overwhelming feelings we are having. As we continue through this lockdown, the novelty of staying at home wears thinner and thinner. The students and teachers are missing the structure and normality that learning at school brings. They are also missing the face to face contact that brings closer relationships and a better understanding of the feelings others are going through. Everybody misses their friends and their community.

This is undoubtedly an extremely difficult time for us all. However, there are practices that we can put into place in order to help us get through this difficult time.

• Pray – It is important that we place our lives in God’s hands, tell Him all our feelings and struggles, and keep trusting that He is with us and He is in control.
• Encourage - Parents, when you are helping your child to learn from home, remember that no one expects you to be an expert or a professional teacher. The most important thing you can do is to continue to provide comfort, support and encouragement to your child.
• Structure – Ensure that there is as much structure to your child’s day as possible. Children need a designated work space that is free from distractions, and that is a different space to where they play and relax. Try to separate home time and school time by sticking to normal school hours and routines.
• Play – Play is vital for the wellbeing of your child. Play encourages children to explore, discover, negotiate, take risks, and problem-solve which supports the development of cognitive, social, emotional and physical skills. This play involves DEVICE FREE time. No iPads, phones, TVs or computers should be used during this play time.
• Exercise – Use the 1 hour of exercise time allowed each day to get out of the house and enjoy the fresh air!

Prep / 1

In the Prep/1 classroom we have been answering questions about the Big Books we have been reading.

You can help by talking to us about the events that happen in the stories we read together.

Year 2 / 3

In the Year 2/3 classroom we are learning about how to use Conjunctions (Connectives) to develop our writing skills. You can help by asking us to explain what we have learnt and to show you our work.

Year 3/ 4

In the Year 3/4 classroom we have begun learning about Fractions. We have learned what they could look like and how to write them. Ask us what a unit fraction is and we can draw one for you!

Year 5/ 6

In the Year 5/6 classroom we have been learning about 12 and 24 hour time. You can help by asking us to tell the time in both 12 and 24 hour time.